Birger Verstraete (born 16 April 1994) is a Belgian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club OH Leuven. Verstraete has played once for the Belgium national team.

Club career

From

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

, Verstraete came through the youth ranks at

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

as a central midfielder, but only played six league games for the Blauw-Zwart before moving to

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

in 2015. Two seasons followed at the Guldensporen before a big step-up to join

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

in 2017, who had won the Belgian title two years earlier. A poor start to the season saw the dismissal of coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck, but the Buffalos rallied to finish fourth under Yves Vanderhaeghe. A further fifth-placed finish and decent run to the

2018–19 Belgian Cup The 2018–19 Belgian Cup, called the Croky Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 64th season of Belgium's annual football cup competition. The competition began on 29 July 2018 and ended with the final in May 2019. The winners of the competition qu ...

Final - where they were beaten 2–1 by

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

despite having taken the lead - alerted clubs from across the border in Germany, particularly

FC Köln FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

. Verstraete only played nine games in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

before returning to the Belgian Pro League with

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

in 2020, at first on loan. As part of a dynamic Great Old side under first

Ivan Leko Ivan Leko (born 7 February 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Croatian Football League club Hajduk Split. Club career Leko started his career with his hometown club Hajduk Split and played t ...

and then Frank Vercauteren, Verstraete helped Antwerp to a third-place finish in the 2020–21 season, the club's highest placing since their previous league title in 1957. However, he was not allowed play in the covid-delayed 2020 Belgian Cup Final win over his former side Club Brugge, as he had not been signed by the time of the original date of the decider in April 2020. The following season under Danish coach

Brian Priske Brian Priske Pedersen (born 14 May 1977) is a Danish professional football manager and former player, who is the current head coach of Czech First League club Sparta Prague. Priske played as a defender during his playing career. He played 24 ma ...

, Royal Antwerp finished fourth, after losing home and away to

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

in the 2021–22 league championship play-offs. On 6 September 2022, Verstraete joined

on loan, helping them win their fight against relegation, and aiding their run to the 2023 Belgian Cup Final against

. On 11 September 2023, he signed a two-year contract with

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

International career

Verstraete made his Belgium national team debut on 7 September 2018 in a friendly against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Verstraete, Birger 1994 births Sportspeople from Ostend Living people Men's association football midfielders Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgium men's international footballers Club Brugge KV players Royal Excel Mouscron players K.V. Kortrijk players K.A.A. Gent players 1. FC Köln players Royal Antwerp F.C. players K.V. Mechelen players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Super League Greece players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Greece