Bart Verhaeghe

Bart Verhaeghe, (born in 1965) is a well-known Belgian entrepreneur. He became president of Club Brugge in 2011, one year later he became the majority shareholder.

He is also chairman of project developer UPLACE and former vice-chairman of the Royal Belgian Football Association. He also co-founded the independent think tank Itinera in 2006.

Verhaeghe encourages entrepreneurship, among other things, with his passionate plea for more ambition and courage in our society. That's the key message in his book 'Durf!’ (Dare!) which was published by Van Halewyck in 2019.

Early life
Verhaeghe was born into a Brabant family with West Flemish roots. He grew up in Grimbergen, near Brussels, and played soccer at KSC Grimbergen and Hoger Op Merchtem. After secondary school at the Jan van Ruusbroeck College in Laken, he studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven and obtained a Master of Business Administration at Vlerick Business School.

He started his career at KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting organizations. He resigned after nine months to start as an entrepreneur. At industrial building company Verelst, he developed project developer Eurinpro specialising in logistic real estate and of which he became CEO. This company grew substantially and was sold in 2006 to the Australian company Macquarie Goodman for 400 million Euro.

LakeSprings
Verhaeghe invests in sports (Club Brugge), real estate (project development and real estate investments), private equity, listed shares and non-profit organisations (Itinera and the Anti-Cancer Fund). These investments are part of the family holding LakeSprings nv. As real estate investment, Verhaeghe bought the Castle of Bever from Count Eric de Villegas de Clercamp in 2004. The castle has been fully renovated and is surrounded by roughly 17 hectares of park area.

Real Estate: Verelst, Eurinpro and Uplace
In 1992 Verhaeghe took his first steps in real estate when he met building contractor Luc Verelst. He acquired a stake in the industrial building company Verelst, from which Eurinpro later emerged. This company grew into a global player in logistic real estate. Verhaeghe also set up two real estate funds, Siref and Retail Estates. He used these investment companies to list his retail property and semi-industrial property on the stock market. In 2006, Eurinpro was sold to the Australian company Macquarie Goodman for 400 million Euro

Verhaeghe then set up the real estate company Uplace, specialised in developing innovative projects where living, working and relaxing go together. Near Brussels, Uplace develops a new workshop district called BROEKLIN, where training, production, consumption and circularity meet at a very central location in Belgium. The work shop district is designed by Professor and architect Alexander D’Hooghe. Uplace also creates new city districts in Dendermonde and Tielt.

Club Brugge
In 2004, at the request of the Flemish government, Verhaeghe developed a feasibility study for schools and football stadiums. Subsequently, he was contacted by the then board of Club Brugge, which developed plans for a new stadium. Verhaeghe additionally developed a strategic vision for the first division. At the request of the board of directors at the time, Verhaeghe implemented the internal changes, became chairman and hired Vincent Mannaert to become CEO of Club Brugge. Mannaert leads the operational operations of Club, supported by a professional management team.

The Board of Directors was also subject to major changes: several entrepreneurs made their entry. At the end of 2012, the trade fund of the non-profit association Club Brugge K.V. was transferred to the limited liability company Club Brugge, to which an amount of 15 million euros was contributed. Verhaeghe became the majority shareholder.

Sportive results
From 2014 to 2024, Club Brugge achieved the best results of all clubs in the Jupiler Pro League. The table below shows that under the reign of Bart Verhaeghe as Chairman and Vincent Mannaert as CEO, Club Brugge evolved into a stable Belgian top club and European sub-topper.

Financial results
The entrepreneurial duo Verhaeghe-Mannaert also achieved very strong financial results. Over an eight-year period, Club Brugge's turnover grew from 43 million Euro in 2011 to 137 million Euro in 2020. Stable sporting results led to stable revenues thanks to repeated participation at the Champion's league, a clever player transfer policy and longlasting, innovative sponsorship deals. For the 2022-2023 season, revenues reach 176 million euros. Sports economists admire Club for those excellent financial results and attribute them to Club's well-functioning commercial cell, growth as a media company and good strategic choices.

Social results: Club Brugge Foundation
Awards were not only won on the pitch, Club Brugge was also awarded with the work of the Club Brugge Foundation. The community activities – which receive annual structural support from Club Brugge nv – received several national and international prices: The Club Brugge Foundation uses the power and impact of football on society to make a positive contribution to society. It places an extra focus on the vulnerable groups within society and more specifically within the regions from which Club Brugge's supporters come. The operating resources of the Club Foundation mainly come from Club Brugge nv.

Training complex and new stadium
A new stadium will further enhance that financial growth. At the beginning of 2020, the city council of Bruges and the board of Club Brugge announced that a new stadium is planned on the current Olympia site. Club Brugge will build the stadium with its own resources, the city gives a long lease on the use of the grounds. As soon as the new stadium is ready, the Jan Breydel Stadium can be demolished. The permit for the new stadium on the Olympiasite was granted on 6 October 2021.

Belfius basecamp, the training complex of Club Brugge, is located in Westkapelle (Knokke-Heist). The first stone was laid on 12 September 2018, and ten months later, the A-team officially moved in.

Strengthening of the international position
On 3 March 2021, chairman Bart Verhaeghe and CEO Vincent Mannaert announced the intention to list Club Brugge on Euronext Brussels but this was postponed on 25 March due to market conditions. Only a few months later, Club Brugge strengthened its ownership structure for future growth, with the entry of a new shareholder: Orkila Capital. As a growth equity investment fund with 15 years experience in sports, media, entertainment and consumer markets in Europe and the US, Orkila Capital will help Club Brugge to further flourish in the fields of marketing digitalization, intellectual property and content development and direct-to-consumer business strategies. Orkila Capital is providing a capital increase of 20 million € in Club Brugge’s further growth as a team and brand as well as acquiring shares from the existing shareholders for an amount of 30 million €. as a result, Grizzly Sports NV (with major shareholder Bart Verhaeghe) will hold 71.89% of the Club Brugge shares and Orkila Capital will hold 23,26% of the Club Brugge shares.

In November 2023, Bart Verhaeghe announced that in the coming years, he will remain the main shareholder of Club Brugge, together with Jan Boone and Peter Vanhecke. He made his announcement in the context of the departure of Vincent Mannaert as CEO at Club Brugge. From July 1, 2024, son Lucas Verhaeghe will take a seat on the board of directors of Club Brugge. This happens after former CEO Vincent Mannaert sold his shares to Bart Verhaeghe. The new composition of the board of directors is thus as follows: Bart Verhaeghe, a representative of shareholder Orkila Capital, Jan Boone, Peter Vanhecke, CEO Bob Madou and Lucas Verhaeghe. Son Lucas also assumes an operational function in Club Brugge's transfer department.

Royal Belgian Football Association
In 2013, the Pro League delegated Verhaeghe to the Executive Committee of the RBFA. Three years later he took up the position of director and became Vice Chairman. Together with former chairman Gérard Linard, Verhaeghe reorganised the association which made a loss of 8 million Euro in 2016, into a financially healthy federation. Verhaeghe and Linard rolled out a code of ethics for all RBFA employees and partners. The rules of good governance were adopted with a professional management team that was given the keys to manage the operational management of the RBFA.

Verhaeghe was also chairman of the Technical Committee. Together with Mehdi Bayat and Chris Van Puyvelde he appointed Roberto Martínez as national coach. Verhaeghe was head of delegation at the World Cup in Russia where the Red Devils won bronze, the best result ever in the history of Belgian football.

In June 2019, Verhaeghe resigned from the RBFA so that he could focus on Club Brugge and his other professional activities. However, in 2022, the football association included Verhaeghe in the task force to appoint Roberto Martinez's successor as national team coach of the Red Devils. This led to the appointment of Italian-German Domenico Tedesco as the Belgian national team coach since february 2023.

Books

 * Zeg niet aan mijn moeder dat ik ondernemer ben...ze denkt dat ik op zoek ben naar een job, 2003. (Don't tell my mother I'm an entrepreneur, she thinks I'm looking for a job)
 * Durf! Pleidooi voor meer ambitie en lef, 2019 (Dare! A plea for more ambition and courage)