D’Hooghe delight at Brugge post

Michel D'Hooghe has been appointed president of Club Brugge KV following the death of the previous incumbent, Michel Van Maele, a fortnight ago.

'Very proud'
"I am very proud to have been chosen and the consensus over my appointment was complete and that is very important," D'Hooghe said following the board's unanimous decision to appoint the 45-year-old. "The pressure on me to accept the position was greater and greater by the day. Everybody in the club asked me to accept and the meeting I had with Michel Van Maele just before his death contributed significantly to my decision."

'Things are going well'
D’Hooghe continued: "A lot of things are going very well in Brugge at the moment and I would be a fool to want to change everything. The first thing to work on is to become a stronghold in the [UEFA] Champions League."

Long association with Brugge
D’Hooghe, who was born in Brugge, was a mascot of the club when he was a boy. Later, he worked at the club as an orthopaedic doctor and physical education specialist and he also became a club administrator in 1972. In 1987, D’Hooghe was appointed president of the Belgian Football Association, a role he fulfilled until June 2001 when Jan Peeters took over. D’Hooghe is also a member of the FIFA and UEFA executive committees and the president of the FIFA medical commission.

No conflict
“I talked to Mr [Joseph S.] Blatter [the president of FIFA] and Mr [Lennart] Johansson [the UEFA president] to see if I could combine my existing duties and the presidency of Brugge and they said that there was absolutely no problem,” D’Hooghe said.