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Champions League: Club Brugge changes coach 2 days before hosting Arsenal

Champions League: Club Brugge changes coach 2 days before hosting Arsenal | iNFOnews.ca
Brugge's head coach Nicky Hayen waits for the start of the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting CP and Club Brugge in Lisbon, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

BRUGES, Belgium (AP) — Club Brugge has changed its coach two days before hosting table-topping Arsenal in the Champions League.

Brugge announced on Monday that former coach Ivan Leko was returning from Gent to replace Nicky Hayen, who the club thanked for “all the hard work he put in.”

Leko led Brugge to the Belgian league title in 2018 in his first, two-year spell with the club that he also played for from 2005-09.

Hayen leaves with the team 26th in the Champions League standings, and in contention for a top-24 finish to earn a place in the knockout stage for the second straight season.

Brugge’s home form is good, beating Monaco 4-1 and drawing 3-3 with Barcelona, though it has lost three straight on the road. After hosting Arsenal Wednesday, Brugge finishes in January away to Kairat Almaty and hosting Marseille.

The team is third in the Belgian table, five points behind defending champion Union Saint-Gilloise.

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