PSV begins the 2025-2026 UEFA Champions League season at home on Tuesday night. The opponent at the Philips Stadium is Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, the Belgian champion who in recent years has been knocking on the door in Europe more and more emphatically. It will be the first official meeting between the two teams, although they already met in a practice match this summer.
PSV played a friendly match against the reigning champion of Belgium on July 5. In an evenly matched game, Joël van den Berg decided the match with a goal (1-0). Tuesday night, however, things will be very different: the pressure of the group stage of the UEFA Champions League makes this game a real showdown. Union will make its debut on the highest European stage.
Last season in Europe
PSV had a stable European performance last season. In the League phase of the UEFA Champions League, Peter Bosz 's team picked up fourteen points from eight matches, enough to reach the knockout phase. In that, Arsenal proved too strong in the eighth final. Union Saint-Gilloise was active in the UEFA Europa League last year. The Brussels club made it to the sixteenth final, but was eliminated by Ajax. In two games it was 3-2 for the Amsterdammers.
Strong league start
The Belgian opponent has had an excellent start to the season. In the Jupiler Pro League, the first seven games have turned into five wins and two draws. With fifteen goals for and only three against, Union Saint-Gilloise has not only the best defense in the league, but also a productive attack. Moreover, both draws came away from home.
Wide scoring ability
What makes Union Saint-Gilloise stand out is the distribution of goals. Fifteen different players have already been directly involved in a goal this season. Raul Florucz and Kevin Rodríguez are the most prolific names, both with four goals to their name. Florucz additionally delivered one assist.
Familiar faces
The selection of coach Sébastien Pocognoli includes two familiar faces. Defender Fedde Leysen played at PSV between 2019 and 2023, including two seasons with the U23 team. In the summer of 2023, he left for Belgium to join Union Saint-Gilloise. In addition, goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen is under contract with the Brussels club. Scherpen kept until 2019 in the Netherlands and then made the move to Brighton, where he was rented out to KV Oostende and Vitesse, among others. Since this season, he has been the first goalkeeper of Union Saint-Gilloise. Out of seven league games, he kept four, and in all of them he kept his goal clean.
There are still some tickets available for Tuesday night's game.