When Royal Antwerp host their first-ever Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday evening, fans watching on television – and unaware of the Belgian club’s recent history – may get a bit of a shock.
While most of the Bosuilstadion has been redeveloped into one of the country’s finest sporting arenas, the stand facing the TV cameras will be empty due to a Uefa edict stating it is unsafe for fans.
Disagreements between Antwerp owner Paul Gheysens and Tania Mintjens, owner of the land the stadium is built on, has also slowed progress.
Mintjens wants Gheysens to cede more power to the fans in the way the club is run.
It demonstrates how rapid the rise of Antwerp has been – so quick that even the stadium cannot keep up.
Six years ago, Royal Antwerp – the oldest professional football club in Belgium, founded in 1880 and nicknamed ‘The Great Old’ – were languishing in the second tier.
Last season, they earned a first league championship since 1957 in the most dramatic of circumstances, thanks to a 94th-minute equaliser from former Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld in the final game, a 2-2 draw at title rivals Genk.
Antwerp finished one point clear of Genk and Union Saint-Gilloise, who missed out with a 3-1 loss to Club Brugge.
“It was unreal – there is not a word in any language to describe what it means for them,” Belgian football journalist Jan Willem Spaans told BBC Sport. “That Alderweireld goal, Belgium has never seen anything like that.
“I went through Antwerp the next day on the train and it was a mess – people in red and white scarves who looked like they hadn’t been to bed, or were out celebrating early again. The parties continued for a week.”
It earned Antwerp passage into Europe’s elite club competition for the first time. While they got a reality check with a 5-0 defeat at Barcelona in their opening Group H match, the good feeling has not worn off yet.
The club was taken over in 2017 by real estate entrepreneur Gheysens, who has invested millions into Antwerp. It has allowed them to sign household names such as Alderweireld, plus another ex-Spurs player in striker Vincent Janssen.
Former Belgium international Radja Nainggolan also played for the club, while they are managed by Mark van Bommel, previously a midfield destroyer for Barcelona, Bayern Munich and the Netherlands.