Bad Champions League faux pas
Club makes mistake “that cannot be corrected”
September 15, 2023, 12:30 p.m
Royal Antwerp won the Belgian championship in a dramatic final, then the team fought its way into the group stage of the Champions League for the first time ever. You’re giving yourself the first setback in a long time.
Mark van Bommel is contrite because Royal Antwerp has caused a bitter mishap: the Belgian club has registered his teammate Björn Engels for the Champions League group phase instead of the American Sam Vines. However, he has not played yet this season due to injury – and has been struggling with health problems for a long time. “We didn’t do it right. Vines belongs on the list,” said said van Bommel about the mistake. “We have made an administrative error that can no longer be corrected.” The Belgian Engels completed his last mission at the beginning of February, after which he was put out of action by a torn muscle in his thigh. Engels is currently suffering from Achilles tendon problems.
Vines, a nine-time US international, is also currently injured; the defender was injured in the last game of the “Jupiler League” before the international break. “Of course he is disappointed,” said van Bommel about his left-back. “But he’s focusing on his rehab now, that’s the most important thing.” Royal was able to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League for the first time ever, with Sam Vines on the pitch in both playoff games against AEK Athens (1:0, 2:1). In Group H, the Belgian champions face Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Porto and FC Barcelona. With new signing Owen Wijndal, only one healthy, trained left-back is eligible to play in the Champions League preliminary round after the reporting breakdown. Should Royal Antwerp survive the group phase, the club could register up to three players for the knockout phase.
Double déjà vu
Van Bommel, who played for FC Bayern for a long time in the Bundesliga and later had a short, extremely unfortunate interlude as coach at VfL Wolfsburg, led Royal to their first championship title in 66 years last season. The decision was made on the last day of the match in a dramatic stoppage time: Toby Alderweireld equalized after 94 minutes for Royal against pursuers Genk (2-2), and due to the parallel defeat of Union Saint-Gilloise, the draw was enough to clinch the title – with a one point lead over Genk and Saint Gilloise.
For Royal Antwerp’s technical director, Marc Overmars, the breakdown means bitter deja vu: under the leadership of the former Netherlands international, exactly the same thing happened at Ajax in 2021. At that time, Ajax failed to tick Sébastien Haller’s name when registering for the knockout phase of the Europa League. The newly purchased striker was therefore not allowed to play in the European Cup until the end of the season. Haller had to watch at home as Ajax were defeated by AS Roma in the quarter-finals.
Van Bommel had also lost track of his personnel once in his career: in the DFB Cup game between his VfL Wolfsburg and Preußen Münster, the FC Bayern champion player made one substitution too often – and later lost the game at the Green Table due to this mishap. The breakdown first meant the end for VfL Wolfsburg, and later for the coach: Van Bommel lost his job a few weeks after the incident.