{
    "title": "Club Brugge claim 20th national title with draw at Mechelen",
    "modified_at": "2026-05-22 09:51:51",
    "published_at": "2026-05-22 05:08:00",
    "url": "https://www.belganewsagency.eu/football-club-brugge-claims-20th-national-title-after-draw-in-mechelen-and-union-draw",
    "short_url": "http://prez.ly/1rHd",
    "culture": "en_BE",
    "language": "EN",
    "slug": "football-club-brugge-claims-20th-national-title-after-draw-in-mechelen-and-union-draw",
    "body": "<p><strong>Club Brugge are the Belgian league champions for the 20th time in their history. They took a point from their penultimate match of the champions&#039; play-offs in the Jupiler Pro League on Thursday, with a 2-2 draw at KV Mechelen. With rivals Union Saint-Gilloise drawing 0-0 against AA Gent, it was enough for Club to secure the title.</strong></p><p>It was a tense finish after Mechelen&#039;s equaliser, according to Club president Bart Verhaeghe. &quot;It wasn&#039;t a good second half. We didn&#039;t play the good football we&#039;ve been showing in recent weeks. It probably has a bit to do with the circumstancesn&quot; he said. </p><p>&quot;It was an atypical Club Brugge. That second goal we conceded shouldn&#039;t have happened. Then we had to wait and see what would happen in Ghent. There, luck was on our side again today. All respect to Union. That is an absolute top team. They have had another wonderful season.&quot;</p><p>Last weekend, Union won the Belgian Cup, beating Anderlecht 3-1 after extra time.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><sub>#FlandersNewsService | Club Brugge captain Hans Vanaken and head coach Ivan Leko &copy; BELGA PHOTO TOM GOYVAERTS</sub></p><hr /><p><strong>Related news</strong></p><div id=\"bookmark-77a83b22-4635-4b1d-9a11-06cd6a5660d1\"\n     class=\"release-content-bookmark release-content-bookmark--horizontal\">\n\n            <a class=\"release-content-bookmark__thumbnail\"\n           href=\"http://prez.ly/DPGd\"\n           rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\n           target=\"_blank\"           style=\"background-image: url(https://prezly.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.uc.assets.prezly.com%2Fc49e299d-7e21-418d-a45d-90b1817e881f%2F-%2Fpreview%2F600x600%2F?ar=1%3A1&amp;fit=crop&amp;s=3e979d8079fbb768b64b057358f06cd7)\"\n        ></a>\n    \n    <div class=\"release-content-bookmark__details\">\n\n                    <a class=\"release-content-bookmark__title\"\n               href=\"http://prez.ly/DPGd\"\n               rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"\n               target=\"_blank\"               data-type=\"bookmark\"\n               data-track=\"Story WebBookmark Click\"\n               data-placement=\"content\"\n               data-id=\"77a83b22-4635-4b1d-9a11-06cd6a5660d1\"\n           >\n                Union beat Anderlecht in extra time to win fourth Belgian Cup            </a>\n        \n                    <div class=\"release-content-bookmark__description\">\n                Union Saint-Gilloise have won the Belgian Cup for the second time in three years, beating Brussels rivals Anderlecht 3-1 after extra time. The...            </div>\n        \n        <a href=\"https://www.belganewsagency.eu/\"\n           target=\"_blank\"\n           rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"\n           class=\"release-content-bookmark__provider\"\n        >\n            <img class=\"release-content-bookmark__provider-icon\" src=\"https://avatars.prezly.com/favicon?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.belganewsagency.eu%2Funion-beat-anderlecht-in-extra-time-to-win-fourth-belgian-cup&newsroom=6b71e247-a9ba-4732-aaa3-88be14c119db\" aria-hidden=\"true\" />\n            belganewsagency.eu        </a>\n    </div>\n</div>\n",
    "header": {
        "large": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/d8d77c1b-d6f4-40f5-b5b5-bc2a6daae586/-/preview/1200x1200/-/format/auto/",
        "release": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/d8d77c1b-d6f4-40f5-b5b5-bc2a6daae586/-/preview/1200x1200/-/format/auto/"
    },
    "links": [
        {
            "description": "Union beat Anderlecht in extra time to win fourth Belgian Cup",
            "url": "http://prez.ly/DPGd"
        }
    ],
    "author": {
        "first_name": "Flanders",
        "last_name": "News Service"
    },
    "format_version": 5
}