2023 Belgian Super Cup

2023 Belgian Super Cup

Antwerp Mechelen League winners Cup finalists 1 1
Antwerp won 5–4 on penalties
Date	23 July 2023
Venue	Bosuilstadion, Antwerp
Referee	Lawrence Visser
Attendance	16,000
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The 2023 Belgian Super Cup was a football match that took place on 23 July 2023 between the winners of the 2022–23 Belgian Pro League and the winners of the 2022–23 Belgian Cup. As Antwerp secured a double, winning both titles, they played the runners-up of the 2022–23 Belgian Cup, Mechelen.

Pre-match

Going into the match, Antwerp were deemed major favorites after they had won the "double", and were expected to at a third title in a repetition of the 2023 Belgian Cup final against KV Mechelen which they had won comfortably. Both clubs had been able to keep most of their squad together, with the main exceptions being Willian Pacho, Calvin Stengs and Mandela Keita who all left Antwerp, and Alessio da Cruz and Dries Wouters no longer at KV Mechelen.

Match

Summary

Antwerp started best in their home stadium, with especially Jelle Bataille and Michel-Ange Balikwisha combining easily early on. Gaëtan Coucke was forced to intervene a first time on an attempt from Bataille, but a minute later and with less than ten minutes played, Balikwisha did score on assist from Bataille. Balikwisha immediately added a second which was disallowed for offside after several minutes of VAR-review. With half time in sight, Antwerp again came close to doubling their lead, the crossbar preventing an own-goal by Jordi Vanlerberghe and Coucke pushing a hard strike from Gastón Ávila over the goal. Despite only leading 1–0, the contest seemed over at halftime already as KV Mechelen had not created a single chance against a dominant Antwerp.

The second half saw both teams play more aggressively, at the expense of the quality of play. Mid-way through the second half, Ávila committed a serious foul on the ankle of Nikola Storm and was sent off. While this did give KV Mechelen more space to create combinations, barely any chances came from it. Seemingly out of the blue, Ritche De Laet scored an own-goal after poor judgement, resulting in the game to be decided after penalty kicks as no extra-time was foreseen.

Antwerp looked to be losing as they started the penalty series dramatically, scoring only once in their first three attemps. They did remain flawless after that however, with Jean Butez becoming the hero as he first saved a penalty kick, then converted one himself before also forcing Dimitri Lavalée to make a crucial error.

Details

23 July 2023 18:00 CEST	Antwerp	1–1	Mechelen	Bosuilstadion, Antwerp Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Lawrence Visser
	Balikwisha  9'	Report	De Laet  78' (o.g.)
		Penalties
	Vines Ilenikhena Van Den Bosch Vermeeren Alderweireld Butez Scott	5–4	Schoofs Mrabti Vanlerberghe Lauberbach Storm Ngoy Lavalée

GK 1 Jean Butez RB 34 Jelle Bataille CB 23 Toby Alderweireld (c) CB 2 Ritchie De Laet LB 22 Gastón Ávila  69' MF 48 Arthur Vermeeren MF 17 Jacob Ondrejka 86' MF 8 Alhassan Yusuf 55' RW 11 Arbnor Muja 86' CF 7 Gyrano Kerk 58' 71' LW 10 Michel-Ange Balikwisha 86' Substitutes: CF 9 George Ilenikhena 86' DF 21 Sam Vines 71' MF 32 Christopher Scott 86' DF 33 Zeno Van Den Bosch 86' CF 55 Anthony Valencia CF 60 Victor Udoh GK 91 Senne Lammens Manager: Mark van Bommel

GK 1 Gaëtan Coucke RW 12 Tristan Loiseaux 46' CB 30 Jordi Vanlerberghe CB 14 Dimitri Lavalée LW 18 Alec Van Hoorenbeeck 46' MF 19 Kerim Mrabti 85' MF 34 Ngal'ayel Mukau 79' MF 16 Rob Schoofs (c) LW 11 Nikola Storm RW 9 Julien Ngoy CF 20 Lion Lauberbach Substitutes: DF 21 Boli Bolingoli 46' DF 23 Daam Foulon 47' 46' FW 28 Frederic Soelle Soelle 79' GK 15 Yannick Thoelen DF 27 David Bates MF 35 Bilal Bafdili MF 36 Dirk Asare Manager: Steven Defour

See also

• 2022–23 Belgian Pro League
• 2022–23 Belgian Cup

Belgian Supercup finals

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2023–24 in Belgian football
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Pro League · Challenger Pro League · National Division 1 · Division 2 · Division 3
Domestic cups
Belgian Cup (Final) · Super Cup
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