PSV meets Club Brugge after its Under-19s beat Bruges' youth side in the Youth League

A youth win before the senior match

PSV's Under-19 side beat the age-group peers of Club Brugge in the Youth League on the afternoon of Wednesday, 4 November, giving the senior squad of coach Peter Bosz an example to follow. The first-team meeting with Club Brugge is the fourth league-phase match of the Champions League for PSV, which comes after a 0-1 win at FC Porto. Club Brugge arrive after a 4-3 away win at Inter, where Nicolo Tresoldi scored a hat-trick. The senior fixture is set for Wednesday evening, 4 November, and PSV want to push on in the competition.

Why Belgian clubs are ahead

NOS reports that Belgian clubs have won far more often against Dutch opponents over the past few years than the other way round. Club Brugge, the biggest collector of coefficient points in the Low Countries, is a central example in that analysis. Ruud Vormer, who made more than 350 appearances for the club and has lived in Belgium for twelve years, credits its management:

“Club Brugge has been running a great policy in recent years.”

Aad de Mos, who was successful in Belgium and coached three clubs there, points to scouting. He cites Genk, which discovered Ajax's Tolu in Latvia, and the talent Karetsas, now at Dortmund. He also judges the Belgian competition harder than the Dutch one:

“You don't see a 7-0 or a 9-0 that easily, like with us. They would rather play 5-4-1 than 4-3-3.”

Imke Courtois, who analyses the Eredivisie for NOS this season, enjoys the goals in the Dutch league but says few clubs dig in defensively. She praises Union Sint-Gillis, which has already beaten PSV, Ajax and FC Twente, for an intensive style that Dutch clubs struggle against.

Scouting and development at Club Brugge

Het Parool describes Club Brugge as a champion at upgrading players. Carlos Forbs, a 14 million euro misbuy at Ajax according to the paper, and Nicolo Tresoldi were signed in summer 2025 for 6 to 7 million euro per player. Tresoldi had been anonymous at Hannover 96 in the 2. Bundesliga, while Forbs later struggled at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Christos Tzolis, now a starter at Arsenal, came from Fortuna Düsseldorf, per Club Brugge watcher Tomas Taecke of Het Laatste Nieuws.

Taecke also cites Igor Thiago, bought from Loedogorets in Bulgaria and resold to Brentford, as shown in the chart below.

Purchase from Loedogorets7

Sale to Brentford38

Purchase from Loedogorets

7 million euro

Sale to Brentford

38 million euro

Data from the article text

“And then they also show patience, with Forbs, and now with an 18-year-old wide forward from Bayern Munich, Wisdom Mike.”

A pipeline of hidden staff

Devy Rigaux, now technical director at Feyenoord and 38 years old, rose from youth coach to a management post within Club Brugge. Het Parool describes a shadow cabinet of little-known thirty- and forty-year-olds working behind chairman Bart Verhaeghe, the club's long-serving leader. The paper argues that the club builds players and staff from within rather than through famous names, which is why the Wednesday evening match is seen as a test of that model.