Maxime Gunst (born 6 August 1992) is a Belgian former 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 played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Club Brugge

Gunst grew up in Desselgem,

West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...

. He joined local team KWS Desselgem at a young age and later made the move to Zulte Waregem. There, he was scouted by

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 ...

in 2007. In the youth teams, Gunst played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, but in the 2011–12 season he competed for the position of

with contemporaries such as

Jannes Vansteenkiste Jannes Vansteenkiste (born 17 February 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a left-back. Career Vansteenkiste left the Deinze Deinze () is a city and a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. It comprises the ...

and

Jimmy De Jonghe Jimmy Ronie Rudy De Jonghe (born 13 February 1992) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to st ...

. In 2012, he was promoted to the senior squad, and ahead of the 2012–13 season he was told by coach

Georges Leekens Georges Leekens (born 18 May 1949) is a Belgian football manager and former player. During his managerial career, he was in charge of four national teams: the Belgian, Tunisian, Algerian and Hungarian national football teams. He also manage ...

that a loan would be the best option due to depth at the position with Jordi Figueras, Fredrik Stenman and Bart Buysse in front of him.

Eendracht Aalst (loan)

Gunst was sent on a one-season loan to

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

club

Eendracht Aalst SC Eendracht Aalst is a Belgian football club based in Aalst, East Flanders. The club currently play in Belgian Division 2 where they are the defending champions in their region. History During World War I, citizens from Aalst played footbal ...

in the summer of 2012. He made his debut for the East Flemish on 2 September in a 2–1 win over

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

Eindhoven

After a season with Aalst, Gunst signed with Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club

FC Eindhoven Football Club Eindhoven, commonly known as FC Eindhoven, is a professional association football, football club based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football ...

in the summer of 2013. He made his debut on 2 August in the season opener against

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

. Halfway through the season, he suffered a serious injury, sidelining him for an extended period. The 2014–15 season was a success both collectively and individually. He scored his first goal for Eindhoven against

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

on 24 October 2014, and at the end of the season, the club had set a points record and finished second in the league table after champions

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

. In the play-offs, Eindhoven lost to

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024 ...

. Gunst recorded 12 assists that season and scored three goals. After rumours of Gunst leaving Eindhoven for AZ, he eventually signed a new contract with Eindhoven until 2018. That season, Gunst suffered a serious knee injury, which would eventually leave him sidelined for 8 months.

Later career

In August 2018, Gunst signed a two-year contract with league rivals

MVV MVV may refer to: Groups, organizations, companies *Malaysia Vision Valley (MVV), an economic corridor, see Malaysian National Projects * (MVV GmbH; ), German city works of Mannheim * Militaire Voetbal Vereniging (M. V. V.), a military soccer team ...

. He made 29 appearances for the club in his first season, before his contract was terminated by mutual consent in November 2019. This occurred after media reported that he and Pieter Nys had started an uprising against head coach Fuat Usta. On 9 January 2020, Gunst signed a one-and-a-half-year contract plus a one-year option with

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

. His first game was against his previous club MVV, which ended in a 2–2 draw. In 2020, Gunst returned to Belgium where he signed with

Roeselare Roeselare (; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The name of the city is derived from two ...

, but that club went bankrupt in September 2020 and he became a free agent.

Post-playing career

Gunst retired from football after being released by Roeselare in 2020, and pursued a career as a

personal trainer A personal trainer is an individual who creates and delivers safe and effective exercise programs for healthy individuals and groups, or those with medical clearance to exercise. They motivate clients by collaborating to set goals, providing m ...

. In 2021, he became personal trainer for FitStudio in his hometown

Waregem Waregem (; ), spelled Waereghem before, is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality lies in the valley of the river Lys, between Kortrijk and Ghent. It is part of the administrative district of ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunst, Maxime 1992 births Living people Footballers from Waregem Men's association football fullbacks Belgian men's footballers Belgian expatriate men's footballers Club Brugge KV players S.C. Eendracht Aalst players FC Eindhoven players MVV Maastricht players Roda JC Kerkrade players K.S.V. Roeselare players Challenger Pro League players Eerste Divisie players Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands 21st-century Belgian sportsmen