Michel Louwagie (born 1 January 1956) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

sports

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He was the manager and technical director of

AA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (; English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Gent or by their nickname ' (), is a Belgian professional sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football tea ...

. From 1998 until 2018, he was the president of the Belgian Swimming Federation. He was born and brought up in

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

and he was a youth player of

Cercle Bruges Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29, ...

. In 1978, he obtained the degree of Master in

Physical Education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

. 1974, he was the Belgian champion on 100 metres backstroke. He was also the Belgian record holder 200 metres backstroke.

Life

Louwagie played soccer until his thirteenth at

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

. Later on, he was the president of the Belgian Swimming Federation, a title he re-obtained on 3. May 2014. Later on, he started as a sports manager in football. 1990, he started as a trainee at AA Gent and had success. As a result, he was contracted permanently. As a sports manager, he was vice-champion in his first season and witnessed a peak in the team history, as KAA Gent reached the quarter-finals of the

Uefa Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

in the 1992-93 UEFA Cup. After this, the club had a downfall, as it got in financial troubles. Gent was almost bankrupt in those years, but when Ivan De Witte took over of Jean Van Milders, the team got rid of a debt mountain of 23 million euros (16.8 million pounds or 25 801 400 dollars). Louwagie discovered, among others,

Bryan Ruiz Bryan Jafet Ruiz González (; born 18 August 1985) is a Costa Rican former professional Association football, footballer. A left-footed Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder, he also played as a Forward (association football)#S ...

Roberto Rosales Roberto José Rosales Altuve (; born 20 November 1988) is a Venezuelan professional footballer who plays for Deportivo Táchira and the Venezuela national team. Mainly a right back, he can also play as a right midfielder. Club career Gent ...

and

Yassine El Ghanassy Yassine El Ghanassy (born 12 July 1990) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a left winger. Club career Yassine El Ghanassy was born on 12 July 1990 as the only son of the former football player Hajjaj El Ghanassy. He started playi ...

. In 2013, he managed to move the team to the Ghelamco Arena, in which it got its first Championship in First Division in 2015. This meant that a season later, the team played Champions League in the 2015-2016-season.

References

External links

* * Living people 1956 births Belgian male backstroke swimmers KAA Gent Football people in Belgium Belgian football chairmen and investors Sportspeople from Bruges 20th-century Belgian sportsmen {{Belgium-sport-bio-stub