Karel Geraerts

Youth football

Karel Geraerts grew up in Opgrimbie and started playing football in 1989 at local club CS Mechelen. At the age of 14, Geraerts made the switch to the youth team of Racing Genk, where he was picked up by Club Brugge after two seasons in the Genk youth team. In 2000, Geraerts ended up in the Club first-team squad, alongside fellow youngsters Stijn Stijnen, Hans Cornelis and Birger Maertens.

Club Brugge and Lokeren loan

In the summer of 2000, the blue-blacks brought Timmy Simons to Brugge. The defensive midfielder immediately grew into a regular, meaning Geraerts would not immediately get his chance from trainer Trond Sollied. In the 2002/03 season, the young Limburger made a number of appearances as substitute, but did not enjoy a major breakthrough. In January 2004, Geraerts was loaned to Sporting Lokeren for the second half of the 2003–04 season. Under trainer Franky Van der Elst, the blond midfielder became a regular at the Waaslanders. In a memorable away match against Westerlo, Geraerts scored his first goal at the highest level in a 7–3 win.

Standard Liège

In the summer of 2004, Standard Liège signed the then 22-year-old midfielder, putting him into a strong Rouches squad alongside Sérgio Conceição, Vedran Runje, Mohammed Tchité, Oguchi Onyewu and Ivica Dragutinović. Standard competed for the title for most of the 2005–06 season, but eventually saw rivals Anderlecht become champions. The following season saw extra competition…

After a two-year spell as technical co-ordinator at Oostende, Geraerts became assistant coach at Union SG in 2019, culminating in promotion to the top flight of the Belgian Pro League after 48 years away in 2021. Confounding expectations, Union challenged for the title at the first attempt under Geraerts and head coach Felice Mazzu. After leading the league for exactly 200 days, Union lost back-to-back play-off games against Club Brugge to finish second behind the Bruges side in the 2021-22 title race. With Mazzu tempted away by Anderlecht within a week of season's end, Geraerts stepped up to become a head coach for the first time, succeeding Mazzu. For the 2022-23 season, Union were in the top four throughout, without ever leading at the end of a matchweek. But as one of three clubs still in contention for the title heading into the final day, Union's 1–0 lead over Club Brugge would have been enough to clinch their first crown since 1938, until conceding three goals in stoppage time, as Royal Antwerp earned a point at K.R.C. Genk to finish ahead of both Genk and Union. Talks on an improved contract between Geraerts and the fiscally-sensible Union broke down, and within weeks of almost guiding them to the league crown, Geraerts' contract was not renewed. He moved to Schalke 04 in October 2023, keeping them in the 2.Bundesliga by finishing tenth, twelve points above relegation. However, a poor start to the following season saw Schalke win only four points from their first…

International

Belgium score listed first, score column indicates score after each Geraerts goal

Managerial

As of 9 May 2026

Player

Club Brugge

Belgian First Division: 2002–03 Belgian Cup: 2001–02 Belgian Supercup: 2002, 2003 Bruges Matins: 2001

Manager

Individual

Raymond Goethals Award: 2022