Will Club Brugge Be the Surprise Round-of-Sixteen Team in the Champions League?

Club Brugge is the only Belgian football club to have played in the UEFA Champions League Final. In fact, it was so long ago, in 1978, the tournament was known as the European Cup. They ended up losing to Liverpool in the final. The Belgian side is currently sitting at the top of the table in group B, and some people are already asking the question, ‘can Club Brugge be the surprise team that makes it past the group stage and into the final 16 teams?’

Who is Club Brugge?

Club Brugge is the second most successful football team in the top tier of men’s professional football in Belgium, second only to Anderlecht. They play in the Belgian First Division, which is otherwise known as the Jupiler Pro League. Nicknamed Blauw-Zwart (Blue-Black), (the) Club, FCB, FC Bruges, Boeren (Farmers), the Belgian side plays its home games at the 29,062 capacity Jan Breydel Stadium. The team formed in November 1891, and they play their home games in the iconic blue kit with black stripes.

Club Brugge has won the Belgian First Division on 18 separate occasions, and the only other team to have won more titles than this is RSC Anderlecht (34 titles). In more recent years, the team has been extremely successful, having won the league title three seasons in a row (2019/20, 2020/21, and 2021/22). Winning the league ensured their spot in the current UEFA Champions League tournament, and if they continue playing as they have been, there’s a good chance they could go all the way.

What kind of odds does Club Brugge have of winning the Champions League?

Despite their current performances in the UEFA Champions League, many of the major online sports betting sites still don’t have them anywhere near being favourites to win the tournament. For example, at most sites, you will see that they are currently priced at around +10,000 in American/Moneyline odds. In European decimal odds, it works out to 101.00; UK fractional odds translates to 100/1. In comparison, the favourites to win the Champions League, Manchester City, are currently priced at around +200 (which is 2/1, or 3.00).

In between these two teams, some of the other favourites with much better odds than Club Brugge are Benfica (90/1), Inter (80/1), Juventus (80/1), Borussia Dortmund (70/1), Atletico Madrid (70/1), AC Milan (70/1), Tottenham (30/1), Napoli (25/1), Chelsea (20/1), Barcelona (12/1), Real Madrid (11/1), Bayern Munich 7/1), and Paris SG (6/1). In other words, if you want to bet on Club Brugge, a more sensible bet would be on them to win the current Jupiler Pro League 2022/23.

They are currently priced at around +115 (which is 23/20, or 2.15) to win the league outright, which is above Royal Antwerp, KRC Genk, AA Gent, and Anderlecht. There is still a good chance that Club Brugge can shock everyone and make it to the semi-finals or the finals, though. Only time will tell.

Recent Club Brugge results and upcoming fixtures

At the time of writing, Club Brugge has played 3 Champions League games, having won all 3. They have scored a total of 7 goals and let in zero. Porto (2nd), Leverkusen (3rd), and Atletico Madrid (4th) are also in the group, each with 3 points. On September 7th, Club Brugge beat Leverkusen 1-0 at home. In their next Champions League outing on September 13th, they beat Porto 4-0 away before beating Atletico Madrid 2-0 at home on October 4th.

The 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 end of a 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 week. 🤩 #AndClu pic.twitter.com/MamQdJ5eVT

— Club Brugge KV (@ClubBrugge) October 16, 2022

At a domestic level, Club Brugge is currently in third place with 22 points after ten games, having won 7 games, drawn 1 and lost 2. They are behind Genk, who are currently in 2nd place with 25 points, and first place Antwerp who has 27 points. In some of their most recent league results, they beat Cercle Brugge 4-0 at home on September 2nd. They beat Leverkusen 1-0 at home and then beat RFC Seraing 2-0 away. They then lost 3-0 to Standard away on September 18th before beating Mechelen 3-0 at home.

Some of the upcoming Club Brugge games you can look forward to over the coming weeks are at home to Westerlo in the domestic league on Saturday, October 8th. Their next game is away to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday, October 12th, before playing Anderlecht away in the league on Sunday, October 16th. On Wednesday 19th, they face STVV at home in the league, and then they travel to Union Saint-Gilloise on October 22nd.

Club Brugge are definitely the team to watch again this year in the Belgian First Division, and they are also worth keeping an eye on in the Champions League to see how far they can progress.