In 2014, my brother Raf and I decided to introduce ‘Voetjebal‘ in Belgium. The year before that, we met Wouter von Brucken Fock. Wouter, founder of Voetjebal and youth coach of Feynoord Rotterdam, designed this special play concept for kids between 2 and 5 years old together with his wife Nienke von Brucken (motor remedial teacher).

Voetjebal is a unique play concept for boys and girls and their ‘+1’. They can enjoy one hour of group learning & fun together with one of their family members (mom, dad, granny, godfather, sister … anyone can join). We introduce them to sports from an educational perspective with attributes as balloons, colors, music, … to stimulate their concentration, focus, social skills, listening skills etc.

Finally: first league game of the new season!

Sunday 8 October at 5PM: Wellington Phoenix - Adelaide!

After 3,5 months of preseason, it’s finally season kick-off time! I’m really excited for the start of the new season with Wellington Phoenix in the Hyundai A-league. We’ll play our first game tomorrow, on Sunday 8 October at 5PM local time (6AM Belgian time) against Adelaide United. It’s the first of at least 27 games. The Hyundai A-league consists of 9 Australian teams and one from New-Zealand (Wellington Phoenix):

Adelaide United (AUS)

Brisbane Roar (AUS)

Central Coast Mariners (AUS)

Melbourne City (AUS)

Melbourne Victory (AUS)

We travelled to Australia on Saturday 9 September with a group of 24 players and 9 staff members. This training camp is an important part of our preparation for the upcoming season. Wellington Phoenix is the only professional football club in New-Zealand so we took this opportunity to play 3 friendly games against different Australian teams.

9 days, 3 cities, 3 opponents!                         

The first 3 days, we stayed in Coogee (New South Wales, Sydney) for a game against Blacktown City FC. We then travelled to Terrigal for the fixture against Central Coast Mariners and ended our training camp in Cessnock for a game against Newcastle Jets.

As was announced last week, Wellington Phoenix is the new football club where I work as a Football Fitness coach in the staff of head coach Darije Kalezic.  I've signed a 1-year contract till the end of this season. Since I left Belgium in 2011, I have had a lot of opportunities to work in different countries and clubs. New-Zealand is the sixth country and Oceania is already the third continent that I’m working in. Time flies when you’re having fun and doing what you love!