Hans Vanaken with the hattrick! Our skipper has just won the Belgian Golden Shoe for the third time, taking him level with Belgian legends the likes of Jan Ceulemans and Wilfried Van Moer. The award is the cherry on top of what has been an outstanding 2024 for Club Brugge. Let's go back to that amazing rollercoaster of a year that has been 2024 for Golden Hans.
In 58 games for Club, Vanaken only missed out on two: once suspended, and once due to illness. The other 56 games saw 56 starts for Hans, missing out on just
44 minutes throughout all competitions, a whopping 99,13% percentage. Our Captain was a constant in Club 2024, a year that will go down in history as top notch for our captain and ‘Mister Europe’ Hans Vanaken.
The regular league in 2024 saw 1 goal and 3 assists signed by Vanaken in 10 games, adding one assist in the Champions Play-Offs. Hardly missing out on any playing time, Club's Spielmacher guided his team mates to a 19th league win. After an unbeaten run in the entire play-offs, Club finished it off on the final match day in the City Derby against Cercle, a grand apotheosis in a thunderous Jan Breydel. ‘Golden Hans’ strung along the five star performances, and was pivotal in his role on the pitch.
In the UEFA Conference League, Vanaken featured in all 6 games 2024, scoring 2 goals (both of them against Fiorentina) and adding 1 assist. Club narrowly missed out on a legendary Final, but closed the season after a fantastic European campaign.
What had been a turbulent 2023/2024 ended in style with a European Semi Final, and the team's 19th league win, which will forever have its place in the collective Club memory!
Not much time to bask in glory, however, as the season 2024-2025 was soon underway again. In his tenth (!) season at Club, Vanaken is still someone you can build upon. Omnipresent, he sets the pace, ruling midfield and conducting the Club orchestra. With 5 goals and 7 assists in the Jupiler Pro League he again highlights his value. The Croky Cup has also witnessed Hans' prowess, with 1 goal and 2 assists in four games.
Not only Belgium, but also Europe is the player's terrain. With 1 goal and 1 assist in 8 games, he is still the unmistakable metronome of the team, in constant control of the game.
2024 has been Vanaken's year par excellence! A goal for 2025? Continue along these lines, and take his Club to that next league and Cup win.
Vanaken in 2024
League | Goals | Assists | Minutes | Games |
JPL - Regular league | 6 | 9 | 2583 | 29 |
JPL - Champions' Play-offs | 0 | 1 | 810 | 9 |
Croky Cup | 1 | 2 | 433 | 5 |
Supercup | 0 | 0 | 90 | 1 |
UEFA Conference League | 2 | 1 | 540 | 6 |
UEFA Champions League | 1 | 1 | 540 | 6 |
TOTAL | 10 | 14 | 4996 | 56 |
Some stats detailing Hans' glory:
- Ever since he joined Club, Vanaken claimed zes league wins and four Supercups.
- Individual silverware came in three Golden Shoes and two Pro Player of the Year awards.
- Hans Vanaken is in his tenth season at the club, involved in at least 12 goals each and every season (goals + assists).
- Hans tops the UEFA Champions League goal scorers table, netting a tenth goal against Aston Villa earlier on this season (not including preliminaries).
- He has played in 46 (!) UCL games in a row.
One hell of a List of Honours for one of thé legends at Club. Golden Hans really is ‘Three of a Kind’.