Christian Burgess, Noah Sadiki and Cameron Puertas of Union Saint-Gilloise celebrate victory in the Uefa Europa Conference League playoffs (Getty Images)
Four years ago, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise hadn’t seen the light of top-tier football in close to 50 years. They’re now clear favourites to claim championship glory this season.
You’d be forgiven if you weren’t overtly familiar with the goings on of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League.
However, as this term’s title picture becomes ever clearer, a fascinating redemption story could be about to reach its fairytale conclusion.
Union Saint-Gilloise made a long-awaited top-flight return in 2021 – and since then, an array of potential world-beaters have come and gone through their doors, helping propel them to heights not seen in generations.
Boasting a newfound status as a formidable breeding ground for young stars, they go into this season’s championship playoffs with a real claim for the title.
This is no stars-aligned, Leicester City-style fluke. In fact, Union are now regular fixtures in the Belgian title race, with this being their third successive campaign in the title rounds.
It’s a rise to prominence like no other in Europe’s top divisions. Yet to this point, it’s largely gone under the radar.
From obscurity to Champions League
Union Saint-Gilloise are historically one of the most successful clubs in Belgium football, boasting 11 league titles – a trophy haul only topped by local rivals Anderlecht and giants Club Brugge.
However, for decades, glory had only been a thing of the past for the Brussels club. After suffering relegation in the 1972/73 season, they hadn’t seen a glimpse of the top-flight in 48 years.
Promotion from the second division in 2021 ended their half-century exodus from Belgium’s upper echelons. It was a return that had been long overdue, and as such, the sleeping giants sought to come back with a bang.
In their first season in the Pro League, they would top the table – only to be pipped to the title in the end-of-season playoffs.
Belgium’s league system is unique in the fact that the title is decided via a championship playoff round, contested by the top six sides from across the 30-game regular season.
Each team starts on half the points that they accrued throughout the normal campaign. They then play each opponent twice and the team with the most points at the end of the stage takes the title.
Union ended up taking second place in the playoff stage which still secured them Champions League qualification for the next season, achieving such a feat for the first time in their history.
Their journey in Europe’s premier competition was short-lived as they crashed out in the third qualifying round – but after dropping into the Europa League, they rallied to reach the quarter-finals.
Now, in their third campaign since promotion, Union are once again a major force in the title picture. Having gone an astonishing 25 games without defeat in the league, they go into the championship playoffs as Pro League table-toppers, ending the regular season seven points clear.
This gives them a three-point lead at the top as they kick-off they playoff campaign – an extra source of motivation as they seek to maintain their stronghold on first place.
It’s something that may resemble the days of old, but is a stark comparison to just a few years ago.
A fruitful relationship
Behind their incredible resurgence has been their ability to acquire some of Europe’s untapped starlets – something aided by their position as Brighton’s sister club.
Seagulls owner Tony Bloom holds a minority stake in Union Saint-Gilloise, and while the Belgian club are keen to clear up any perception that they are a ‘feeder team’, there’s no doubt they’ve benefited from Brighton’s wealth of talent.
The first major success story to hone his craft in Brussels was none other than Kaoru Mitoma – a player all Premier League fans will be familiar with.
Lighting up Belgium during Union’s first season back in the Pro League, Mitoma returned to Brighton 12 months later with valuable experience – and has since gone on to become one of the most electric and sought-after wingers in the English top flight.
Simon Adingra made an identical switch a year later. Emulating Mitoma’s success, he went on to thrive in the Pro League, leading the club’s scoring charts and playing an instrumental role as they chased down both domestic and European gold.
Adingra has only gone from strength to strength since his stint at Union – notably earning wide acclaim for a show-stealing performance in the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations final.
Writing himself into Ivory Coast folklore, the 22-year-old set up the goals of both Franck Kessie and Sebastian Haller in a 2-1 comeback victory over Nigeria.
Now considered one of the most promising young wingers in Europe, it’s easy to forget he experienced his invaluable breakout season under the banner of Union Saint-Gilloise.
That said, it hasn’t simply been Brighton ‘handouts’ that have propelled Union to heights not seen in close to 50 years. The club’s savvy transfer policy has also more than played its part.
Kaoru Mitoma thrived at Union before proving his worth in the Premier League at Brighton (Getty Images)
Overwhelming success in the transfer market
Union Saint-Gilloise have recruited some obscure names in recent times, some riskier than others. But more often than not, their investments have paid off.
Deniz Undav was balancing football with factory work when he was signed from German third division side SV Meppen in 2020.
Within two years, he was leading the Pro League goalscoring charts with Union, attracting interest from England, Italy and Germany.
Surely helped by the Bloom connection, Brighton would win the race for his services in 2022 – and despite enduring a difficult first season in the Premier League, the striker has once again found his firing feet on loan at VfB Stuttgart, scoring 14 in 22 Bundesliga games.
Elsewhere in the German top flight, another former Union SG man is taking the world by storm: Victor Boniface.
Before he was leading the line for Xabi Alonso’s relentless Bayer Leverkusen, Boniface was considered a transfer pariah by many clubs due to his poor injury record.
For that reason, Union were able to pick up the talented Nigerian striker on the cheap in 2022 – with Belgian football expert Bob Faesen highlighting the move as a risk that very much paid off.
“Boniface, he was like a cheat code over here,’” Faesen told the Independent. “You could see that he was too good for a Belgian level right away.
“The thing was, they could pick him up because he had some injuries before. They took the risk and it really paid off.
“Their transfers have like a 90 percent success rate. It’s really crazy, just bizarre.”
Union’s continued success in the transfer market doesn’t look set to halt anytime soon.
Algeria’s Mohamed Amoura, 23, is the latest acquisition to shine in yellow and blue, with his 17 goals this season acting as the driving force behind Union SG’s title push.
They’ve also shown that they can extract new life from players who many would perceive to have found their level.
Christian Burgess was at risk of becoming a journeyman in the lower leagues of English football, having made a name for himself at the likes of Portsmouth, Peterborough United and Hartlepool United.
But in 2020, at the age of 28, he made the surprise switch to Belgian second-tier side Union Saint-Gilloise. He’s since made over 100 appearances for the club and has featured in the Champions League.
With Uefa leaning further towards the increased restriction of transfer activity between clubs with the same owners, Union will need to keep up their brilliance in the market as Brighton’s ability to loan them talent diminishes.
However, with Union flying high despite possessing no Seagull this season, it seems that the once titans of Belgian football have the smarts to reclaim their throne by themselves.
Victor Boniface stood out for Royale Union Saint-Gilloise before his move to Bayer Leverkusen (Getty Images)
Third time lucky?
Union Saint-Gilloise have been pipped to the Pro League crown for two successive seasons since their return to the top flight – and after the events of last year, they’ll be even more determined to get their hands on silverware.
On a dramatic final matchday in 2022/23, Union were on the brink of glory – they had a hand on the title, leading the pack as they led Club Brugge 1-0 with minutes to spare.
However, as Shion Homma netted an 89th minute equaliser for Brugge, Union would fall off their perch in the dying moments of the season, before further capitulating in added time to lose 3-1.
The story of the day would actually come in the other fixture between Genk and Royal Antwerp.
A game that was happening simultaneously to the one in Brussels, former Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld lashed in from range in the 94th minute to provide a season-defining equaliser and rocket Antwerp to a historic title triumph.
Neutrals will be hoping for even an ounce of last year’s entertainment and drama this time around – but for Union Saint-Gilloise, all they’ll care about is finally fulfilling their prophecy.
Commencing their playoff campaign at Genk on Monday, they’ll hope to kickstart their title push with a win, determined to keep up a league unbeaten streak that’s run since September of last year.
With an impressive crop of players that boast European experience, Union have proved they belong at the top level. Now we wait to see if they can live up to the hype and finally take home championship gold.
