Belgian club has its own name, unique brand and the freedom to develop a philosophy away from just winning. Club YLA are fourth in the top division of the Belgian Women’s Super League, which is exactly where they finished in 2023-24. Catching current leaders Leuven and multiple time champions Anderlecht is a long-term goal but this is a club doing things a bit differently. The club is the women’s team of Club Brugge, led by CEO Guillian Preud’homme, with its own unique brand created in cooperation with the Dutch company Studio Dumbar in order to attract new supporters, boasting its own merchandise range with different colours to the men.

“Club Brugge had an amateur women’s team for 20 years,” says Preud’homme. “Five years ago, we made the decision to create a brand and the name was attributed to Yvonne Lahouse, one of the fiercest supporters of the men’s team. She would be on the Kop, in among all the dangerous supporters. “We dedicated it to her because it’s been tough for women to make a stand for themselves in the sport, it’s a way of motivating our young players you can achieve great things by sacrifice and hanging in there.”.

Preud’homme and the board consulted not just fans on the rebrand but players too, ensuring everyone was 100% behind their long-term goals. They have created what he describes as an “attractive, young, modern” brand, with their own clothing range – in black and white colours – to create their own revenue streams. Last year, the team moved to a fully professional setup and they have their own training base. “The second part of all this is we want to be there for the community and include a lot of diversifications and focus on female entrepreneurship,” adds Preud’homme.

“We organise conferences with brands and companies led by women or brands focused on females. Our main sponsor is Pepsi, where the CEO is a woman. Our back sponsor is Nakd, the CEO is a woman. Our sleeve sponsor is ThinkPink, the CEO is a woman. They are a voluntary organisation which highlights the risk of breast cancer. We are extremely proud of what our shirt looks like.”. Preud’homme arrived at the club three years ago and has been one of the leaders of the move from semi-professional to professional. He suggests it is unique to have a separate women’s brand within a major club such as Club Brugge.

“It could have only worked by involving those in the club every day, the only way. We want to build on the club together. We are linked financially, but with the freedom to develop a philosophy away from just winning. It’s about diversity, inclusiveness, and community. We would like to win too, of course.”. And last year they did, winning the Belgian Cup for the first time, after a victory on penalties against Leuven. Preud’homme is aware that while winning is not yet the sole priority, it will help promote the club brand further, with qualifying for the Champions League a key aim to help spread their name across the continent.

Marketing what they do is at the heart of many of their plans. “It’s crucial,” he says. “Everything now is how you put your message across, but not just on social media. We want to play games across Europe, do these kinds of interviews, we want to inspire other clubs too to implement similar ideas. “The away kit of Club Brugge [men’s team] is fully white, but we know women struggle with white shorts, statistics show us results are poorer when they wear white, so we’ve changed to black. We’d like more clubs to consider that. We do it in tennis, why not in football?”.

The club hired the former Germany international and Switzerland head coach Inka Grings in the summer, a big statement of intent, and know success on and off the pitch will go hand in hand in the future. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts. No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women’s football. after newsletter promotion. “If we were an ordinary team, I don’t think Inka would come,” he says. “She was attracted by the fact we want to put the women central. Inka has won everything, literally, she’s brought a level of maturity and strong mentality.”.

On their future, he adds: “It’s a good question. We want to battle for silverware and be in Europe, but we want an organic growth. About 50% of our squad is from the academy, we want to keep that. “We have to change things as a league too, I’d like a mutual title sponsor for the league. Ourselves? We’re doing an evaluation of the brand. Is it still relevant? What about women who want to have a baby? Milan has that [maternity policy] now, all these modern life questions we need to think about moving forwards. There’s no specific dot on the horizon, it’s about where we feel we can make a difference.”.