KVC Westerlo – KAA Gent

The last home victory against the Buffalos dates back 17 years, when we won 3-2 against the team of then coach Michel Preud’homme. Bertin Tomou, Stef Wils and an own goal by Jonas De Roeck secured the three points. The team at the time consisted of: De Winter, Vanaudenaerde, Wils, Van Kerckhoven, Delen, Adams, Modubi, Farssi, Scheelen, Tomou and Jaime Ruiz. This was followed by 11 more encounters, with six draws and five defeats.

Last season

Last season the score was 2-2, with Ghent in 6th place and us in 8th. Matija Frigan opened the scoring after fifteen minutes of play. Just before half-time, Ghent was awarded a penalty and equalised, and just after half-time, Sonko made it 1-2. It was only four minutes before the end that Allahyar managed to level the score.

Current season

Gent’s last two away games (OH Leuven and Zulte Waregem) were both lost by heavy margins. In Leuven, the score was 4-0 and in Waregem, the score was 4-1 after 90 minutes. Meanwhile, they are parked in fifth place in the standings after victories against La Louvière (1-0), Antwerp (1-2), Dender (3-0), Cercle Brugge (2-4), Charleroi (2-1) and Standard (4-0). Against Mechelen, Club Brugge and Genk, the score was 1-1. They also lost against STVV, Anderlecht and Union.

Mutual transfers

The very first mutual transfer was that of former international Eddy Voordeckers in the summer of 1990. He made the move from Ghent to the Kempen. In the same direction, we also saw the transfers of Frank Dauwen, Stijn De Smet, Shlomi Arbeitman, Gilles Ruyssen, Noël Soumah, Matias Lloci and Sinan Bolat. 

In the other direction, Thomas Caers (1997), Björn De Coninck (2004) and Christian Brüls (2011) made transfers between the two clubs.

Two players even switched twice: Stef Wils went from Westerlo to Ghent in 2009 and simply returned in 2011. Wouter Corstjens also made the same move: first from Westel to Ghent in 2012 and then back again a year later.

Squads

• KVC Westerlo: Jungdal, Reynolds, Bayram, Kimura, Haspolat, Piedfort, Sayyadmanesh, Sakamoto, Alcocer, Nacho Ferri, Van Langendonck, Lapage, Bujupi, Cordero, Vaesen, Yow, Fixelles, Mbamba, Van Den Keybus, Annell, Neustädter, Mebude, Sydorchuk, Smekens, Bernat. Out: Rommens, Gouré and Haidara

• AA Gent: Roef, Samoise, Paskotsi, Kotto, Araujo, Delorge, Ito, Gandelman, Kadri, Skoras, Goore, Vandenberghe, Volckaert, Lagae, Ayinde, Lopes, De Vlieger, Surdez, Sonko and Kanga. Out: Dean, Duverne and Van Der Heyden

Referee

Bert Put was appointed to referee this match. He has already refereed five matches in the Jupiler Pro League this season, and each time he placed the ball on the penalty spot.  We have not yet seen him in action in the current competition, but in recent years he has officiated 11 matches, with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats.  This is the sixth time he has come to the Kuipje. In 2019, we played against Beerschot (1-1), in 2022 against Genk (0-1), in 2023 against Standard (3-0), in 2024 against Cercle Brugge (4-2) and in 2025 against Standard (4-2).