The defendant started working in April 2015 as a consultant for LakeSprings, the family holding company of Club Brugge chairman Bart Verhaeghe. Initially, S.’s tasks were mainly related to Uplace, but he also became involved in the Personal Performance Center from Club Brugge. S. is said to have refined the models, ultimately creating the Club Lab. Such data about the players are, for example, very important in the prevention of injuries.
On April 7, 2017, the collaboration between LakeSprings and the Antwerp resident in the context of Uplace ended. S. would then have offered his services to Paul Gheysens, strong man at competitor Royal Antwerp FC. This was apparent from a draft of an email, although, according to the defendant, it was never sent. In any case, in May 2017 he already received a computer from the Gheysens company. “He would have been happy with a blue-black mole,” said master Walter Van Steenbrugge, Club Brugge’s lawyer.
Medical data
According to the civil party, the defendant transferred all sensitive information from Club Brugge to the computer that he had received from Antwerp during his notice period. After a search of the house, all kinds of modules were discovered on the laptop, but also documents about the winter mercato, the budget and the Club Lab. It therefore also concerns medical and physical data of the former players, such as Anthony Limbombe. For professional football players with a short career, it is of course important that information about, say, a hamstring problem or pubalgia is not spread everywhere. In addition to Club Brugge and LakeSprings, regulars Ruud Vormer and Brandon Mechele also took legal action for the distribution of their medical data.
Master Van Steenbrugge explained that all the information may even be worth three million euros. “I wonder how much he put in his pockets for those thousands of documents and messages,” it sounded. S. eventually worked for Antwerp for two years. “That wouldn’t have been to drive off the grass.” Subordinately, the civil party asked to call Gheysens and general manager Sven Jaecques as witnesses.
“Is Leko a spy, then?”
The defense argued that S. never forwarded information to his new employer and therefore requested the acquittal. The Public Prosecution Service also demanded the acquittal. The investigation has also never shown that the data in question ever actually reached the people of Antwerp. The updates of certain documents automatically arrived on S.’s new computer via Dropbox. According to the defendant, it was not a work computer from Antwerp, but a gift.
Master Joke Bleys and Master Kris Luyckx also put the importance of the information into perspective. “With that idea for a lab, he didn’t invent hot water, things like that already existed,” says Master Luyckx. The pleadings also referred to other employees who inside have information. The Croat Ivan Leko was first a trainer at Club for two seasons, but later also for a few months at Antwerp. “Is Leko also a spy perhaps?” Master Bleys sneered.
“This has haunted me for five years”
Finally, it was explained that S. currently works for a company in the logistics sector. He has completely left the football world behind. “This has haunted me for almost five years,” he said in his last word. The defendant emphasized that he has always done his work in good conscience. “I was very ethical about the large amount of information. I didn’t do anything wrong and I certainly didn’t intend to. I feel like a plaything in a feud between two other people”, S. referred to the ongoing problems between the two chairmen.
The judge will rule on February 23.
