2021–22 Royal Antwerp F.C. season

Antwerp
season
Manager	Brian Priske
Stadium	Bosuilstadion
Belgian First Division A	11th
Belgian Cup	Pre-season
UEFA Europa League	Group stage
Top goalscorer	League: ; Michael Frey (6); All: ; Michael Frey (6)
	← 2020–21 2022–23 →
	All statistics correct as of 26 August 2021.

The 2021–22 season is the 118th season in the existence of Royal Antwerp F.C. and the club's fifth consecutive season in the top flight of Belgian football. In addition to the domestic league, Antwerp are participating in this season's editions of the Belgian Cup and the UEFA Europa League.

Players[]

First-team squad[]

As of 31 August 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	FRA	Jean Butez
2	DF	BEL	Ritchie De Laet
3	DF	BEL	Björn Engels
4	MF	BEL	Radja Nainggolan
5	DF	POR	Aurélio Buta
6	MF	BEL	Birger Verstraete
7	FW	DEN	Viktor Fischer
8	MF	NGA	Alhassan Yusuf
9	FW	GER	Johannes Eggestein
10	MF	BEL	Michel-Ange Balikwisha
11	MF	COD	Nill De Pauw
12	DF	COD	Luete Ava Dongo
14	MF	BEL	Manuel Benson
16	MF	BEL	Pieter Gerkens
17	DF	BEL	Robbe Quirynen
18	DF	FRA	Yassine Ben Hamed


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	MF	JPN	Koji Miyoshi
21	DF	USA	Sam Vines
22	FW	ANG	Bruny Nsimba
24	DF	BEL	Dorian Dessoleil
23	MF	GHA	Opoku Ampomah (on loan from Fortuna Düsseldorf)
26	GK	BEL	Ortwin De Wolf
34	MF	BEL	Jelle Bataille
38	MF	BEL	Faris Haroun (Captain)
43	MF	BEL	Sander Coopman
61	DF	POR	Dinis Almeida
70	MF	TAN	Mbwana Samatta (on loan from Fenerbahçe)
71	GK	CRO	Davor Matijaš
80	MF	BEL	Pierre Dwomoh
90	FW	CAN	Jules-Anthony Vilsaint
99	FW	SUI	Michael Frey
—	DF	SEN	Abdoulaye Seck

Out on loan[]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	IRN	Alireza Beiranvand (at Boavista)
7	FW	CMR	Didier Lamkel Zé (at DAC Dunajská Streda)
9	FW	CGO	Guy Mbenza (at Wydad AC)
15	MF	CMR	Frank Boya (at Zulte Waregem)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	MF	CMR	Martin Hongla (at Hellas Verona)
25	MF	BEL	Alexis De Sart (at Oud-Heverlee Leuven)
40	DF	NGA	Junior Pius (at Sint-Truidense)
99	FW	COD	Jonathan Bolingi (at Lausanne)

Transfers[]

In[]

Date	Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Source
17 June 2021	FW	Michael Frey	Fenerbahçe	Undisclosed	^[1]
18 June 2021	DF	Björn Engels	Aston Villa	Undisclosed	^[2]
7 July 2021	DF	Yassine Ben Hamed	Lille	Undisclosed	^[3]
15 July 2021	DF	Sam Vines	Colorado Rapids	Undisclosed	^[4]
16 July 2021	MF	Alhassan Yusuf	Göteborg	Undisclosed	^[5]
30 July 2021	FW	Viktor Fischer	Copenhagen	Undisclosed	^[6]
5 August 2021	FW	Johannes Eggestein	Werder Bremen	Undisclosed	^[7]
14 August 2021	MF	Radja Nainggolan	Inter Milan^[a]	Free transfer	^[8]^[9]
27 August 2021	MF	Pierre Dwomoh	K.R.C. Genk	Undisclosed
27 August 2021	DF	Dorian Dessoleil	R. Charleroi S.C.	Undisclosed
31 August 2021	FW	Mbwana Samatta	Fenerbahçe	On loan

Out[]

Date	Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Source
1 July 2021	DF	Simen Juklerød	K.R.C. Genk	Free transfer
1 July 2021	MF	Lior Refaelov	Anderlecht	Free transfer	^[10]
12 July 2021	FW	Dieumerci Mbokani	Kuwait SC	Free transfer	^[11]
23 July 2021	DF	Dylan Batubinsika	F.C. Famalicão	Undisclosed
31 August 2021	MF	Louis Verstraete	Waasland-Beveren	Undisclosed

Notes

^ Contract with Inter Milan terminated by mutual consent. On 14 August 2021, Nainggolan joined Royal Antwerp as a free agent.

Pre-season and friendlies[]

Win Draw Loss Fixtures

3 July 2021 Friendly	Antwerp	2–2	FC Utrecht	showAntwerp, Belgium
14:00 CEST (UTC+2)	De Laet 48' Mbenza 65' (pen.)		Gustafson Van der Maarel Dalmau Kerk 80' Boussaid 107'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion
Note: The match was played in two halves of 60 minutes each.

17 July 2021 Friendly	Antwerp	0–0	Monaco	showAntwerp, Belgium
17:00 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Bosuilstadion

Competitions[]

Overall record[]

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Belgian First Division A	25 July 2021	May 2022	Matchday 1	6	2	2	2	11	9	+2	033.33
Belgian Cup	TBD			0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—
UEFA Europa League	19 August 2021		Play-off round	3	1	0	2	5	6	−1	033.33
Total				9	3	2	4	16	15	+1	033.33

Last updated: 16 September 2021
Source: Soccerway

Belgian First Division A[]

League table[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
10	Seraing	7	3	0	4	7	11	−4	9
11	Oostende	7	3	0	4	8	14	−6	9
12	Antwerp	6	2	2	2	11	8	+3	8
13	Cercle Brugge	7	2	2	3	9	9	0	8
14	Zulte Waregem	7	2	2	3	11	14	−3	8

Updated to match(es) played on 13 September 2021. Source: Jupiler Pro League (in Dutch), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Matches won; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away matches won; 6) Away goal difference; 7) Away goals scored; 8) Play-off.^[12]

Results summary[]

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
6	2	2	2	11	9	+2	8	0	1	1	2	3	−1	2	1	1	9	6	+3

Last updated: 11 September 2021.
Source: Jupiler Pro League

Results by round[]

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	L	W	D		D	W
Position	14	18	13	11		15	12

Updated to match(es) played on 11 September 2021. Source: Jupiler Pro League
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches[]

The league fixtures were announced on 8 June 2021.^[13]

25 July 2021 1	KV Mechelen	3–2	Antwerp	showMechelen
13:30 CEST (UTC+2)	De Laet 60' (o.g.) Walsh 66' Druijf 73', 74' Schoofs 76'	Report	Frey 18' Benson 56' B. Verstraete 79' Bataille 90+3'	Stadium: Achter de Kazerne Attendance: 4,800 Referee: Nicolas Laforge

1 August 2021 2	Antwerp	0–1	Kortrijk	showAntwerp
21:00 CEST (UTC+2)	L. Verstraete 25' 90+2'	Report	Palaversa 13' D'haene 19' Rougeaux 32' Selemani 60', 87' Guèye 76'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Erik Lambrechts

8 August 2021 3	Standard Liège	2–5	Antwerp	showLiège
13:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Sissako 39' Bastien 49' Muleka 55' Drăguș 77' Pavlovic 80'	Report	Frey 6', 37', 59', 61', 68' Seck 8' Benson 44' De Laet 79' B. Verstraete 80' Gerkens 90+1'	Stadium: Stade Maurice Dufrasne Attendance: 8,038 Referee: Bram Van Driessche

13 August 2021 4	Charleroi	1–1	Antwerp	showCharleroi
20:45 CEST (UTC+2)	Zaroury 57' Gholizadeh 71'	Report	Fischer 38' Gerkens 42' L. Verstraete 90+2'	Stadium: Stade du Pays de Charleroi Attendance: 6,921 Referee: Jonathan Lardot

22 September 2021 5	Antwerp	Postponed	Genk	showAntwerp
20:45 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Bosuilstadion Referee: Bram Van Driessche

29 August 2021 6	Antwerp	2–2	OH Leuven	showAntwerp
16:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Maertens 38' (o.g.) Frey 45+2' (p) Vines 54' Balikwisha 67' Buta 71' B. Verstraete 90+3'		Maertens 48' Özkacar 55' Ngawa 67' Shengelia 76' Schrijvers 83' Dewaest 90+2' 90+2'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 10,223 Referee: Wesli De Cremer

11 September 2021 7	Eupen	0–1	Antwerp	showEupen
16:15 CET (UTC+2)	Prevljak 87'		De Laet 38' Nainggolan 41' Miyoshi 42' Frey 55' B. Verstraete 68' Gerkens 80'	Stadium: Kehrwegstadion Referee: Kevin Van Damme

19 September 2021 8	Antwerp	–	Seraing	showAntwerp
16:00 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Bosuilstadion Referee: Jan Boterberg

Belgian Cup[]

UEFA Europa League[]

Play-off round[]

The draw for the play-off round was held on 2 August 2021.^[14]

19 August 2021 First leg	Omonia	4–2	Antwerp	showNicosia, Cyprus
20:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Loizou 43', 56' Kakoullis 49' Atiemwen 84' (pen.)	Report	Benson 26' Gerkens 42' Miyoshi 62', 68' Seck 83'	Stadium: GSP Stadium Attendance: 7,585 Referee: Andreas Ekberg (Sweden)

26 August 2021 Second leg	Antwerp	2–0 (a.e.t.) (4–4 agg.) (3–2 p)	Omonia	showAntwerp, Belgium
21:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Miyoshi 28' Nainggolan 30' Bataille 70' Seck 79' Gerkens 84' Engels 86' Balikwisha 112'	Report	Diskerud 70' Lecjaks 72' Zachariou 96' Gómez 113'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 10,470 Referee: Andris Treimanis (Latvia)
	Penalties
	Verstraete Gerkens Eggestein Miyoshi		Gómez Atiemwen Lecjaks Yuste Zachariou

Group stage[]

The group stage draw was held on 27 August 2021.

Pos	Team v	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	OLY	FEN	FRA	ANT
1	Olympiacos	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	3	Advance to round of 16	—	25 Nov	4 Nov	2–1
2	Fenerbahçe	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1^[a]	Advance to preliminary knockout round	30 Sep	—	9 Dec	21 Oct
3	Eintracht Frankfurt	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1^[a]	Transfer to Europa Conference League	21 Oct	1–1	—	25 Nov
4	Antwerp	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	0		9 Dec	4 Nov	30 Sep	—

Updated to match(es) played on 16 September 2021. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Away goals scored in all group matches: Fenerbahçe 1, Eintracht Frankfurt 0.

16 September 2021 1	Olympiacos	2–1	Antwerp	showPiraeus, Greece
22:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Cissé 49' El-Arabi 52' A. Camara 67' Reabciuk 87'	Report	Verstraete 4' Bataille 53' 90' Samatta 75' Gerkens 90+1'	Stadium: Karaiskakis Stadium Attendance: 15,615 Referee: Tamás Bognár (Hungary)

30 September 2021 2	Antwerp	–	Eintracht Frankfurt	showAntwerp, Belgium
18:45 CET (UTC+1)				Stadium: Bosuilstadion

21 October 2021 3	Fenerbahçe	–	Antwerp	showIstanbul, Turkey
22:00 EEST (UTC+3)				Stadium: Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium

4 November 2021 4	Antwerp	–	Fenerbahçe	showAntwerp, Belgium
21:00 CET (UTC+1)				Stadium: Bosuilstadion

25 November 2021 5	Eintracht Frankfurt	–	Antwerp	showFrankfurt, Germany
21:00 CET (UTC+1)				Stadium: Waldstadion

9 December 2021 6	Antwerp	–	Olympiacos	showAntwerp, Belgium
18:45 CET (UTC+1)				Stadium: Bosuilstadion

Statistics[]

Goalscorers[]

As of 16 September 2021

Rank	No.	Pos	Name	First Division A	Europa League	Total
1	99	FW	Michael Frey	8	0	8
2	14	FW	Manuel Benson	1	1	2
2	19	FW	Koji Miyoshi	0	2	2
4	7	FW	Viktor Fischer	1	0	1
	16	MF	Pieter Gerkens	0	1
	70	FW	Mbwana Samatta	0	1
Totals				10	5	15

References[]

^ "Welkom op De Bosuil, Michael Frey!" (in Dutch). Royal Antwerp F.C. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
^ "Villa reach agreement for Engels transfer". Aston Villa Football Club. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
^ "Officiel : Yassine Ben Hamed signe à Antwerp". 7 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
^ "Colorado Rapids defender Sam Vines finalizing transfer to Royal Antwerp". Major League Soccer. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
^ "Done Deal: Alhassan Yusuf Joins Belgian Club Royal Antwerp On Four-Year Contract". Complete Sports. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
^ "FCK sell Viktor Fischer to Royal Antwerp FC". FCK.dk. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
^ "Perfekt: Johannes Eggestein verlässt Werder Bremen". kicker (in German). 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
^ "Radja Nainggolan contract terminated by mutual consent" (Press release). Inter Milan. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ "WELKOM OP DE BOSUIL, RADJA NAINGGOLAN!" (Press release). Royal Antwerp. 14 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
^ "Anderlecht sign REFAELOV from Antwerp". Ghana Soccernet. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
^ "Dieumerci Mbokani joins Obi Mikel in Kuwait SC". King Fut. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
^ "Bondsreglement Titel 7: Competities" [Associtation Rules Title 7: Competitions] (PDF). Royal Belgian Football Association. p. 19. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
^ "Pro League 2021/2022: Un choc d'entrée pour le Standard et Anderlecht". www.footnews.be (in French). 8 June 2021.
^ "UEFA Europa League play-off round draw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.

[8] Contract with Inter Milan terminated by mutual consent. On 14 August 2021, Nainggolan joined Royal Antwerp as a free agent.

[table_hth_FEN0.81507974109383-16] Jump up to: ^a ^b Away goals scored in all group matches: Fenerbahçe 1, Eintracht Frankfurt 0.

[1] "Welkom op De Bosuil, Michael Frey!" (in Dutch). Royal Antwerp F.C. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.

[2] "Villa reach agreement for Engels transfer". Aston Villa Football Club. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-18.

[3] "Officiel : Yassine Ben Hamed signe à Antwerp". 7 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.

[4] "Colorado Rapids defender Sam Vines finalizing transfer to Royal Antwerp". Major League Soccer. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-16.

[5] "Done Deal: Alhassan Yusuf Joins Belgian Club Royal Antwerp On Four-Year Contract". Complete Sports. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.

[6] "FCK sell Viktor Fischer to Royal Antwerp FC". FCK.dk. Retrieved 30 July 2021.

[7] "Perfekt: Johannes Eggestein verlässt Werder Bremen". kicker (in German). 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.

[9] "Radja Nainggolan contract terminated by mutual consent" (Press release). Inter Milan. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.

[10] "WELKOM OP DE BOSUIL, RADJA NAINGGOLAN!" (Press release). Royal Antwerp. 14 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.

[11] "Anderlecht sign REFAELOV from Antwerp". Ghana Soccernet. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.

[12] "Dieumerci Mbokani joins Obi Mikel in Kuwait SC". King Fut. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.

[13] "Bondsreglement Titel 7: Competities" [Associtation Rules Title 7: Competitions] (PDF). Royal Belgian Football Association. p. 19. Retrieved 25 August 2020.

[14] "Pro League 2021/2022: Un choc d'entrée pour le Standard et Anderlecht". www.footnews.be (in French). 8 June 2021.

[15] "UEFA Europa League play-off round draw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.

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« 2020–21 »
League competitions	First Division A First Division B National Division 1 Division 2
Women's League competitions
Cup competitions	Belgian Cup (Final) Super Cup
Transfers	Summer 2021
UEFA competitions	Champions League Europa League Europa Conference League
Related to national team	2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying (Group E) Roberto Martínez
Club seasons
First Division A	Anderlecht Antwerp Beerschot Cercle Brugge Charleroi Club Brugge Eupen Genk Gent Kortrijk Mechelen OH Leuven Oostende Seraing Sint-Truiden Standard Liège Union SG Zulte-Waregem
First Division B