Club Brugge are set to have a new facein the dugout for Arsenal’s Champions League trip to Jan Breydel Stadium on Wednesday, after the Belgian club sacked head coach Nicky Hayen
16:21, 08 Dec 2025
Club Brugge have sacked manager Nicky Hayen ahead of the game against Arsenal(Image: Getty Images)
Club Brugge have sacked head coach Nicky Hayen and re-appointed Ivan Leko as their new boss in a dramatic twist at the Belgian club – just two days before their Champions League clash against Arsenal.
Hayen had been in the hotseat at Brugge since March 2024, having steered them to the Belgian Pro League title in his first season and helped them win the Belgian Cup and Belgian Super Cup.
However, following a run of FOUR defeats in six and back-to-back league losses, Brugge have now made the decision to axe Hayen ahead of Wednesday’s game against Arsenal.
They have instantly replaced Hayen with Gent head coach Ivan Leko, who was only appointed at their Belgian rivals in the summer and had won eight of his 19 matches in charge there.
In a statement, Brugge said: “Club bids farewell to Nicky Hayen as head coach.
“Ivan Leko replaces him as head coach of Blauw-Zwart. Club would like to sincerely thank Nicky for his hard work during the recent period and wishes him all the best for the future.”
Hayen’s overall record at Brugge was impressive. Indeed, the 45-year-old had racked up 61 wins and 20 losses from his 101 games at the helm. That gave him a win rate of almost 60 per cent.
But a recent dip in form, which has seen them drop to third in the Belgian top fight and fall down to 26th in the Champions League table, has cause Brugge to make a managerial change.
Leko is set to jump straight into the dugout and take charge of Wednesday’s home game against Arsenal, despite only managing Gent in a 3-0 defeat at Royal Antwerp on Sunday.
Ivan Leko has been appointed as Club Brugge’s new head coach ahead of the game against Arsenal(Image: Getty Images)
A 13-time Croatia international in his playing days, Leko, 47, had a previous spell in charge of Brugge between 2017 and 2019. During that period, he won the Belgian Pro League and Belgian Super Cup, racking up 53 victories and 24 draws from his 99 matches at the helm, averaging a 54 per cent win rate.
On Saturday, Brugge were beaten 3-2 at STVV – a defeat that proved to be the final straw for the club’s hierarchy and a decision to sack Hayen was made on Monday afternoon.
As for Arsenal, the Gunners will be looking to bounce back from a first defeat since August, following a last-gasp 2-1 loss against Aston Villa on Saturday. Although Leandro Trossard cancelled out Matty Cash’s opener to put the Gunners back on level terms, Emiliano Buendia scored a 95th minute winner for Villa.
Speaking post-match, Arteta said: “Obviously we are extremely disappointed with the way we lost the game, but first of all I want to congratulate Villa because they are a really good side, and they are really good at what they do.
“We had some difficulties in the first half, especially with some very unusual giveaways that we have given after regaining the ball, which is a really dangerous moment against them. But apart from the Watkins situation, which is a foul, I don’t recall anything apart from the goal.
“The second half, we started really well, much more positive. We generated chances, scored the goal, and my feeling was that we were going to go on and win the game. We could have lost it before, again with two very dangerous individual giveaways, and we didn’t.
“We had two chances to score, the last one with the ball across to Declan and we didn’t capitalise on that. The next goal kick [went] long, it goes there, second ball, we put it away for a throw-in, they played fast, a lot of chaos in the box and they managed to put the ball in the top corner, which is the quality of this league, so that’s the summary.”
Arsenal still sit top of the Premier League, two points above second-place Manchester City and three ahead of Villa in third, after winning 10 of their opening 15 top-flight fixtures. In the Champions League, the Gunners have been faultless, picking up five wins from a possible five in Europe’s elite club competition.
