It had been in the air for several months, but it remains a major fact: the Bruno Venanzi era is over, Standard will therefore change owners and go under the American banner. But if most Belgian professional clubs already had a foreign dome, this sale opens a breach: Standard is the very first member of the G6, the traditional circle of big black-yellow-red clubs, to lose its Belgian management!
Of the 26 clubs in the Pro-League (D1A and D1B), 16 already had a foreign captaincy: the process began with the D1B (7 clubs out of 8 have a majority foreign shareholder, Lierse being the only exception) and continues today with the D1A. Investors take on all the colors of the rainbow: United States (RWDM, Waasland-Beveren), France (Mouscron, Virton), Abu Dhabi (Lommel), Turkey (Westerlo) and Singapore (Deinze) in D1B , Great Britain (Union St-Gilloise), Russia (Cercle Bruges), Qatar (Eupen), Malaysia (Courtrai), Thailand (OH Louvain), United States (Ostend), Japan (Saint-Trond) and Saudi Arabia ( Beerschot) in D1A.
