Shakhtar Genk

Racing Genk is the Belgian runner up. They finished 5 points behind champions Anderlecht and had an average of 22.500 fans in the Cristal Arena (the former Fenix Stadion) last season. For Belgium this is very big. So you do not overdo it when you call them top four with Anderlecht, FC Brugge and Standard from Liege. The budget is 20M €. Genk were champions in 1999 and 2002. They were then kicked out from Q2 in the Champions League by Maribor from Slovenia (5-4 ag) in 1999 and in 2002 they passed Q3 beating Sparta Praag by scoring more away goals (4-4 ag). So they made the UCL and a lasting impression because you can find them in the all time statistics. When you look for biggest defeat ever you can find, among others, Real Madrid – Racing Genk: 6-0.

But at home they only lost one game ever. They played 1-1 against Real from Madrid, 0-0 against AEK Athens and they lost 0-1 against AS Roma. Antonio Cassano scored in the 81st.
Tonight Genk enters Q2, one of two qualifier rounds they have to survive to enter the UEFA Champions League.

And what about Shakhtar Genk? KRC Genk's past is in THOR Waterschei and KFC Winterslag. The two teams became one in 1988. Waterschei and Winterslag were two of seven coalmines in Limburg. Waterschei was closed in 1987 and Winterslag in 1988. In Donetsk in the Ukraine there still are a lot of miners travelling down the shafts every day. Shakhtar is Ukranian for shaft.

So it’s the black gold in Genk’s past that connects them with Donetsk.

The real gold is in Shakhtar's Budget. There is a gigantic difference with Genk's 20M and it's easy to prove. Have a look at the new players in the squadlist and have a good look at 3 in particular: Alberto Castillo from Olympiacos (20M), Ilsinho from Sao Paulo FC (10M) and Christiano Lucarelli from AS Livorno (8M). That's the real money, that's another world...

Shakhtar enters Q2 tomorrow. They play against FC Pyunik from Armenia. Genk has to beat FK Sarajevo from Bosnia. This is Europe and it sounds great!

Grosvenor Railway Bridge, London_2007