© Serge Minten
Besnik Hasi (51) is the new trainer of KV Mechelen. The ex-Anderlecht coach succeeds Steven Defour as head coach. After disappointing results and a painful cup elimination, Defour was thanked for his services.
We still know Hasi as coach of Anderlecht. The Kosovar, who played for Albania, guided the purple and white to a Belgian title in 2014 and a Super Cup in the same year. Afterwards he went to work for Legia Warsaw, Olympiakos, Al-Raed and Al Ahli (both Saudi Arabia).
After the dismissal of Defour – for whom the painful cup exit against third division Knokke proved to be the death blow – assistant Fred Vanderbiest took over temporarily. Vanderbiest led Malinwa to a deserved draw in Standard, but the position of T1 was not for him.
From Tuesday, the Mechelen board started working on a successor for Defour. Various candidate trainers were interviewed and Hasi emerged as the winner on Tuesday evening. Other candidates would have been Bernd Hollerbach and Sven Vandenbroeck, but this has not been confirmed for the time being. KV hopes to have Hasi sign the autographs on Wednesday, but the home match against Charleroi is still too early for the new trainer. It is not yet known what the technical staff will look like.
