The 2012–13 season was Oud-Heverlee Leuven's 11th competitive season in professional football. It was their second season in the Belgian Pro League. A promising start by OH Leuven and a 5-match winning streak in October resulted in a third place after 13 matchdays, but thereafter the team dropped in the standings to finally end 10th. In the playoffs, OH Leuven won their group but then lost the playoff final to Gent. In the Belgian Cup, OHL immediately lost their first match just like the previous season, this time going out to Oostende.
Season Overview
April/May On April 27, a first transfer for the new season is announced, as Belgian defender Kenny Thompson signs for OHL, coming from Lierse and two weeks later on May 14, OHL also signs Christopher Verbist from Standard Liège. Verbist played an impressive 2011–12 season in the Belgian Second Division, as he was on loan to Second Division champions Charleroi from Standard Liège.
On May 25, there is a lot of transfer activity at OHL, as two players leave and one is signed. Both Wingback Lionel Gendarme and central defender Pieter Nys decide to sign with a second division team. Gendarme moves to Oostende, while Nys moves to Dutch side Sparta. Meanwhile, on the same day, OHL confirms the signature of Günther Vanaudenaerde from recently relegated Westerlo. Due to injury, Vanaudenaerde missed most of the previous season.
June Being founded in 2002, Oud-Heverlee Leuven celebrates its tenth anniversary. During the festivities, results of the "merit" award are presented. Through a web poll, the OHL fans chose François Sterchele as the player having the most merit during the ten inaugural years. Sterchele played for OHL during the 2004–05 season, in which OHL successfully promoted to the Belgian Second Division, with Sterchele the club top scorer, including eight goals during the promotion playoffs. Other players completing the top 5 were (in order): Bjorn Ruytinx, Jordan Remacle, Joeri Vastmans and Hans Goethuys.
After signing Günther Vanaudenaerde from Westerlo earlier, OHL confirms also the signing of Westerlo youngster Wout Bastiaens on June 5 and announces a few days later that another promising youngster joins the squad as Ben Yagan (17) is promoted from the reserve team to the first team for the coming season.
On June 11, the Belgian Pro League fixtures for the 2012–13 season are announced. Oud-Heverlee Leuven opens the season with an away match to Mons on 28 July 2012. One week later, Genk will be the opponent for the first home match. Later that same day, OHL first announces that Arnold Rijsenburg has signed as part of the staff, becoming the second assistant first team coach for head manager Ronny Van Geneugden, before spreading the news that the club has signed yet another Belgian defender. Twenty-six-year-old Ludovic Buysens has signed a two-year deal, signing from recently relegated Sint-Truiden.
Three days later, OHL sign a fifth Belgian defender with Jonas De Roeck. The experienced 32-year-old was a free player after his contract had expired at Bundesliga team Augsburg. Meanwhile, Sint-Truiden announce the signing of Maxime Annys from OHL on their website. Annys had been with OHL since 2009, but was deemed surplus and allowed to leave.
In need of a new goalkeeper since the departure of Thomas Kaminski following the end of the previous season, OHL finally choose to sign Logan Bailly. With Bailly, OHL sign a 26 year old Belgian international goalkeeper, who has already gained 8 caps for the Red Devils. Bailly gained fame when playing for Genk, leading to a lucrative transfer to Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2008. After some less successful loans, Bailly now moves to OHL, hoping to relaunch his career under Ronny Van Geneugden, who he knows from his period at Genk. Bailly is given a one-year contract.
Initial signs were already bad as Captain Bjorn Ruytinx was forced to walk off the field with a swollen knee during the friendly match against Kampenhout on 27 June, but two days later the feared news is confirmed that Ruytinx has indeed suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Ruytinx, who had just signed a one-year contract extension in March 2012 to perform one more season for Oud-Heverlee Leuven, is now expected to be out for about 6 months.
On the last day of June 2012, OHL announce the signing of Gambian forward Ibou, who signs a three-year contract with an optional extra season. He is transferred from Kortrijk, where he has played since 2008, although that includes a six-month loan to Mechelen and a season-long loan to Mons. Later that same day, news is released that new signings Logan Bailly and Kenny Thompson are both out for weeks. Goalkeeper Bailly has suffered a broken finger during training, while Thompson is suffering from meningitis.
July Although it was already known that Ghanaian striker Ibrahim Salou was going to be released, the news becomes official only when Belgian Third Division team La Louvière Centre announce the signing of Salou on their website on July 18. OHL draws much more media attention on July 20, when the transfer of last season OHL top scorer Jordan Remacle to Gent is now officially announced. Following weeks of rumours considering the future of Remacle, who requested a transfer and even handed in a doctors note to allow him to stay absent from training, the deal is now complete. One day later, this is followed by the news of signing Evariste Ngolok, a Belgian midfielder. After Wout Bastiaens and Günther Vanaudenaerde, Ngolok is the third player coming from Westerlo to sign for OHL.
In their opening match of the 2012–13 Belgian Pro League on July 28, Oud-Heverlee Leuven suffer a heavy loss, going down 5–2 away to Mons, with goals for OHL coming from Karel Geraerts and new signing Ibou, who scores his first goal for OHL.
August OHL presents the team kits for the new season, the main difference being that the logo of head sponsor Option is now blending in with the shirt. The home kits remain white, while the away kits will now be green, with the third kit being coloured red. Head coach Ronny Van Geneugden claims it to be "a youthful kit, matching the youthful character of our supporters, who will surely identify themselves with it". One day later, the 5 000th season ticket is sold. This is a large increase of the record for OH Leuven, as the record stood at 4 772, set during the previous season.
Playing for the first time in their new kits, the team bounce back from trailing 0–2 with 15 minutes to go, to draw 2–2 with Genk in their first home match of the season. During that same match, defender Günther Vanaudenaerde tears one of the muscles in his abdomen and is expected to be out for 4 to 6 weeks.
The following week, transfer activity is again increased, as OHL loans out three Belgian players to Belgian Second Division team Antwerp. Defender Nicky Hayen and midfielders Kevin Roelandts and Jorn Vermeulen join the Antwerp team for one season, while Christian Pouga is presented as the latest new signing. The 26 year old striker from Cameroon is signed from Portuguese team Marítimo.
Only 34 seconds into the match against Gent, Ibou scores his third of the season. Eventually the match against the new team of Jordan Remacle ends in a 1–1 draw, a small revenge for OHL after the 6–1 loss during the previous season. One week later, OHL books a first win, coming back twice to beat Cercle Brugge 3–2 at home, with Evariste Ngolok scoring his first goal for OHL. Other goals came from Ibou and Geraerts.
Although various media already reported the coming of Ivorian defender Ali Bamba to OHL on loan from Le Mans, the deal is cancelled on 21 August 2012 after Bamba fails his medical tests.
Against an Anderlecht squad in which no less than 8 first team players have been replaced to keep them fresh for their upcoming Champions League fixture, OHL draws 1–1 at Den Dreef. For the fifth game in a row, Ibou gets on the scoresheet, thereby taking the lead in the goal scorer standings, however he also suffers an injury, causing him to be sidelined for about a week.
On the last day of the transfer window, OHL confirmed the signing of the 23-year-old Zimbabwean midfielder Ovidy Karuru from French side US Boulogne. It was also announced that Antoine Palate would be loaned for one season to Diegem Sport in the Belgian Third Division.
September An injury time goal from Christian Pouga secures one point for OHL away to Lierse. The absence of Ibou is clear on the pitch, as OHL struggles to create big scoring opportunities.
OHL enters the draw for the Belgian Cup and is drawn away to Belgian Second Division team Oostende in the 16th finals. Should OH Leuven get past Oostende, they will play another away game, against the winner of the match between Brussels and Waasland-Beveren.
After one week break because of international football, OHL plays a dull match at home against Zulte Waregem. With just under ten minutes to play, Zulte Waregem scores the only goal of the match to give OHL a first home loss of the season. OHL also drops into 14th position, just two points clear of the relegation zone.
Available as a free player, OH Leuven adds 29-year-old Brazilian defender Robson to the squad on September 20, giving him a one-year contract with a possible one-year extension. Robson had been training with the team already for several weeks and previously played for Marítimo, alongside Christian Pouga.
Although Lokeren took the lead twice, OHL manages to keep one point in the away match at Daknam, with first Wim Raymaekers equalizing to 1–1 and finally Karel Geraerts scoring the 2–2 equaliser just before the end of the match. During the following midweek match, OHL is kicked straight out of the cup in their first match, for the second consecutive season. Against Oostende, a red card for Ludovic Buysens and a handling error by Logan Bailly leading to the opening goal allow the second division team to eventually win easily, by a score of 2–1. For OHL, youngster Joren Dehond manages to score his first goal of the season.
After the disappointing cup loss, OHL responds with a spectacular home win against newly promoted Waasland-Beveren. After two goals from Christian Pouga and a stunning free kick by Stefán Gíslason, Ibou completes the game with two more goals, the last one in injury time just seconds after he missed a penalty kick.
October In October, OHL continues where they left off and even improves their level, extending the streak of consecutive matches won to five. First the team starts with a 0–4 win away to Charleroi in which Chuka, who had been struggling to find the net, completes a hattrick. The final goal came again from Ibou, who now ties with Club Brugge striker Carlos Bacca for the lead in the standings for top scorer with 8 goals. Thereafter, a previously undefeated Club Brugge comes to lose at Den Dreef. After going down already with under five minutes played due to a goal from Carlos Bacca, Ibou scores a hattrick to race past Bacca in the top scorers' standings with 11 goals from the same number of matches. Ovidy Karuru adds his first goal for OHL to result in a final 4–1 score. With the win, OH Leuven moves into position 6 in the standings. Also, for the first time since the expansion of Den Dreef to a capacity of 9.500, OHL plays in front of a sellout crowd. Since the 1970s, there have not been that number of supporters at a football match in the region.