The draw for the quarter-finals of the Belgian Cup was made on Thursday evening. And the possible semi-finals have also already been announced. We can get very nice posters, that much is clear.
The draw for the Belgian Cup immediately made it clear that reaching the final will be difficult for everyone this year. The possible posters for the semi-finals also look very nice, as the draw showed.
Club Brugge will face OH Leuven and STVV will face KRC Genk at home. A possible semi-final between Club Brugge and Genk is therefore certainly possible.
Path to the final
On the other side of the table, Beerschot hosts – Anderlecht and Antwerp – Union. There too, there is potentially a very nice semi-final lurking there.
The Belgian Cup has been played since 1912, although there were also long periods in which the tournament did not take place due to the world wars, among other things. Only with the arrival of European Football did the importance of the Croky Cup become more important: there has been a tournament every year since 1964.
Experienced experts
Historically, Club Brugge is and remains the team par excellence with eleven cups from nineteen finals. Anderlecht (9), Standard (8), Genk (5), Antwerp (4) and Ghent (4) follow in the top 5. Union SG has also won the Belgian Cup three times, but that was more than a century ago before last season.
But who is the team of, say, the last ten years? We look at the campaigns from 2013 to 2023. We give 1 point for a 16th final (if the first division teams enter), 2 for an eighth final, 3 for a quarter final, 4 for a semi-final, 5 for a final and 6 for a final victory.
-Cup team?
Side note: teams like Union and Antwerp have of course played in the second division for (a large) part of the past ten years, so it was already more difficult for them to progress. KV Mechelen was excluded from participation for another year.
KRC Genk won twice (2013 and 2021) and also reached the final (2018). In total they total 38 points. Club Brugge (5 titles in the competition) also has 38 points, despite 1 win and 1 final.
Favorites?
KAA Gent also has one win and one lost final, but they regularly reach 40 points with many semi-finals and quarter-finals. Last season they reached the quarter-finals again, but this year they were eliminated.
We calculate it for the historic G5, Antwerp and Union SG. And then the results themselves are quite clear. OH Leuven, STVV and Beerschot are lagging behind and are therefore underdogs.
Gent 40
Genk 38
Club Brugge 38
Standard 33
Anderlecht 33
Antwerp 25
Union 19
