Hans Vanaken

Hans Vanaken

Vanaken with Lommel United in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Hans Vanaken [1]
Date of birth	(1992-08-24) 24 August 1992 (age 32)
Place of birth	Pelt, Belgium
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) [2]
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	Club Brugge
Number	20
Youth career
2002–2008	PSV Eindhoven
2008–2010	Lommel United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2013	Lommel United	80	(21)
2013–2015	Lokeren	76	(19)
2015–	Club Brugge	351	(103)
International career‡
2012	Belgium U20	2	(0)
2013–2014	Belgium U21	3	(0)
2018–	Belgium	23	(5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:37, 23 November 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:45, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

Hans Vanaken (born 24 August 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Belgian Pro League club Club Brugge and the Belgium national team. Vanaken is well known in Belgium for his prolific goal scoring ability despite playing in midfield, and is a six-time Belgian Pro League champion with Club Brugge as of the start of the 2024-25 season.

Club career

Early career

Vanaken began his career at the youth team of Lommel United before leaving the club to join the PSV Eindhoven academy in 2002 when the former declared bankruptcy. ^[3] He returned to a revamped Lommel in 2008 and made his senior debut for the club in the Belgian Second Division in 2010. ^[3] He caught the eye of a number of top division clubs after a string of standout performances for Lommel and joined Lokeren in 2013. ^[3]

He made top flight debut for Lokeren on 28 July 2013, when he scored two goals in a 3–2 win against defending champions Anderlecht. ^[3] Vanaken was instrumental in Lokeren's run to the final of the 2013–14 Belgian Cup, playing in six of their seven matches and scoring one goal as his side edged out Zulte Waregem for the title. ^[4] Vanaken further excelled in his second season in the top flight, scoring eight league goals and finishing third in the voting for the Belgian Golden Shoe award. ^[5]

Club Brugge

It was announced in May 2015 that Lokeren had reached an agreement with Club Brugge over the transfer of Vanaken to the latter with the player signing a five-year deal subject to a medical. ^{[5] [6]} His maiden season at Club Brugge came with a spot in the starting line-up, where he proved instrumental in helping the club lift their 14th league championship. ^[3]

In 2018, Vanaken scored 21 goals and provided a further 21 assists as he helped his team to its 15th league title and the Belgian Supercup. On 16 January 2019, Vanaken won the Belgian Golden Shoe award after having won the Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year award in May 2018. ^{[7] [8]}

Vanaken signed a new contract with Brugge on 9 August 2019, tying him to the club until 2024. ^[6]

On 11 December 2019, Vanaken scored Brugge's equalizing goal in their Champions League home match against Spanish club Real Madrid; but Brugge would eventually fall to a 3–1 defeat and be parachuted into the UEFA Europa League Round of 32. ^{[9] [10]}

On 15 January 2020, Vanaken became the first player since Jan Ceulemans in 1986 to win back-to-back Belgian Golden Shoe awards. Vanaken won the award on the back of 20 goals and 7 assists during 2019. ^[11] Club Brugge would win their third title in five seasons when the 2019-20 campaign was halted in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with one round to go in the regular season. The play-offs were cancelled, and CLub were crowned champions by virtue of being top.

On 20 May 2021, Vanaken scored twice as Brugge drew 3–3 with rivals Anderlecht to retain the Belgian First Division A title, winning it for the fourth time in six years and 17th time overall. ^[12] It was the first time since 1973 that Club Brugge had been crowned champions at Anderlecht's ground and the first time since 1976–77 and 1977–78 that Brugge had won back-to-back league titles. ^[13]

Vanaken went on to help inspire Club to a third successive title in 2022, their first three-in-a-row since the 1970s, as they overhauled long-time leaders Union Saint-Gilloise in the play-offs, something that would happen again for Club's next title in 2023-24. On 6 November 2024, Vanaken scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in a 1-0 win over Aston Villa in the UEFA Champions League. ^[14]

International career

Vanaken made his debut for the Belgium national team on 7 September 2018, replacing Eden Hazard in a 4–0 victory against Scotland at Hampden Park. ^{[15] [16]}

He scored his first two goals for Belgium on 30 March 2021, coming in an 8–0 win over Belarus in qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. ^[17]

On 17 May 2021, Vanaken was one of two Belgium-based players to be selected for the final 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2020, along with club teammate Simon Mignolet. ^[18]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 27 November 2024 ^[4]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Belgian Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Lommel United	2010–11	Belgian Second Division	16	1	0	0	–		–		16	1
	2011–12	Belgian Second Division	32	10	2	0	–		–		34	10
	2012–13	Belgian Second Division	32	10	0	0	–		–		32	10
	Total		80	21	2	0	–		–		82	21
Lokeren	2013–14	Belgian Pro League	39	11	6	1	–		–		45	12
	2014–15	Belgian Pro League	37	8	3	0	6 [a]	2	1 [b]	0	47	10
	Total		76	19	9	1	6	2	1	0	92	22
Club Brugge	2015–16	Belgian Pro League	36	10	6	2	8 [c]	0	1 [b]	0	51	12
	2016–17	Belgian Pro League	39	9	2	1	6 [d]	0	1 [b]	0	48	10
	2017–18	Belgian Pro League	39	11	5	3	4 [e]	0	0	0	48	14
	2018–19	Belgian Pro League	40	14	1	0	8 [d]	2	1 [b]	1	50	17
	2019–20	Belgian Pro League	29	13	6	0	12 [f]	4	–		47	17
	2020–21	Belgian Pro League	36	11	3	2	6 [d]	3	–		45	16
	2021–22	Belgian Pro League	39	11	5	1	6 [d]	3	0	0	50	15
	2022–23	Belgian Pro League	40	14	2	0	8 [d]	0	1 [b]	0	51	14
	2023–24	Belgian Pro League	38	5	5	0	16 [g]	7	–		59	12
	2024–25	Belgian Pro League	15	5	1	0	5 [d]	1	1 [b]	0	22	6
	Total		351	103	36	9	80	20	5	1	471	133
Career total			507	143	47	10	85	22	6	1	645	176

1. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
2. Appearance in Belgian Super Cup
3. Four appearances in UEFA Champions League, four appearances in UEFA Europa League
4. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
5. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
6. Ten appearances and four goals in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
7. Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

International

As of match played 18 November 2022 ^[4]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Belgium	2018	2	0
	2019	2	0
	2020	4	0
	2021	9	3
	2022	6	2
Total		23	5

As of match played 29 March 2022

Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Vanaken goal

List of international goals scored by Hans Vanaken

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	30 March 2021	Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium	9	Belarus	2–0	8–0	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	[19]
2					8–0
3	2 September 2021	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia	12	Estonia	1–1	5–2	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	[20]
4	26 March 2022	Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland	18	Republic of Ireland	2–1	2–2	Friendly	[21]
5	29 March 2022	Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Anderlecht, Belgium	19	Burkina Faso	1–0	3–0	Friendly	[22]

Honours

Lokeren ^[4]

• Belgian Cup: 2013–14

Club Brugge ^{[4] [6]}

• Belgian Pro League: 2015–16, 2017–18, ^[23] 2019–20, 2020–21, ^[12] 2021–22, 2023–24 ^[24]
• Belgian Super Cup: 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022

Individual

• Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year: 2017–18, 2018–19 ^{[25] [6]}
• Belgian Golden Shoe: 2018, 2019 ^{[26] [25]}
• Belgian Pro League top assist provider: 2018–19
• UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season: 2023–24 ^[27]

References

1. "Squad List: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Belgium (BEL)" (PDF). FIFA. 18 December 2022. p. 3. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
2. "Hans Vanaken". 15 October 2023.
3. "Hans Vanaken Profile". Club Brugge. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
4. Hans Vanaken at Soccerway. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
5. "Club Brugge reached an agreement in principle to land Hans Vanaken". Club Brugge. 29 May 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
6. "Prolonged contract for Hans Vanaken!". Club Brugge. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
7. "Golden Boot goes to Hans Vanaken!". Club Brugge. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
8. "Club plunders Player of the Year Awards". Club Brugge. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
9. "Rodrygo, Real Madrid Beat Club Brugge 3-1 in Champions League". Bleacher Report. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
10. "Real Madrid's two Brazilian teenagers scored as they beat Club Bruges in a Champions League dead rubber match". BBC. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
11. "A second Golden Boot for Hans Vanaken!". Club Brugge. 15 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
12. "Club Brugge clinch Belgian title". Reuters. 20 May 2021.
13. "Club Brugge wins back-to-back Belgian titles". USA Today. 21 May 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
14. UEFA.com. "Club Brugge vs Aston Villa: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League phase". UEFA.com. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
15. "Scotland 0-4 Belgium: Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard score". Sky Sports. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
16. "Timothy Castagne, Hans Vanaken, Leandro Trossard, Birger Verstraete: Who are Belgium's newcomers?". Sky Sports. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
17. "Belgium rout of Belarus puts reserves in the spotlight". ESPN. 30 March 2021.
18. "Selection of the Red Devils for EURO 2020 has been announced". Royal Belgian Football Association . 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
19. "Belgium 8–0 Belarus: Leandro Trossard scores twice in crushing win". BBC Sport. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
20. "Estonia 2–5 Belgium: Romelu Lukaku scores twice in comeback win". BBC Sport. 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
21. "Republic of Ireland 2–2 Belgium: Late Alan Browne goal earns Republic draw in friendly". BBC Sport. 26 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
22. "Belgium 3–0 Burkina Faso: Trossard and Benteke on target in friendly win". BBC Sport. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
23. TOM VAN AKEN (13 May 2018). "Club kampioen na een punt in Luik". www.sport.be. Archived from the original on 14 May 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
24. "Club Brugge completes hat trick of Belgian titles". AP News. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
25. "Hans Vanaken, un premier de classe sans la folie". RTBF (in French). 15 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
26. "Moroccan midfielder Mehdi Carcela receives the Belgian Lion Award". Yabiladi. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
27. UEFA.com (1 June 2024). "2023/24 Europa Conference League Team of the Season | UEFA Europa Conference League". UEFA.com. Retrieved 1 June 2024.

External links

• Profile at the Club Brugge KV website
• Hans Vanaken at the Royal Belgian Football Association
• Hans Vanaken at the Royal Belgian Football Association (old format)
• Hans Vanaken – UEFA competition record ( archive ) 
• Hans Vanaken – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Hans Vanaken at Soccerway