Bryan Heynen (born 6 February 1997) is a Belgian professional

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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

club

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 ...

and the Belgium national team.

Career

A creative midfielder, Heynen came through the youth system at

Racing Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk or Racing Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four championship title ...

to make his

debut on 25 July 2015 in a 3–1 home win against

OH Leuven Oh, OH, or Oh! is an interjection, often proclaiming surprise (emotion), surprise. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * Oh! (Girls' Generation album), ''Oh!'' (Girls' Generation album), 2010 * Oh! (ScoLoHoFo album), ''Oh!'' (S ...

. He replaced

Wilfred Ndidi Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi (born 16 December 1996) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Leicester City and the Nigeria national team. Ndidi is known for his defensive ability and intelligence. Club ca ...

after 66 minutes. In his second season at the club, Heynen had an elongated run in the first team under Peter Maes at the age of 19 as Genk finished eighth. Due to a serious knee injury that he sustained in training in November 2017, he did not play much in the 2017/2018 season, but was still offered a new five-year contract at the end of 2018. With

Philippe Clement Philippe Clement (born 22 March 1974) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Rangers. He began his professional career at Belgian clubs Beerschot and Genk be ...

now in charge, Heynen played all but five games as Genk stormed to the 2019 league title, the fourth in their history and their first for eight years. Clement's departure for

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 29,042. They pl ...

saw a period of instability and major change off the pitch as the club hired four first-team coaches in the space of 15 months - Felice Mazzu, Hannes Wolf, Jess Thorup and finally

John van den Brom Joseph Anthonius ''John ''van den Brom (born 4 October 1966) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Eerste Divisie club Vitesse. As a player, he played for Vitesse, Ajax, De Graafschap and Is ...

. With Heynen now appointed captain by Mazzu, he featured in Genk's early

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

exit in 2019-20 having been paired with

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

and a

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

side containing

Erling Haaland Erling Braut Haaland (, ; born 21 July 2000) is a Norwegian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and the Norway national football te ...

and

Takumi Minamino is a Japanese professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or Winger (association football), winger for Ligue 1 club AS Monaco FC, Monaco and the Japan national football team, Japan national team. Minam ...

. When Thorup departed for

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklu ...

in his native Denmark after six games, Genk finally found stability for the 2020-21 season under van den Brom, finishing runners-up behind Club Brugge in the League, and winning the 2020-21 Belgian Cup with Heynen as captain, beating

Standard Liege Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

2-1 in the

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 ...

. After a disappointing campaign the following season where defensive frailty saw van den Brom dismissed mid-season, and

Bernd Storck Bernd Storck, HOM (born 25 January 1963) is a German former professional footballer and a professional football manager. He is the current manager of Cercle Brugge in the Belgian Pro League, appointed for a second time following a brief second ...

only able to guide Genk to the 2022 Belgian Pro League's European play-offs, Heynen's form surged under the tenureship of new coach

Wouter Vrancken Wouter Vrancken (born 3 February 1979) is a Belgian football manager and a former defensive midfielder. He currently coaches Sint-Truidense after previously making his name at KV Mechelen and Genk. Playing career Wouter Vrancken started his pl ...

. Genk lost their opening league game of the season champions Club Brugge, before going on to win 15 of their next 16 league games - drawing the other one for an unbeaten run of 16 - to go ten points clear of second-placed Union St-Gilloise by Christmas 2022. Genk remained in touch at the top and lying in third place heading into the final day, needed a home win over league leaders

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club (commonly referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp) is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Antwerp. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Founded in 1 ...

to clinch the club their first title since 2019, with Union dropping points to

. Heynen headed Genk in front with 15 minutes to go, but with Union leading Club Brugge 1-0 in Brussels, were set to finish second. However, Club equalised in the 90th minute and went ahead in stoppage time at Duden Park. With Genk still leading going into stoppage time, Heynen's lead goal meant they were suddenly in pole position to win the league. However,

Toby Alderweireld Tobias Albertine Maurits Alderweireld (; born 2 March 1989) is a Belgian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, centre-back. Alderweireld began his professional career at D ...

equalised in the 94th minute for Antwerp, denying Genk the crown. Heynen was named by

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

national team coach Roberto Martinez in the preliminary Belgian squad of 55 ahead of the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, but didn't make the plane for Qatar. A continuation in strong form saw big calls for Heynen and team-mate

Mike Trésor Mike Trésor Ndayishimiye (born 28 May 1999), commonly known as Mike Tresor, is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or left winger for club Burnley. The 2022–23 Belgian Pro League Footballer of the Year, Tr ...

to be capped by new national team coach

Domenico Tedesco Domenico Tedesco (; born 12 September 1985) is an Italian-German football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Belgium national team. In 2017, he took over as manager of Schalke 04 and guided them to a second place finish in the ...

for his first games in charge against

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and

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in March 2023, but neither player was chosen. Heynen battled through a muscle injury to score a late equaliser away to

KVC Westerlo Koninklijke Voetbal Club Westerlo (; often simply called Westerlo) is a Belgian professional football club located in the municipality of Westerlo in the province of Antwerp. Since 1997–98, Westerlo has been mostly playing in the Belgian Pro ...

to squeeze Genk into the 2023-24 title play-offs, but the damage inflicted ruled him out for the rest of the season. Without him, Genk finished fifth and were beaten in the European play-off final by

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, ...

. Heynen made his 300th appearance in all competitions for Genk in a 4-0 win over Dender on 22 September 2024, a win that put the club top of the table.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Genk *

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 2018–19 *

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 ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

*Goal of the Year: 2022 v

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heynen, Bryan 1997 births Living people People from Bree, Belgium Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Belgium men's youth international footballers KRC Genk players Belgian Pro League players 21st-century Belgian sportsmen