2012 Belgian Cup Final

The 2012 Belgian Cup Final, named the Cofidis Cup after the sponsor, was played on 24 March 2012 between Kortrijk and Lokeren. It was the 58th Belgian Cup final and was won by Lokeren.

2012 Belgian Cup Final
Event2011–12 Belgian Cup
Lokeren Kortrijk
1 0
Date24 March 2012
VenueKing Baudouin Stadium, Brussels
RefereeJérôme Efong Nzolo

The match started intensely, with both teams attacking from the start. Kortrijk already had a scoring chance within the first minute, while Lokeren scored an early goal through Hamdi Harbaoui which was correctly disallowed for offside. The major talking point of the match happened after 19 minutes, when a linesman signalled a foul by Lokeren forward and Belgian international Benjamin De Ceulaer, who was subsequently dismissed by referee Jérôme Efong Nzolo with a red card. Nzolo followed the instructions of his assistant and initially showed the red card to a Kortrijk player, when the linesman made clear it should have been De Ceulaer. Both spectators in the stadium and through radio and television broadcast were left unsure about the exact reason as initial replays showed a struggle between Brecht Capon and De Ceulaer, for which a red card seemed very harsh. Although Lokeren played more defensively after the red card, a moderate Kortrijk was not able to create any major chances for the remainder of the first half.

During the second half, Kortrijk did push for the goal and almost scored, with Nebojša Pavlović just missing the cross from Mohamed Messoudi, Ernest Nfor testing the reflexes of Lokeren goalkeeper Copa and Dalibor Veselinović heading a chance wide. In the attacking department of Lokeren, Hamdi Harbaoui was left to handle it on his own, not managing to create any danger. However, with just over an hour played, Lokeren coach brought in Baye Djiby Fall to strengthen the attack and after 77 minutes a play between Fall, Nill De Pauw and Harbaoui set up the latter to lob the ball over Kortrijk goalie Darren Keet. Lokeren was under moderate pressure during the final minutes, but ultimately held on without giving away any major chances. With that, Lokeren had won its first Belgian Cup.[1]

Right after the match, Benjamin De Ceulaer stated that "I'm very happy for our team and president. But for me... the referee took away the most beautiful moment of my career. I will never forgive him. I hope I never meet him again. I refuse to look him in the eye from now on.", but zoomed in replays of the phase indeed showed that De Ceulaer had kicked the legs of Brecht Capon while the ball was nowhere near. Referee Nzolo also stated that he stood behind his decision and although he was forced to follow the judgement of his linesman anyway, he also believed that the linesman made the right judgement and De Ceulaer had been sent off for valid reasons.[2]

Road to the Final
See also: 2011–12 Belgian Cup
LokerenRoundKortrijk
Eupen [D2]
H
3–0		De Ceulaer 21', 64'
Harbaoui 83'		Round SixAntwerp [D2]
H
1–1 (AET)
p.s.: 6–5		Joseph-Monrose 56'
Westerlo [D1]
H
3–1		Marić 40' (pen.)
Finnbogason 80', 84'		Round SevenSint-Truiden [D1]
H
1–0		Nfor 50'
Gent [D1]
H
1–1		Mokulu 1'Quarter Finals
First Leg		Beerschot [D1]
H
2–0		Zukanović 81'
Messoudi 84'
Gent [D1]
A
3–3		Marić 33' (pen.)
Patosi 50'
Persoons 87'		Quarter Finals
Second Leg		Beerschot [D1]
A
1–2		Veselinović 67'
Lierse [D1]
H
1–0		Taravel 57'Semi-finals
First Leg		Mons [D1]
A
2–1		Joseph-Monrose 62'
Messoudi 90'
Lierse [D1]
A
3–0		De Pauw 38', 83'
Persoons 42'		Semi-finals
Second Leg		Mons [D1]
H
2–2		Joseph-Monrose 33'
Sapina 37' (OG)
  • Both clubs received a bye to round six.
  • In square brackets is a letter that represents the opposition's division

Match details
Lokeren1 – 0Kortrijk
Harbaoui  77'
Lokeren
Kortrijk
LOKEREN:
GK21 Copa
DF13 Georgios Galitsios
DF23 Ibrahima Gueye
DF4 Jérémy Taravel
DF28 Laurens De Bock
MF7 Killian Overmeire
MF8 Koen Persoons
MF10 Ivan Leko 62'
FW29 Nill De Pauw 90+3'
FW9 Hamdi Harbaoui 86'
FW11 Benjamin De Ceulaer 19'
Substitutes:
DF3 Hassan El Mouataz 86'
MF6 Tiko
GK12 Jugoslav Lazić
FW14 Benjamin Mokulu
MF17 Geir Ludvig Fevang 90+3'
FW19 Baye Djiby Fall 62'
MF24 Ayanda Patosi
Manager:
Peter Maes
KORTRIJK:
GK16 Darren Keet
MF21 Brecht Capon
DF3 Baptiste Martin 25'
DF23 Ervin Zukanović
MF11 Mustapha Oussalah
MF8 Nebojša Pavlović
MF17 Gertjan De Mets 60'
MF10 Ernest Nfor 69'
MF20 Mohamed Messoudi
FW18 Pablo Chavarría 13' 81'
FW9 Dalibor Veselinović
Substitutes:
GK1 Kristof van Hout
MF4 Ismaïla N'Diaye
DF5 Alassane També
DF6 David Wijns
FW7 Steeven Joseph-Monrose 69'
DF14 Landry Mulemo
MF19 Brecht Dejaeghere 81'
Manager:
Hein Vanhaezebrouck
MATCH RULES
  • 90 minutes.
  • 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
  • Maximum 7 named substitutes
  • Maximum of 3 substitutions.

See also

References
  1. "Lokeren wins cup for the first time" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2012-03-24. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  2. "De Ceulaer: "I'll never forgive the referee"" (in Dutch). sporza.be. 2012-03-24.
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