Saturday Brugge double

Saturday 21 February 2026 - Game 1 - Club YLA 2 RSC Anderlecht Women 3 - Super League Women, Municipal Sports Centre Aalter

Game 2 - Club Brugge 2 Oud-Heverlee Leuven 1 - Jupiler Pro League, Jan Breydel Stadion

 Game 1:

Rail replacement day - so it was going to be tight and plenty of walking - could of gone for an easier double somewhere else but I wanted to go to Brugge as trying to visit ever ground, Ipswich have played at in Europe. Buses left on time and a 20 minute walk to the ground in Aalter. The town is close to the main motorway between Gent and Brugge and closer to Gent. The ground is on the edge of the small town, so a walk from the train station but arrived an hour before kick off, got my ticket  and went in, good news clubhouse open and hot drinks and beer on sale, and the club house was above the mains stand and you could watch from there. The stand was quite modern and probably held a few hundred. opposite was a covered terrace, to the left was a grass  bank with the hockey clubhouse behind it. the other end backed on to the athletics ground. The site also had more pitches , swimming pool and paddle courts.

First thing to notice, was how low the crowd was compared to this level in England, maybe not helped by not playing in Brugge ( this is the Club Brugge women's team but play under a different name) and playing on a Saturday.

It was an end to end game from kick off to the finish, the visitors going ahead on 26 minutes only for Club YLA to get back on level terms 9 minutes later. On 61 minutes the home side went in front after a great goal only for their keeper to let a corner go directly into the goal on 67 minutes, both teams still pressed forward and it was Anderlecht who got the winner in injury time.

Then a 20 minute walk- and getting the bus to Brugge with a few minutes to spare to make sure I had at least 90 minutes to get from Brugge Train station to the ground.

Game 2:

Connecting bus from station was easy to get and arrived as rain was more of a drizzle - joined loads of Brugge fans in a 'fan park' behind one of the stands- beer, frites and tv showing an afternoon game, entered the ground and it is feeling it's age - but still a good atmosphere, maybe more British than the usual Ultra orchestrated feel you get at many top league European games. For a team in the Champions League a new ground is needed, especially if they wish to make more from hospitality but for me, I loved it, felt more like watching a game in the 90's in the UK before all the new stadiums were built.

Football wise, Brugge were on top most of the game but found it hard to break the opponents down, partly due to resting players for their next European game.

Afterwards got the bus back to the station (Number 30) be warned it is packed, so if not in a hurry have another beer at the ground or even walk back as the bus struggles to get going at first due to the heavy traffic around the ground.

Bus replacement to Gent was still running but I opted for the train and one change  my preferred route back.