Carl Hoefkens has been promoted to head coach at Venice of the North.
In his coaching development process, he was faster than Philippe Clement. In terms of numbers anyway… After three seasons as an assistant in the first team (to the current Monaco coach, then to Alfred Schreuder), Carl Hoefkens was propelled to the post of T1 at Jan Breydel. In 2017, when Clement had just spent five years as assistant to Michel Preud’homme (and Juan Carlos Garrido, briefly), the Bruges management did not yet consider him ready to take on the role of head coach. While Clement took the reins of Waasland Beveren, Ivan Leko landed at the Club.
Even if the track has been mentioned for several weeks already, the choice of the management of Club Brugge to appoint Hoefkens remains relatively surprising given his inexperience as a T1. But this decision bears witness, on the one hand, to the quality of the structure that is currently being put in place in the Venice of the North. Without which, Vincent Mannaert and Bart Verhaeghe would never have dared to take this calculated risk. On the other hand, it highlights the speed at which the former club captain rose through the ranks there.