1. Who are they?
Club Brugge K.V. play in the medieval city of Bruges which is in the north east of Belgium near the border with The Netherlands. They were formed in 1890 and have won the Belgian first division thirteen times, most recently in 2005.
2. What is their stadium called?
The Jan Breydal Stadium; capacity 29042. They share it with Cercle Brugge KSV.
3. When are we playing them?
Away Leg: Thursday 20th October 2011
KO 18.00
Home Leg: Thursday 3rd November 2011
KO 20.05
4. How did they reach the group stage?
In the second qualifying round they beat FK Qarabag of Azerbaijan 4-2 on aggregate. In the third round they got past Georgian side Zestafoni 5-3.
5. How are they doing this season?
They are currently 2nd in the Belgian first division one point behind Anderlecht. They are unbeaten in the league with six wins and four draws dropping only two points at home. Last weekend they beat 3rd place AA Genk 2-0.
6. Who is their captain?
Carl Hoefkens who used to play for West Brom.
7. Who is their manager?
They are managed by Adrie Koster from The Netherlands.
8. What is their European history?
Their best results came in the 1970s where they made the final of both the European Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup. They have not made it to the quarter final stage in any UEFA / Europa cup competition since 1995.
9. How good are they?
While the Belgian League is not the strongest, their form this season, particularly at home, shows that they will be tough opposition. Even more impressive was them winning away in Braga which has made qualifying from this group much more difficult. They currently top our group with two wins from two.
They are ranked 57th by UEFA just ahead of Celtic. We are 96th.
10. What is their website?
11. Any history against British clubs?
In both their European finals they were beaten by Liverpool.
12. Outlook
FC Brugge are a big step up from Maribor so we will have our work cut out for us even if Chris Hughton plays his strongest eleven. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us return to 4-5-1 inthe hope of securing a draw. If we do that then a win in the reverse fixture will put us right back into contention in this group. A defeat wouldn’t be the end of the world depending on how Braga get on against Maribor. I’d hope for a good result but I’m not too optimistic.
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