It will be a special edition at Lotto Park on Thursday as it will be the 50th time we will face each other. We have listed some salient facts.

These included some ‘cup matches’, four in total, albeit all played at the Kuipje. It started in 1994. Anderlecht won the coveted cup that year after winning the final against Club Brugge, eliminating us in the first round after goals from John Bosman and Marc Degryse.

The next encounter was in 2010. In the eighth finals, we met Purple White, who were second in the rankings at the time. We then won 1-0 , goal by Paulo Henrique. That year we played our second cup final after Lierse and Cercle Brugge were eliminated. In the final, however, we clashed with Standard.

Three years later – we were by now playing in the second division – another eight-final in Kuipje. 2-2 and penalties, after we were ahead each time after goals from Sherjill MacDonald and Leandro Trossard. Koen Van Langendonck was the hero of the evening when he was able to stop Milivojevic and Mitrovic’s penalty kicks. In the quarter-finals, however, Lokeren were too strong – incidentally, they would win the cup that year. Later that season, we still held a cup in the air when we played champions.

2017 involved a 16th final . This time we went down 0-1. Anderlecht had then just fired René Weiler, Nicolas Frutos then coached his first ever match at the Kuipje, before Hein Vanhaezebrouck would take over.

Course

The 8th finals and quarter-finals (7-8-9 January) will be decided in one match, if necessary penalty kicks will have to be taken. The semi-finals are with outward (14-15 or 16 January) and return matches (4-5 or 6 February). The final is scheduled for Thursday, May 1.

After this eighth final, a player from the winning team will be allowed to do the draw live on TV.

Text and statistics: Peter Boons