The relationship between Wouter Vrancken (45) and the Genk board had cooled for some time. After a brilliant first season, in which Genk produced refreshing football under Vrancken and ended up one minute shy of the national title, the performances in the second year remained below expectations.
After the elimination in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League against Servette Genève, things also went wrong in the preliminary rounds of the Europa League against Olympiacos. Through penalties, RC Genk qualified for the group stage of the Conference League at the expense of Adana Demirspor, but did not survive the group stage as number three behind Fiorentina and Ferencvaros.
Things also quickly went wrong in the Belgian Cup with the elimination on the field of the moribund second division club KV Oostende. In the competition, sixth place and the corresponding ticket for the Champions’ Play-offs could only be secured at the last minute.
Major disagreement
This led to nervousness, as both parties had different opinions about the cause of the poor performance. While Vrancken liked to attribute the major difference with the first season to the departure of strong players such as Onuachu (January ’23), Trésor (August ’23), Munoz (January ’24) and Paintsil (February ’24), the sporting managers are convinced that better performance is possible with the current core. In addition, it was also felt that the integration of talented young people should be faster, an element that is central to the club’s long-term policy.
A strong start to the Champions’ Play-offs (10 out of 12) provided some peace, but was followed by a 0 out of 9. In the last three games the goal difference was 1-11.
The mutual frictions became increasingly greater, also because there was an increasing feeling within Genk that Vrancken was committing his future to another club (AA Gent). That is why the board asked for clarity from his coach on Monday, partly because Genk and Ghent can meet each other at the end of the stage in a jump-off match for a European ticket.
For Vrancken there was no longer a (confidence) basis to continue in the longer term, he sees his future at AA Gent. Ultimately, that club had to help complete the divorce by paying part of the termination compensation in Vrancken’s contract with RC Genk. Ghent will probably only officially announce Vrancken’s arrival after the season.
RC Genk confirmed the immediate departure of its coach in an official announcement on Thursday. Vrancken would “prefer a new challenge”. Assistants Domenico Olivieri, Michel Ribeiro and Eddy Vanhemel will be responsible for coaching the last matches of this season.
