2025–26 Royal Antwerp F.C. season

Royal Antwerp
2025–26 season
Owner	Paul Gheysens
Chairman	Paul Gheysens
Manager	Stef Wils
Stadium	Bosuilstadion
Pro League	7th
Belgian Cup	TBD
Top goalscorer	League: Vincent Janssen (2 goals); All: Vincent Janssen (2 goals)
	All statistics correct as of 25 June 2025.

The 2025–26 season is Royal Antwerp Football Club's 146th season in existence and ninth consecutive in the Belgian Pro League. They are also competing in the Belgian Cup.

Players

First-team squad

As of 8 September 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	DF	BEL	Kobe Corbanie
3	DF	BEL	Björn Engels
4	DF	JPN	Yuto Tsunashima
5	DF	BEL	Daam Foulon
6	MF	COD	Jules Ahoka
7	FW	SUR	Gyrano Kerk
8	MF	BEL	Dennis Praet
9	FW	KSA	Marwan Al-Sahafi (on loan from Al-Ittihad)
10	MF	NED	Isaac Babadi (on loan from PSV)
11	MF	BEL	Geoffry Hairemans
15	GK	BEL	Yannick Thoelen
16	MF	ARG	Mauricio Benítez (on loan from Boca Juniors)
17	DF	BEL	Semm Renders
18	FW	NED	Vincent Janssen
19	FW	UZB	Mukhammadali Urinboev
21	MF	BEL	Andreas Verstraeten
22	MF	CIV	Farouck Adekami


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
23	DF	NED	Glenn Bijl
24	FW	BEL	Thibo Somers
25	DF	MLI	Boubakar Kouyaté
26	DF	BUL	Rosen Bozhinov
30	MF	GER	Christopher Scott
33	DF	BEL	Zeno Van Den Bosch
34	MF	FRA	Mahamadou Diawara (on loan from Olympique Lyon)
41	GK	JPN	Taishi Brandon Nozawa
43	MF	BEL	Youssef Hamdaoui
55	FW	ECU	Anthony Valencia
67	DF	CIV	Arouna Koné
76	FW	NGA	Orseer Achihi
77	MF	BEL	Milo Horemans
79	FW	BEL	Gerard Vandeplas
81	GK	BEL	Niels Devalckeneer
92	FW	NGA	Gabriel Jesus David

Transfers

In

Pos.	Player	Transferred from	Fee	Date	Source
MF	Jules Ahoka	AC Normands	Undisclosed	8 September 2025	^[1]
MF	Mahamadou Diawara	Olympique Lyon	On loan	8 September 2025	^[2]
MF	Isaac Babadi	PSV	On loan	1 September 2025	^[3]
FW	Marwan Al-Sahafi	Al-Ittihad	On loan	21 August 2025	^[4]
DF	Boubakar Kouyaté	Montpellier HSC	Free	12 August 2025	^[5]
DF	Yuto Tsunashima	Tokyo Verdy	€ 800,000	6 August 2025	^[6]
DF	Glenn Bijl	KS Samara	Free	24 July 2025	^[7]
FW	Thibo Somers	Cercle Brugge	€ 1,500,000	18 July 2025	^[8]
FW	Mukhammadali Urinboev	Pakhtakor FC	€ 500,000	7 July 2025	^[9]
GK	Taishi Brandon Nozawa	FC Tokyo	€ 1,000,000	26 June 2025	^[10]
MF	Mauricio Benítez	Boca Juniors	On loan	1 July 2025
MF	Geoffry Hairemans	K.V. Mechelen	Free		^[11]
DF	Daam Foulon	K.V. Mechelen	Free		^[12]

Out

Pos.	Player	Transferred to	Fee	Date	Source
MF	Mahamadou Doumbia	Al-Ittihad	€ 16,000,000	8 September 2025	^[13]
GK	Senne Lammens	Manchester United	€ 21,000,000	1 September 2025	^[14]
FW	Michel-Ange Balikwisha	Celtic	€ 5,200,000	28 August 2025	^[15]
DF	Jelle Bataille	Maccabi Haifa	Option not validated	3 July 2025	^[16]
MF	Denis Odoi		Mutual consent	24 June 2025	^[17]
MF	Tjaronn Chery	NEC Nijmegen	€ 500,000	15 June 2025	^[18]
MF	Jaïro Riedewald		End of contract	30 June 2025
MF	Milan Smits	De Graafschap	End of contract
DF	Toby Alderweireld		End of career

Notes

Pre-season and friendlies

28 June 2025 Friendly	Antwerp	0–1	Zulte Waregem	Antwerp, Belgium
			Traoré	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 0

3 July 2025 Friendly	Antwerp	1–2	Beveren	Antwerp, Belgium
	Gabriel Jesus		Brüls Servais	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 0

11 July 2025 Friendly	Antwerp	2–1	FC Nordsjælland	Wörgl, Austria
12:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Janssen (pen.) Doumbia			Stadium: Sportzentrum Wörgl Attendance: 0

11 July 2025 Friendly	Antwerp	0–0	FC Nordsjælland	Wörgl, Austria
14:30 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Sportzentrum Wörgl Attendance: 0

19 July 2025 Friendly	Antwerp	2–0	Willem II Tilburg	Antwerp, Belgium
18:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Kerk 52' Balikwisha 72'			Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 5,000

20 July 2025 Friendly	Antwerp	2–0	Eupen	Antwerp, Belgium
	Gabriel Jesus Achichi			Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 0

Competitions

Overall record

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Belgian Pro League	25 July 2025	22 March 2026	Matchday 1	19	6	6	7	22	20	+2	031.58
Belgian Cup	29 October 2025		Seventh round	2	1	1	0	6	4	+2	050.00
Total				21	7	7	7	28	24	+4	033.33

Source: Competitions

Belgian Pro League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
6	Standard Liège	19	8	3	8	17	21	−4	27	Qualification for the Champions' play-offs
7	Genk	19	6	7	6	24	26	−2	25	Qualification for the Europe play-offs
8	Antwerp	19	6	6	7	22	20	+2	24
9	Westerlo	19	6	6	7	28	28	0	24
10	Gent	19	6	5	8	26	29	−3	23

Updated to match(es) played on 21 December 2025. Source: Jupiler Pro League (in Dutch)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Matches won; 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away matches won; 6) Away goal difference; 7) Away goals scored; 8) Play-off.^[19]

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
19	6	6	7	22	20	+2	24	4	3	3	17	12	+5	2	3	4	5	8	−3

Source:

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A
Result	D	D	W	D	W	L	L	D	L	D	L	L	L	W	L	W	W	W	D
Position	9	10	7	7	5	6	8	12	13	13	14	14	15	14	14	12	10	8	8

Updated to match(es) played on 21 December 2025. Source:
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 20 June 2025.^[20]

25 July 2025 1	Antwerp	1–1	Union SG	Antwerp
20:45 CEST (UTC+2)	Janssen 21', 36' Doumbia 26' Kerk 77'		Niang 45+2' Leysen 57' Vanhoutte 67' Florucz 68'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 12,398 Referee: Erik Lambrechts

3 August 2025 2	Genk	1–1	Antwerp	Genk
13:30 CEST (UTC+2)	El Ouahdi 28'		Janssen 24' Somers 71' Praet 89'	Stadium: Cegeka Arena Attendance: 18,030 Referee: Lawrence Visser

10 August 2025 3	Antwerp	3–1	OH Leuven	Antwerp
19:15 CEST (UTC+2)	Balikwisha 36' (pen.) Kerk 48' Doumbia 78' (pen.) Van Den Bosch 90+6' Adekami 90+7', 90+8'		Traoré 32' Pletinckx 40', 87' Verstraete 45+2' 83' Vlietinck 90+6'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Wesli De Cremer

17 August 2025 4	Charleroi	1–1	Antwerp	Charleroi
18:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Guiagon 34' Bernier 47' Nzita 82' Colassin 90+4'		Adekami 13', 59' Van Den Bosch 74' David 90+5'	Stadium: Stade du Pays de Charleroi Attendance: 6,600 Referee: Simon Bourdeaud'hui

24 August 2025 5	Antwerp	2–1	K.V. Mechelen	Antwerp
13:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Somers 27' Praet 54' Doumbia 80'		Koudou 11', 87' Lauberbach 31' Hammar 87'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 12,818 Referee: Bram Van Driessche

30 August 2025 6	Westerlo	2–0	Antwerp	Westerlo
18:15 CEST (UTC+2)	Sakamoto 28' Alcócer 66' Ferri 73' Piedfort 75'		Doumbia 18' Verstraeten 60' Kerk 89'	Stadium: Het Kuipje Attendance: 5,500 Referee: Jan Boterberg

14 September 2025 7	Antwerp	1–2	Gent	Antwerp
13:30 CEST (UTC+2)	Tsunashima 17' Foulon 29' Bozhinov 36' Hamdaoui 74' Al-Sahafi 88'		Kotto 14' Van der Heyden 31' Skóraś 45+2' Samoise 47' Duverne 53'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 13,650 Referee: Lawrence Visser

20 September 2025 8	Anderlecht	0–0	Antwerp	Anderlecht
20:45 CEST (UTC+2)	Huerta 52' Vázquez 59' Saliba 90'		Al-Sahafi 49' Kouyaté 90'	Stadium: Lotto Park Attendance: 22,500 Referee: Erik Lambrechts

27 September 2025 9	Zulte Waregem	2–0	Antwerp	Waregem
16:00 CEST (UTC+2)	Erenbjerg 56' Aké 84'		Tsunashima 18'	Stadium: Elindus Arena Attendance: 6,947 Referee: Bert Verbeke

4 October 2025 10	Antwerp	1–1	Cercle Brugge	Antwerp
20:45 CEST (UTC+2)	Adekami 24' Benítez 28'		Agyekum 12' Diakité 41'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 11,495 Referee: Nathan Verboomen

17 October 2025 11	Standard Liège	1–0	Antwerp	Liège
20:45 CEST (UTC+2)	Saïd 1', 72' Abid 39' Hautekiet 55'		Scott 41' Babadi 63' Van Den Bosch 86'	Stadium: Stade Maurice Dufrasne Attendance: 17,000 Referee: Lothar D'Hondt
Note: The match got suspended at a 1-0 score, because of cups being thrown on the pitch and to the referee multiple times by the homefans. The match will be finished on 20 October behind closed doors.^[21]

26 October 2025 12	Antwerp	0–1	Club Brugge	Antwerp
13:30 CET (UTC+1)	Benítez 27' Somers 72'		Vermant 12' Jackers 90+5'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 14,036 Referee: Nicolas Laforge

2 November 2025 13	STVV	1–0	Antwerp	Sint-Truiden
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Muja 13' Ito 16' Goto 71' Kokubo 84'		Diawara 17' Foulon 22' Benítez 70'	Stadium: Stayen Attendance: 6,489 Referee: Nathan Verboomen

8 November 2025 14	Antwerp	3–1	La Louvière	Antwerp
20:45 CET (UTC+1)	Kouyaté 6' Janssen 59' (pen.) Adekami 62' Al-Sahafi 63' Scott 72' Bozhinov 85' Van Den Bosch 90+2'		Benavides 23' Okou 42' Maës 45' Gueulette 69' Beka 86'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 11,328 Referee: Bram Van Driessche

23 November 2025 15	Antwerp	1–2	Dender EH	Antwerp
16:00 CET (UTC+1)	Praet 36' Kouyaté 76'		Květ 45' Toshevski 50' Mbamba 57' Jahanbakhsh 61' Sambu 61' Oratmangoen 88'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 11,352 Referee: Wesli De Cremer

30 November 2025 16	Club Brugge	0–1	Antwerp	Bruges
13:30 CET (UTC+1)			Benítez 68', 88' Kouyaté 90+3' Nozawa 90+7'	Stadium: Jan Breydel Stadium Attendance: 29,042 Referee: Lothar D'Hondt

7 December 2025 17	Antwerp	3–0	Genk	Antwerp
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Somers 8' Benítez 14' Kouyaté 17' Janssen 56'		Heynen 71'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 21,000 Referee: Jasper Vergoote

14 December 2025 18	Gent	0–2	Antwerp	Ghent
13:30 CET (UTC+1)	Skóraś 90+1'		Kerk 30' Janssen 74' Valencia 83'	Stadium: Planet Group Arena Attendance: 14,747 Referee: Nicolas Laforge

21 December 2025 19	Antwerp	2–2	Anderlecht	Antwerp
18:30 CET (UTC+1)	Janssen 16' (pen.) Somers 19'		Llansana 15' Hazard 49' (pen.) Bertaccini 52' Degreef 87' Maamar 90+1'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 20,495 Referee: Erik Lambrechts

27 December 2025 20	Antwerp	v	Zulte Waregem	Antwerp
13:30 CET (UTC+1)				Stadium: Bosuilstadion Referee: Bert Verbeke

Belgian Cup

29 October 2025 Seventh round	Antwerp	3–1	Eupen	Antwerp
20:30 CET (UTC+1)	Janssen 3', 20' Hamdaoui 31' Kouyaté 63' Scott 68'		Müller 53' Busquets 70'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 8,838 Referee: Matonga Simonini

3 December 2025 Eighth round	Antwerp	3–3 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)	STVV	Antwerp
20:30 CET (UTC+1)	Kerk 15', 61' Scott 21' Kouyaté 48' Bozhinov 83'		Goto 17', 68', 59' Vanwesemael 45+4' Yamamoto 88' Musliu 107' Van Helden 119'	Stadium: Bosuilstadion Attendance: 9,021 Referee: Erik Lambrechts
	Penalties
	Janssen Corbanie Babadi Van Den Bosch		Merlen Ferrari Musliu Janssens Sebaoui

13 January 2026 Quarter-finals	Antwerp	v	La Louvière	Antwerp
20:30 CET (UTC+1)				Stadium: Bosuilstadion

Goalscorers

Rank	No.	Pos	Name	Belgian Pro League	Belgian Cup	Total
1	18	FW	Vincent Janssen	5	2	7
2	7	FW	Gyrano Kerk	1	2	3
	16	MF	Mauricio Benítez	3	0
	24	FW	Thibo Somers	3	0
5	20	MF	Mahamadou Doumbia	2	0	2
	22	MF	Farouck Adekami	2	0
	30	MF	Christopher Scott	1	1
8	9	FW	Marwan Al-Sahafi	1	0	1
	10	FW	Michel-Ange Balikwisha	1	0
	14	FW	Anthony Valencia	1	0
	25	DF	Boubakar Kouyaté	1	0
	26	DF	Rosen Bozhinov	1	0
	43	MF	Youssef Hamdaoui	0	1
Totals				22	6	28

References

^ "Jules Ahoka nieuwe Rood-Witte middenvelder" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "RAFC versterkt zich met Mahamadou Diawara" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Isaac Babadi op huurbasis naar RAFC" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "RAFC haalt met Al-Sahafi nieuwe aanvallende kracht in huis" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Kiki Kouyaté versterkt defensie RAFC" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "RAFC versterkt zich met Yuto Tsunashima" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "RAFC versterkt zich met Nederlander Glenn Bijl" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "RAFC versterkt zich met Thibo Somers" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "RAFC versterkt zich met Oezbeek Urinboev" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Taishi Brandon Nozawa tekent contract op de bosuil" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Geoffke Deurne-Noord tekent contract op de Bosuil" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Daam Foulon is a Red!" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Mahamadou Doumbia zet carrière voort in Saoedi-Arabië" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Senne Lammens voortaan in doel bij Manchester United" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Michel-Ange Balikwisha gaat voetballen voor Celtic FC" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "RAFC neemt afscheid van Jelle Bataille" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Denis Odoi en RAFC in onderling overleg uit elkaar" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Chery getransfereerd naar NEC Nijmegen" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.
^ "Bondsreglement Titel 7: Competities" [Association Rules Title 7: Competitions] (PDF). Royal Belgian Football Association. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2020.
^ "Kalender 2025-2026: Kampioen Union opent bij Antwerp, Club Brugge begint tegen KRC Genk". 20 June 2025.
^ "Ongeloof in Sclessin: wedstrijd gestaakt door wangedrag van supporters, slot Standard-Antwerp volgt achter gesloten deuren". sporza.be. 17 October 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2025.

External links

Official website

[1] "Jules Ahoka nieuwe Rood-Witte middenvelder" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[2] "RAFC versterkt zich met Mahamadou Diawara" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[3] "Isaac Babadi op huurbasis naar RAFC" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[4] "RAFC haalt met Al-Sahafi nieuwe aanvallende kracht in huis" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[5] "Kiki Kouyaté versterkt defensie RAFC" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[6] "RAFC versterkt zich met Yuto Tsunashima" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[7] "RAFC versterkt zich met Nederlander Glenn Bijl" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[8] "RAFC versterkt zich met Thibo Somers" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[9] "RAFC versterkt zich met Oezbeek Urinboev" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[10] "Taishi Brandon Nozawa tekent contract op de bosuil" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[11] "Geoffke Deurne-Noord tekent contract op de Bosuil" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[12] "Daam Foulon is a Red!" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[13] "Mahamadou Doumbia zet carrière voort in Saoedi-Arabië" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[14] "Senne Lammens voortaan in doel bij Manchester United" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[15] "Michel-Ange Balikwisha gaat voetballen voor Celtic FC" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[16] "RAFC neemt afscheid van Jelle Bataille" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[17] "Denis Odoi en RAFC in onderling overleg uit elkaar" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[18] "Chery getransfereerd naar NEC Nijmegen" (in Flemish). Royal Antwerp F.C.

[19] "Bondsreglement Titel 7: Competities" [Association Rules Title 7: Competitions] (PDF). Royal Belgian Football Association. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2020.

[20] "Kalender 2025-2026: Kampioen Union opent bij Antwerp, Club Brugge begint tegen KRC Genk". 20 June 2025.

[21] "Ongeloof in Sclessin: wedstrijd gestaakt door wangedrag van supporters, slot Standard-Antwerp volgt achter gesloten deuren". sporza.be. 17 October 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2025.

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Royal Antwerp Football Club
Information	Players Managers European record
Stadia	Bosuilstadion
Seasons	2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26

2025–26 in Belgian football
« 2023–24 2026–27 »
League competitions	Pro League Challenger Pro League Division 1 Division 2 Division 3
Women's League competitions	Super League
Cup competitions	Belgian Cup (Final) Super Cup
Transfers	Summer 2025 Winter 2025–26
UEFA competitions	Champions League Europa League Europa Conference League
Related to national team	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) Rudi Garcia
Club seasons
Pro League	Anderlecht Antwerp Charleroi Cercle Brugge Club Brugge Dender EH Genk Gent La Louvière Mechelen OH Leuven Sint-Truiden Standard Liège Union SG Westerlo Zulte Waregem
Challenger Pro League	Beerschot Beveren Club NXT Eupen Francs Borains Jong KAA Gent Kortrijk Lierse Lokeren-Temse Lommel Olympic Charleroi Patro Eisden Maasmechelen RFC Liège RSCA Futures RWDM Brussels Seraing