Karel Geraerts (; born 5 January 1982) is a Belgian former

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 ...

and current

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of Union SG.

Career

Geraerts played for Club Brugge from 1998 to December 2003. In 2004 Club Brugge lent him to Lokeren where he scored his first goal in the Jupiler League. In the summer of 2004 he moved to

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. In June 2007 he went back to

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

. As a youngster the midfielder played with C.S. Mechelen-aan-de-Maas and

Racing Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgium, Belgian professional association football, football club based in the city of Genk in Limburg (Belgium), Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays ...

(from 1996 to 1998) before he moved to the youth team of Club Brugge. After the 2010–11 season, Geraerts was no longer part of the plans at Club Brugge and was told he could look for a new club, which resulted in him signing with newly promoted side

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

on the last day of the transfer period. Geraerts' contract ended in 2014 and with Oud-Heverlee Leuven just being relegated, it was not renewed. This allowed him to move as a free agent player to Charleroi. He last played for Charleroi in 2016 and after being without a club for half a year has announced his retirement in January 2017. In 2005, Geraerts debuted for the Belgium national football team. In his first match in the starting line-up, on 12 October in and against Lithuania in a World Cup qualifier, he scored the opening goal.

International goals

, - bgcolor=#DFE7F2 , 1. , , 12 October 2005 , ,

Žalgiris Stadium Žalgiris Stadium ( lt, Žalgirio stadionas) was a multi-purpose stadium in Žirmūnai elderate of Vilnius, Lithuania. The stadium held 15,029 and was the largest in Lithuania until its demolition. It was the largest football stadium in Lithuani ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Lithuania , , , , 0–1 , , 1–1 , ,

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America) ...

, - bgcolor=#DFE7F2 , 2. , , 20 May 2006 , , Štadión Antona Malatinského,

Trnava Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' ( Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' ( T ...

, Slovakia , , , , 1–1 , , 1–1 , , Friendly , - bgcolor=#DFE7F2 , 3. , , 12 September 2007 , ,

Almaty Central Stadium The Central Stadium ( kk, "Алматы орталық стадионы", ''Almaty ortalyq stadıony'' or "Орталық стадион", ''Ortalyq stadıon''; Ortalyq Stadıony) is a multi-purpose stadium in Almaty, Kazakhstan and the largest ...

, Almaty, Kazakhstan , , , , 0–1 , , 2–2 , , UEFA Euro 2008 qualification , - bgcolor=#DFE7F2 , 4. , , 17 October 2007 , ,

Stade Roi Baudouin The King Baudouin Stadium (french: Stade Roi Baudouin , nl, Koning Boudewijnstadion ) is a sports ground in north-west Brussels, Belgium. Located in the Heysel district of the City of Brussels, it was built to embellish the Heysel Plateau in v ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium , , , , 3–0 , , 3–0 , , UEFA Euro 2008 qualification

Honours

Player

Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division 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 te ...

: 2002–03 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2001–02 Belgian Cup, 2001–02 * Belgian Supercup: 2002, 2003 *

Bruges Matins The Matins of Bruges ( nl, Brugse Metten) was the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges and their supporters, a political faction in favour of French rule, on 18 May 1302 by the members of the local Flemish militia. It has been ...

: 2001

Manager

Individual * Raymond Goethals award: 2022

References

* * 1982 births Living people Belgian footballers K.R.C. Genk players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players Standard Liège players Club Brugge KV players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players R. Charleroi S.C. players Belgium international footballers Belgian Pro League players Sportspeople from Genk Footballers from Limburg (Belgium) Association football midfielders Belgian football managers Belgian Pro League managers Royale Union Saint-Gilloise managers {{Belgium-footy-midfielder-stub