Who are KAA Gent Shamrock Rovers' next Europa Conference League opponents on Thursday?

KAA Gent and Shamrock Rovers line up ahead of their Europa Conference League clash

KAA Gent and Shamrock Rovers line up ahead of their Europa Conference League clash Credit: Macdara Ferris (ETPhotos)

Shamrock Rovers play their final home game of the Europa Conference League group stage when KAA Gent come to Tallaght on Thursday (kick-off 8pm). 

So who are Gent?

KAA Gent, who play their football in the East Flemish city of Ghent, have won the Belgian league just the once – back in 2014/15. They have lifted the cup four times, most recently last season. 

That Belgian cup victory placed them directly into the Europa League play-off round which they lost 2-0 home and away to Cypriot side Omonoia who were then managed by Neil Lennon. That saw them drop straight into the Europa Conference League group stage. 

In the league in the last two seasons, they have finished fifth on both occasions and were runners up in the COVID-19 curtailed 2019/20 season.

How is Gent’s domestic season going so far

They lost the Belgian Super Cup to Club Brugge in the season curtain raiser. 

After 14 games of the season, they sit sixth in the table with seven wins and two draws.

How many away fans will be travelling to Dublin?

When the teams met last month the Hoops supporters snapped up all 1,000 tickets available to them for the away section. For this return fixture, there will be 750 away supporters making the trip to Tallaght.



How has the group stage gone for Gent? 

They drew their opening game 0-0 in Molde before beating the Hoops at home 3-0. 

They then lost home (1-0) and away (4-2) to Djurgaarden. 

Those results leave them third in the table three points behind Molde and six off Djurgaarden who top the table.

What European pedigree do Gent have?



The Belgian side have plenty of group stage experience – this is the fourth year in a row they’ve made the group stages.

They qualified for the Europa Conference League last year when they topped a group that included Flora Tallinn (beating them 1-0 home and away), Partizan Belgrade (a draw and a win) and Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta (2-0 home win and a 1-0 loss away). They were eliminated in the last 16 by PAOK, losing 2-1 at home and 1-0 away.

They made the group stages of the Europa League in 2020 losing all six matches against Hoffenheim, Red Star Belgrade and Slovan Liberec).

Who is their manager?

Hein Vanhaezebrouck played his club football with Kortrijk, Harelbeke and Sporting Lokeren. The latter club was where he cut his managerial teeth as assistant manager. 

The 58-year-old is in his second spell as Gent manager. He led them to their only league title during his initial time at the club. He had a short 15 month spell at Anderlecht before returning to Gent in 2020.

What formation do they play?

Away from home against Norwegian side Molde, they went with a 3-4-3 system and lined out similarly against the Hoops in Belgium. They went with a 4-4-2 in their away defeat to Djurgaarden in Stolkholm.

Which players should we watch out for?

They have Kenyan international Joseph Okumu in defence who plays alongside Cameroon captain Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui. He has 68 international caps (he played against Pico Lopes in the 1-1 draw against Cape Verde in the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year).

Their skipper is Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe. The 33-year-old Belgian has previously played his club football with Club Brugge, Norwich City, Legia Warsaw and Olympiacos. He scored twice against the Hoops in their previous clash.

Secured on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt is Jens Petter Hauge, who made 18 appearances across a couple of seasons with AC Milan (he signed a month after Rovers played the Italian club in the Europa League qualifiers in Tallaght in 2020). He played in the Europa League Final against Rangers.

Striker Hugo Cuypers scored against the Hoops and in the 4-2 away defeat to Djurgaarden. Belgian international Laurent Depoitre scored the other goal in Stockholm. The forward has had previous spells with Porto and most recently with Huddersfield Town where he played over 50 league games for the Terriers.

Where can I see the match?

There are tickets still available for Thursday’s match and the game will be shown live in Ireland on Virgin Media 2 and also on BT Sport 4.

Who is the match official for this tie?

It is a team of Austrian officials for this match led by referee Julian Weinberger. He was the match official when Bohs lost 2-0 away to PAOK last year and he was the fourth official for Dundalk’s home draw with AEK Larnaca in 2018.

What is the story with the Gent crest?

In America the Washington Redskins are no more – with the American football team renamed as the  Washington Commanders - and the Chief Wahoo logo is gone from the Cleveland Indians with the Major League Baseball team renamed as the Cleveland Guardians.

But what’s this proudly displayed on the Gent jersey? Well the club website describes their logo as “a profile-styled neutral image of a Native American chief, looking ahead into the future”.

The history of the logo dates back to the visit to Ghent of American William Cody and his ‘Buffalo Bill’ circus in 1906 when ‘Buffalo! Buffalo!’ was the call during the show. The call was adopted by the Students in the city. It became the rallying cry for KAA Gent at that time, giving the club its ‘Buffalo’ nickname, with the Indian Chief logo used for the first time in the 1920s. 

The club notes on its website that:

‘The cultural-historical context in which the KAA Gent logo was created shows that the choice for the Native American as logo in 1924 was a positive choice by the KAA Gent supporters. They associated KAA Gent with values ​​such as respect, courage and honour. Values ​​they attributed to Native Americans rather than to the white oppressor.

‘We ask our supporters and employees to be aware of the social significance of the KAA Gent logo and thus always wear it with respect and responsibility.

‘With its logo, KAA Gent itself will draw attention to the social situation of the Native American communities in Europe today.’

About Macdara Ferris

Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile