Christian Brüls (born 30 September 1988) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a midfielder for

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

in the Belgian Pro League.

Career

Eupen

Born in Malmedy, Belgium, Brüls began playing football when he was four, signing for Grün-Weiß Amel. He remained at the club until he joined Eupen when he was a minor and at the club he started his career. Brüls made his Eupen debut on 10 December 2005, coming on as a substitute for goal scorer Gilles Colin, in a 2–0 win over Oud-Heverlee Leuven and went on to make six appearances for the club that season. In the 2006–07 season, Brüls made his first appearance for the club on 30 August 2006, when he played for 72 minutes, in a 3–1 win over Dessel Sport. However, Brüls' appearance was restricted to fourteen appearances in all competition despite the club's faced the season with injury crisis. In the 2007–08 season, Brüls started the season well and scored his first goal for the club on 15 September 2007, in a 3–1 win over Deinze. Brüls' second goal for the club then came on 11 November 2007, in a 1-0 win over Vigor Wuitens Hamme and his third goal came a month later on 15 December 2007, in a 3-3 draw against Oostende. His fourth goal came on 18 February 2008, in a 4-1 win over

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namu ...

. Brüls made thirty-two appearances and scored four times in all competition despite suffering from a foot injury. Partly because of his strong performances for the young Red Devils, he attracted the interest of some Belgian top clubs, including

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.

, Germinal Beerschot and Gent.

MVV Maastricht

Nevertheless, he chose to play for Dutch Jupiler League club MVV Maastricht, signing a four-year contract on 23 June 2008. It was a hectic transfer-season for Brüls, as Trabzonspor had signed him first. After some negotiations between MVV Maastricht and Trabzonspor, Brüls had permission to play for the Dutch side. Brüls made his MVV Maastricht debut in the opening game of the season, making his first start, in a 0–0 draw against PEC Zwolle. Two weeks later on 22 August 2008, he set up two goals, in a 3-1 win over Helmond Sport. Brüls scored his first MVV Maastricht goal on 31 October 2008, in a 3-2 win over AGOVV Apeldoorn. Brüls scored two more goals later in the season against Zwolle, as well as, providing a hat-trick assists and Dordrecht. Despite suffering from an injury, Brüls finished his first season at the club, making thirty-seven appearances and scoring three times in all competition. The 2009-10 season saw Brüls continued to be a first team regular at the club and scored his first goal of the season on 15 September 2009, in a 3-1 win over Veendam. Brüls later scored three more goals later in the season against Volendam (which he also scored in another encounter on 19 February 2010) and

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Westerlo on a two–year contract. However, according to the transfer, MVV Maastricht received a small transfer fee from Westerlo. Brüls made his Westerlo debut in the opening game of the season, making his first start and played the whole game, in a 1–0 loss against Gent. It wasn't until on 29 August 2010 when he scored his first Westerlo goal, in a 2–1 loss against

. His second came on 13 November 2010, in a 1–0 win over

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

. As the 2010–11 season progressed, Brüls scored three more goals against Standard Liège,

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

and

. He also provided two assists, in a 2–0 win over

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 ...

on 20 February 2011. Brüls finished his first season at Westerlo, making thirty–nine appearances and scoring five times in all competition. At the start of the 2011–12 season, Brüls played his first Europa League game, where he started and played the whole game, in a 1–0 win over

TPS TPS or Tps may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Télévision Par Satellite, a French satellite television company *Third-person shooter, a game genre * Torsonic Polarity Syndrome, in ''South Park'' animation * Trailer Park Sex, a band from ...

in the first leg of the second round. After missing out the second leg, Brüls scored his first goal of the season in the first leg of the third round, in a 3–1 loss against Young Boys and was eliminated from the Europa League after losing 2–0 in the second leg. Brüls played five league appearances for Westerlo and provided two assists against Gent and Cercle Brugge.

Gent

His display at Westerlo attracted interests from Gent and Genk. Brüls joined Gent on 31 August 2011, signing a four-year contract, and saw Shlomi Arbeitman joined Westerlo on a season–long loan. It appeared that Brüls was on verge of joining reigning champion Genk, signing a four-year contract with them before joining Gent instead. Brüls made his Gent debut on 11 September 2011, where he set up one of the goals, in a 3–1 win over Zulte Waregem. Two weeks later on 24 September 2011, Brüls scored his first Gent goal and setting one of the goals, in a 4–3 win over Sint-Truidense It wasn't until on 21 April 2012 when Brüls scored his first goals, in a 4–1 win over Kortrijk. Four weeks later on 10 May 2012, Brüls scored again, in a 2–1 loss against Standard Liège. Brüls finished the 2011–12 season, making forty appearances and scoring three times in all competitions and was the club's top assister with eighteen. The 2012–13 season saw Brüls start the season for Gent when he provided two assists, in a 3–2 win over Differdange 03 in the second leg of the second round of the UEFA Europa League. However, in the second leg of the third round of the UEFA Europa League, Brüls received a straight red card in the 64th minute, in a 3–0 loss against Videoton and saw them eliminated from the competition after losing to them 4–0 on aggregate. Brüls then scored his first goal for the club, as well as, setting up one of the goals, in a 2–0 win over Waasland-Beveren on 18 August 2012, followed up by scoring in the next game on 26 August 2012, in a 2–1 win over Lokeren. It wasn't until on 18 May 2013 in the second leg of the league play–off Europa League against Oud-Heverlee Leuven, Brüls scored again, in a 4–1 victory for the club. Though the club were unsuccessful to qualify for the Europa League following a loss against Standard Liège and suffered his own injury concerns, Brüls finished the 2012–13 season, making forty–one appearances and scoring three times in all competition.

Nice (loan)

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side Nice expressed their interests in signing Brüls and on 29 June 2013, he joined Nice on a season long loan deal, with an option of signing the player permanently. Upon joining the club, Brüls was given number ten shirt for the new season. Brüls made his Nice debut, in the opening game of the season, making his first start, in a 4–0 loss against Lyon. In a match against Lille on 15 September 2013, Brüls provided a double assist for Darío Cvitanich, in a 2–0 win and it was followed up by scoring his first Nice goal, in a 4–0 win against Valenciennes. His performance throughout September earned him an award for Player of the Month by Nice supporters. January saw Brüls scored three more goals in all competition against

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

and Marseille. As the 2013–14 season progressed, Brüls went on to make thirty–eight appearances and scoring four times in all competition. Following the conclusion to the season, it was announced that the club decided against signing Brüls on a permanent basis, citing sporting and financial as the main factor.

Stade Rennais

On 30 July 2014, Brüls signed for another

side, joining

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

on a three–year contract. It wasn't until on 6 October 2014 when Brüls was given number thirteen shirt. Brüls suffered a foot injury at the start of the season and was sidelined for three months. In November 2014, Brüls recovered from a foot injury and made his full return to training. It wasn't until on 29 November 2014 when Brüls made his Stade Rennais debut, coming on as a substitute in the second half, in a 2–0 win over Monaco. In the next game against Nice on 3 December 2014, Brüls set up a goal for Anders Konradsen, in a 2–1 win for Stade Rennais. However, Brüls' first season at Stade Rennais was restricted to twelve appearances in all competitions. However, ahead of the 2015–16 season, Brüls' first-team opportunities was expected to be limited after Philippe Montanier told him he won't be featured in his plan. Following his loan spell at Standard Liège came to an end, Brüls said he's uncertain on his future at Stade Rennais whether or not he would play for the club next season.

Standard Liège (loan)

Brüls returned to Belgium when he re–joined Standard Liège on a season-long loan deal on 18 August 2015. Brüls scored on his Standard Liège debut, where he made his first start, in a 2–1 loss against Oostende. Thirty days later, on 23 September 2015, Brüls scored again in the sixth round of the Belgium Cup, in a 3–2 win over Coxyde. In a rivalry match against Anderlecht on 8 November 2015, Brüls received a red card after a second bookable offence, in a 1–0 win for Standard Liège. However, Brüls struggled at the club, due to his injuries concern and faced criticism from fans for his performance. As a result, his appearance was restricted to fourteen appearances and scoring once in all competition. Following this, Brüls returned to his parent club after being told by the club's management that he won't be returning.

Zulte Waregem

On 5 January 2023, Brüls signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

Personal life

Born in Malmedy, Belgium, Brüls was raised in the German-speaking Community of Belgium and speaks German and French. In addition to becoming a footballer, Brüls revealed he is planning to be a carpenter, having taken carpenter courses. Brüls also revealed he smoked cigarettes and while at Westerlo, he smoked ten to fifteen times a day. Brüls ultimately stopped smoking when he learned that his father, who was diagnosed with cancer, died in June 2011. In early 2012, Brüls became a father when his wife gave birth to their first child. Brüls earned the nickname "Tintin".

References

External links

C. Brüls - Voetbal International

Brüls'e teklif yağmuru

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruls, Christian 1988 births People from Malmedy Footballers from Liège Province Living people Association football midfielders Belgian footballers K.A.S. Eupen players Trabzonspor footballers MVV Maastricht players K.V.C. Westerlo players K.A.A. Gent players OGC Nice players Stade Rennais F.C. players Standard Liège players Pafos FC players Sint-Truidense V.V. players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Eerste Divisie players Ligue 1 players Cypriot First Division players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus