Football Season Guide

Antwerp start a new era this season with Ivan Leko being the new man in charge, replacing Laszlo Böloni, who has overseen some real progress at the club in the past two years. Antwerp are now one of the main challengers for honours and have the squad and experience in the group to become one of the few teams with realistic chance to chase Brugge in the battle for the title. Leko has good pedigree from winning the title in 2018 with Brugge and he will be a motivated man with an axe to grind, having been replaced last season. Yet, he also has seen a slew of top players leave Antwerp in the close season, with Sinan Bolat, Steven Defour, Dino Arslanagic and Wesley Hoedt all moving on. There has been some good additions as well, mostly Birger Verstraete from Köln, but overall the Good Old have some real work to do if they are to fill the holes in their squad and become a more complete unit. Leko has liked using three at the back when at Brugge but the issue he has now is that he does not quite have the personnel to play that way. Also, Lior Refaelov and Leko had a conflict when they were at Brugge which eventually forced the Israeli out and it remains to be seen whether he maintains his key role at Antwerp this season. Generally, Antwerp have a promising squad and momentum from two excellent years but for now their squad looks far too unbalanced to predict with certainty another push for the top three.