The 2023 Belgian Cup final, named Croky Cup after the sponsor, was the 68th

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

final which took place on 30 April 2023. The match was contested by

KV Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often called KV Mechelen (, KVM) or simply by their former French name Malinois /ˌmalɪˈnwɑː/, is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp (pr ...

and

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. Mechelen had qualified for its seventh Belgian Cup Final on 28 February 2023, and already won the tournament twice, first in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and more recently in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. Two days later,

qualified as well, making this their fifth appearance in the final, having already won the cup three times, most notably in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

when they also met KV Mechelen and a penalty shoot-out ended in their favor. Antwerp won the match 2–0.

Route to the final

Pre-match

Going into the match, Antwerp were deemed (slight) favorites based on their season thus far. Already certain of qualifying for the 2022–23 Belgian Pro League Championship Play-offs several weeks before the match, Antwerp was quasi-certain of qualifying for European football during the 2023–24 season. Towards the final matchdays of the regular season, however, the club had edged closer to the top of the table as league leaders

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

started dropping points and as a result, Antwerp would start the Championship Play-offs, to commence a week after the final, just two points off the lead. This momentum on the one hand could give the team extra energy for the Cup final, while on the other hand losing it would put extra pressure on them to obtain the title, which would be their first since 1957. Meanwhile, while on the road to the final Antwerp had beaten bigger teams (leaders Genk, second-place Union SG as well as

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

), Mechelen had seemingly taken the easier route via teams all finishing in the bottom five of the table, with

Seraing Seraing (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boncelles, Jemeppe-sur-M ...

and Zulte Waregem even relegated. Furthermore, the team itself had played a dull season, never in real danger of relegation but always in the bottom half of the table. Especially from the moment the team qualified for the final, their league performance dropped with many players seemingly not willing to risk long-term injuries. On the final matchday of the regular season, Mechelen did beat

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 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, B ...

away from home, their first win since early March. As they finished 13th, for Mechelen the league was done for the season, meaning the Cup final would be their last match before the summer break. The winner of the match will qualify for the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League Play-off round. If Antwerp were to win but also finish in the top two of the league, they would instead qualify for the qualifying rounds of the

2023–24 UEFA Champions League The 2023–24 UEFA Champions League was the 69th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 32nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid CF ...

, with the ticket for the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League Play-off round, in that case, being passed along to the third-place finisher in the league.

Match

Summary

For the first half hour the

Antwerp Province Antwerp Province (; ; ; ), between 1815 and 1830 known as Central Brabant ( , , ), is the northernmost Provinces of Belgium, province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the North Brabant province of t ...

derby was a dull match to watch, with a lot of atmosphere in the stands and at the sidelines, but no entertainment on the pitch. This changed when Mechelen defender Dries Wouters made an unfortunate error in the penalty area, fouling Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and causing referee Jonathan Lardot to immediately award a penalty kick to Antwerp.

Vincent Janssen Vincent Petrus Anna Sebastiaan Janssen (born 15 June 1994) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for Belgian Pro League club Antwerp. He began his professional career in the Eerste Divisie with Almere City before playing in ...

scored twice past Gaëtan Coucke, after the first penalty kick was disallowed as he had kicked the ball prior to the referee blowing his whistle to indicate it could be taken. Mechelen responded immediately, with both Nikola Storm and Rob Schoofs getting opportunities to shoot, none without any real danger. After the break, the level went up strongly for a short period of time as Antwerp received multiple chances to double its lead. Ekkelenkamp shot wide after preparatory work by Arbnor Muja, while Janssen aimed a shot straight at Coucke. Several substitutions as well as injury treatments to Willian Pacho and Janssen caused the pace of the match to slow considerably and it took until ten minutes from time for the match to be decided, when Michel-Ange Balikwisha started a counterattack which he in the end converted himself on an assist from

Calvin Stengs Calvin Stengs (; born 18 December 1998) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Feyenoord and the Netherlands national team. A product of the AZacademy, Stengs broke into the first team during the 2017–18 season ...

. Mechelen was not able to respond and became the logical runner-up in a match without many chances.

Details

Notes

References

External links

* {{Royal Antwerp F.C. matches Belgian Cup finals

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Belgian Cup Final Football competitions in Brussels Belgian Cup Final K.V. Mechelen matches Royal Antwerp F.C. matches