International Golden Moments
This article will primarily focus on what went wrong at Anderlecht over the past decade, causing such a successful club to become so mediocre. Therefore, here is just a brief overview of the club's eventful, almost 120-year history:
The violet-and-white Brussels suburban club was founded in May 1908 as SC Anderlechtois. For its 25th anniversary – as was customary in Belgium at the time – it was allowed to add a "royal" prefix to its name and has since been called Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht.
Virtually with the end of World War II, RSCA began to dominate Belgian football. Only 27 years passed between their first league title in 1947 and their 16th.
Around this time, in the 70s, the major international successes also began. From 1976 up to and including 1990, Anderlecht played in six European Cup finals, securing the UEFA Cup triumph in 1983 and winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1976 and 1978.
The latter title was secured with a 4-0 final victory against Wiener Austria, featuring a then 22-year-old Herbert Prohaska. Additionally, they claimed two UEFA Super Cup triumphs in 1976 and 1978.
Lived Beyond Their Financial Means
Like many clubs of similar stature, Anderlecht could no longer keep up with the financially stronger competition from top leagues internationally, especially after the Bosman ruling in 1995. However, they remained the strongest force in Belgium, at least until 2017.
By this time, Anderlecht was already far from as dominant as it had been at the turn of the millennium. "There were already signs that their dominance was coming to an end. The club was not in good financial health; it had been living beyond its means," reports sports journalist Malice.
The traditional club was brought into disarray by Roger Vanden Stock. His father, Constant Vanden Stock, who himself played for Anderlecht before World War II and after whom Anderlecht's home stadium was named for decades, took over the club in 1971 and handed it over to his son in 1996.
He, in turn, wanted to lead "Les Mauves et Blancs" back into the international spotlight and took a financial risk in doing so. "I did much more than my father. Why? Because I had to; I had to be successful as president. (...) I wanted to reach a European final. That didn't work out, but we didn't go bankrupt," Roger Vanden Stock was quoted in Belgian media in spring 2018.
A Pharma Billionaire Arrives - And Success Disappears
The club did not go bankrupt, but it had consistently recorded an operating loss for ten consecutive years by that point; in winter 2018, players urgently had to be sold to restore the balance sheet and avoid risking a license refusal.
This was the last transfer window under Vanden Stock's responsibility. In January 2018, Belgian pharma billionaire Marc Coucke bought 75 percent of the club's shares for 59.2 million euros, thus taking over the leadership of the club. Whether Coucke was presented with false financial figures during the purchase and therefore overpaid by several million euros, incidentally, is a question that will occupy the Belgian judiciary in the coming months.
What is clear, however, is that Anderlecht's sporting decline began with Coucke's entry.
"On a sporting level, the previous leadership understood football better, had better connections, and knew how to keep a club at the top. They understood what constitutes the club's identity. For Coucke and his people, that took a very long time," explains Malice.
Instability, Financial Problems, Poor Transfer Decisions
Zu einem gewissen Zeitpunkt gab es so viele Funktionäre, dass man nicht mal wusste, wer was tut. Du hattest einen Sportdirektor, einen Head of Sports, einen Manager, einen CEO - du hast nicht gewusst, wer wem untersteht.
The subsequent transfer windows were "disastrous," according to the RSCA expert. He accuses Coucke and his associates of a kind of cronyism; they relied more on the opinions of dubious player agents than on data-driven scouting. As a result, numerous average players were signed for far too much money and then also given long, highly remunerated contracts.
Moreover, the severe personnel instability outside the playing sector was a reason for the decline. 13 different coaches have been at work since the last title in 2017, along with constant changes in the leadership team.
"At a certain point, there were so many officials that you didn't even know who did what. You had a sporting director, a Head of Sports, a manager, a CEO – you didn't know who reported to whom," says Malice. There was never any calm within the club.
His conclusion on the sporting misery is: "Instability, financial problems, poor transfer decisions – all of this led to the club's downfall. In addition, there has been the rise of other clubs like Club Brugge and Union Saint-Gilloise, but also Gent and Genk. Football in Belgium has become more homogeneous."
Envy of the City Rival
Union Saint-Gilloise is a good keyword here. The current club of Austrian Legionnaire Raul Florucz shows that Brussels can indeed still compete at the top of Belgian football.
The extremely storied club returned to the Belgian top flight in 2021 – thanks to strong financial support from Brighton owner Tony Bloom – after 48 years of sporting irrelevance, and has since placed above Anderlecht in the final standings every year; in 2025, Union even celebrated its first league title in exactly 90 years.
"When I was a student and Union was still in the third or fourth division, it was hip to go watch Union. When Union returned, everyone was happy because the club has a lot of history – even Anderlecht fans. Initially, there was a lot of sympathy; Union was seen like a nice little brother. It was such a beautiful story to come back from the depths of amateur football into the professional ranks," Malice recalls.
Meanwhile, the opinion of the purple-and-white supporters about Union, which did everything right in terms of transfers and continuity that went wrong with their Brussels rival recently, has changed: "When success began, the sympathy waned. I believe that Anderlecht fans are a bit envious. It sickens them that everyone holds Union up as a role model."
Noblesse Oblige
Generally, Anderlecht is an extremely proud club, perhaps even a somewhat arrogant one, says Malice: "In this regard, they are very Dutch. They also have a good connection to Ajax Amsterdam; the mentality is very similar."
Decades of success created a certain sense of entitlement within and around the club that still exists today – after all this time in mediocrity. Appropriately, the official club motto "Noblesse Oblige" (German: "Adel verpflichtet") was introduced about two years ago.
As an Anderlecht player, one must bring a certain elegance to their style of play, says Malice: "Sometimes that no longer fits modern football. We had so many elegant, technically strong players, but in a team in crisis, you also need fighting spirit."
He elaborates: "Anderlecht can no longer afford to just play beautifully. If they win a title without playing beautifully, no one will complain."
One of the World's Best Football Academies
This elegance is taught to Anderlecht players from the ground up. At the renowned "Neerpede Academy," a consistent playing style is cultivated; in recent years, the Belgian national team has largely been shaped by Neerpede graduates, including Jeremy Doku, Romelu Lukaku, and Vincent Kompany.
The latter, incidentally, not only began his playing career but also his coaching career at Anderlecht. In 2019, the current successful Bayern coach returned to his youth club, first as a player-manager and, after ending his active playing career, as a regular head coach.
Under Kompany, RSCA regained a clear identity; the former world-class center-back relied on many – too many, according to Malice – young homegrown players.
"But those were Vincent Kompany's beginnings as a coach; he wasn't the Vincent Kompany who is now achieving great success with Bayern. He was still green as a coach, made simple mistakes, and made hot-headed decisions," says Malice.
Results also failed to materialize under the club legend, so Kompany had to leave in summer 2022, "which was the club's biggest mistake in recent years," Malice believes. In the following season, Anderlecht finished in a historically poor eleventh place in the table.
What Salzburg Can Expect
Wenn du sie ihren Fußball spielen lässt, könnte es schwierig für Salzburg werden, weil sie in der Lage zu allem sind - auch dazu, 90 Minuten schlecht zu spielen.
Since then, sporting development has at least shown an upward trend again. Anderlecht's new leadership team is trying to bring some stability back to the club. Moreover, elegance on the pitch is no longer the highest priority; gritty wins are now also allowed.
Nevertheless, it will be a difficult endeavor for the Belgian record champion to avert a full title-less decade.
In the Belgian Cup, they were already knocked out in the Round of 32 against second-division team Beerschot; in the league, they are already eight points behind leaders Club Brugge – this is particularly problematic because in Belgium (as in Austria), the points split was abolished this season. In the Europa League, Anderlecht has only one win from three matches.
"There is a lot of talent in the team, but this talent doesn't always know how to play together and isn't always in the right position on the field. The players need to wake up a bit," analyzes Malice.
He assesses FC Salzburg's chances on Thursday as follows: "If you put them under pressure, they will have problems. The question is whether Salzburg is good enough to put them under pressure. If you let them play their football, it could become difficult for Salzburg, because they are capable of anything – including playing badly for 90 minutes."
And who knows, perhaps Anderlecht will be capable of winning titles again in the future.
