Football Season Guide

Eupen started last season as one of the more impressive outfits in the division but tailed off quite badly in the latter stages of the campaign and by the end were actually lucky to have accumulated enough points not to be dragged into a relegation battle. It is now the start of a new chapter as Bernd Strock takes over as a manager and he will be expected to develop this Eupen side and mould them into an outfit ready to take it to the top sides in the division and challenge them. That said, the squad looks pretty much brand new due to a host of moves in the off-season, with 80% of the squad moving on to new adventures. That includes key experienced players like Jordi Amat, Andreas Beck and Jens Cools along with youngsters like Emmanuel Agbadou, Silas Gnaka and Julien Ngoy. Among the most important players staying on are Stef Peeters and Smail Prevljak and naturally the hopes are that they remain with Eupen past the end of the transfer window. In terms of arrivals, it is mostly young and unproven players who are hoping to get regular minutes and a chance to impress. The one exception is Scottish defender Jason Davidson, joining after a stint in Australia. It is hard to form much of an opinion of Eupen's prospects and strengths at the moment as there are way too many uncertainties but it seems like Storck will have enough nous to make them steer clear of the bottom places, considering the work he did at similarly underdogs like Mouscron and Cercle Brugge in previous seasons.