Given the short break, there was no question of doing an internship in the sun. This is also the same observation that it is possible to draw among the majority of Belgian clubs which will for the most part remain in the country, such as Standard which also resumes training on January 3 without going through the training box due to lack of training. time…and money. The program is the same on the Charleroi or Kortrijk side as at Union Saint-Gilloise where players can go wherever they want during their vacation, however notifying their vacation location to the Brussels staff so that they can manage the possible theft problems. “The players will have an individual program and will be well monitored, explains coach Sébastien Pocognoli, who is taking advantage of the week off to go away with his family. It is mainly a recovery period for them but it is also important to continue to maintain your body. The form in which the players return from their vacation will have an influence on the first matches when they resume.
Union SG will resume competition on January 8, in the Cup quarter-final against Antwerp, one day before Anderlecht which faces Beerschot in the Croky Cup on January 9. For the Mauves, it will be a return to training on January 4 without completing a winter training camp. As for Club Bruges, which hosts OHL on January 7 in the Cup, the holidays will take place until January 3, excluding a program to follow and without training.
Ghent and Dender in the sun
Some Pro League teams will still have the chance to train for a few days in the sun. This is the case for the La Gantoise players who return to action on January 4 to leave the next day for Oliva, between Valencia and Alicante (Spain), until January 9. Wouter Vrancken’s men took advantage of the absence of a quarter-final to leave just like their opponent at the resumption of the championship, Dender. Vincent Euvrard’s players will meet on January 2 to travel to Spain for four days. The promoted team is the team that starts again the earliest, as was already the case during pre-season preparation this summer. January 2 is also the date marked in the diaries of Antwerp and Mechelen players for their return to the field. Antwerp already have a friendly match planned two days later while Malinois will face Beveren on January 5.
Next season, the break will be from December 28, 2025 to January 16, 2026.
Just like Ghent and Dender, Genk will also go on training, from January 2 to 6 near Algorfa, in Spain. The stay abroad is at the request of coach Thorsten Fink who wants the players to be together for several days to get the year 2025 off to a good start.
While the core of the Cercle has time off until this Tuesday, but with between one and three additional free days depending on what the staff decided after the last draw against Saint-Trond, one last club is heading out to the sun this winter : the RWDM. On leave since December 21 for a period of eight days, Yannick Ferrera’s men will travel to Turkey from January 2 to 8 with a friendly match scheduled for January 6 against the Romanian team ACS Sepsi. Enough to best prepare for a second part of the season during which the Molenbeekois will try to return to division 1A. A D1A which will have a real longer winter break next season, from December 28, 2025 to January 16, 2026. To the delight of Pro League players…
