“An organization can be so strong that a trainer only has to focus on the things for which he was hired.” This is what chairman Bart Verhaeghe said immediately after the historic qualification against PAOK. But who is actually behind the praised (and heavily redesigned) structure of Club Brugge? An overview of the support beams in blue-black.
At the end of 2023, he succeeded Vincent Mannaert as CEO of Club Brugge and is therefore ultimately responsible within blue-black on a day-to-day basis.
In the past he already held several important positions at the Belgian Football Association and in 2018 Madou started working full-time at Club Brugge as Chief Business Officer.
There, the native of Bruges impressed with his organizational and commercial insight – Madou launched, among other things, the famous Club Media House – and he worked as an important sounding board for management duo Bart Verhaeghe – Vincent Mannaert.
Madou, a LO by training, lives barely two kilometers from Jan Breydel and is known as a hard worker with an eye for trends and extensive knowledge of files.
Chief Financial Officer since 2021. Read: the man who must monitor the financial health of the Club. In addition, as head of Operations, he is in charge of the management of the Basecamp in Westkapelle, The Nest in Roeselare and of course the Jan Breydel Stadium.
Laukens is just below Madou in the hierarchy and is one of the heavyweights within blue-black as a member of the management committee.
Before his switch to football, he made waves at major international companies such as Procter & Game, Recticel and Ontex.
Quietly took strong steps within the Club’s hierarchy.
Rigaux was trainer of the U10 at blue-black when he was suddenly asked to interpret for Spanish top signing Victor Vazquez. The West Flemish played his role so well that Club promptly made him responsible for all Spanish-speaking players.
Drop his name with, say, José Izquierdo and a long song of praise will undoubtedly follow.
Rigaux would also make an impression as a team manager and link within scouting. To such an extent that Vincent Mannaert would increasingly take the eloquent polyglot with him to negotiations.
Rigaux learns the tricks of the trade from the front row and is promoted to Recruitment Manager, who is given increasing responsibility for closing deals.
Madou a few weeks ago about Rigaux: “He has now built up a very strong network and played a very dominant role in many successful incoming and outgoing transfers. If a foreigner had his CV, you would say: ‘Wow, that’s a great one.’ .”
As Director of Football, Rigaux is now ultimately responsible for all transfer files.
Rigaux with his partner José Izquierdo.
A helicopter that oversees all the different sporting departments of the club.
He monitors the football philosophy and is present at the Basecamp every day as a sounding board for the head coach and staff.
“He also focuses on management, planning and organization. I am talking about sports science, the team around the team, data and technology and player and team analyses,” CEO Madou previously explained Dedobbeleer’s role.
The Sports Director has been at the top of Belgian football for many years. Started working for the football association’s communications department in 2011 and subsequently started his own sports agency 90/24 Media, which he left in 2019 for Club, where he previously held the position of marketing director.
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