No, the Conference League cup does not have iconic status. An average football fan can blindly draw the ‘Cup with the Big Ears’ of the Champions League on a sheet of paper. The umbrella of the Uefa Cup, now the Europa League, is also part of the international football canon. But if Club Brugge eliminates Fiorentina on Wednesday evening, they will duel on May 29 in Athens for a slim cup like a pleated skirt, which blows in the wind.
It has been since Antwerp in 1993 that a Belgian club contested a European cup final. Club Brugge has to go back to 1978, and the end of the Ernst Happel era, for a similar achievement. Its historical significance is not lost on anyone at Blue-Black. Even Simon Mignolet, who played in the Champions League and Europa League finals as Liverpool goalkeeper, would consider it a career highlight.
“Precisely because it is an achievement with a Belgian club and that was already 31 years ago,” said the 36-year-old goalkeeper. “A final brings us into the line of legends of Club Brugge whose photo hangs on the wall here.” Mignolet would without blushing hang next to the Danish legend Birger Jensen, Hans Vanaken next to René Vandereycken, Igor Thiago next to Raoul Lambert and Kyriani Sabbe next to the late Fons Bastijns.
31 years ago, a Belgian team in a final was not unusual. KV Mechelen had won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1988 and is still the smallest European city with a European Cup. Anderlecht and Standard also reached the European finals. Club Brugge reached the final twice, each time losing to Liverpool, in 1976 and 1978.
The fact that this has not been possible since 1993 is traditionally attributed to the consequences of the Bosman judgment in 1995, which made professional football players more mobile and Belgian clubs lost their talents to more wealthy clubs. But at least as important was the reform of the European cups with the emergence of the Champions League and the Europa League. As a result, the European playing field narrowed to the exclusive territory of the five largest football markets, England, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.
Warm welcome
Between 1986 and 1992, the most important European prize had gone to a smaller football country four times (Steaua Bucharest, Porto, PSV and Red Star Belgrade). After 1992, this only happened with Ajax (1995) and Porto (2004). The Europa League has also not had a final winner from a smaller football country since 2011. Precisely to provide the medium-sized football countries with silverware again, a third European level was devised, the Conference League. The first edition was won by AS Roma in a final against Feyenoord. Fiorentina, Club Brugge’s opponent tonight, lost the final to West Ham United last year.
To eliminate ‘La Viola’, Italian for ‘the purple’, Club must count on a repeat of its “Italian job” from 1978: closing a deficit of one goal against an Italian opponent. 46 years ago, Club won 2–0 against Juventus after losing the first leg 1–0.
To be effective, Club Brugge needs its audience. The Jan Breydel Stadium is sold out for what could be a historic evening, in the middle of a period in which blue-black has achieved one of the most spectacular comebacks in the national competition. Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano said on Tuesday evening upon arrival in Bruges that he had warned his players of a warm reception.
But it should not get too hot either, expert Simon Mignolet warned. Already in the first match it became clear how some players had trouble keeping their nerves under control – midfielder Raphael Onyedika was faced with a red card. Other players also did not reach their best level. It will be important to keep a cool head when Fiorentina – placed at 0-0 – wants to take the sting out of the match. “Fiorentina will pull out its bag of tricks. That should not frustrate us,” Mignolet said. “It should not frustrate the supporters either. We must all keep one goal in mind and that is to try to win the match by two goals.”
