PROFILPELAJAR.COM

2012 Belgian Cup final
Event	2011–12 Belgian Cup
Date	24 March 2012
Venue	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels
Referee	Jérôme Efong Nzolo
	← 2011 2013 →

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 57th Belgian Cup final and was won by Lokeren.

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

Lokeren		Round	Kortrijk
Eupen [D2] H 3–0	De Ceulaer 21', 64' Harbaoui 83'	Round Six	Antwerp [D2] H 1–1 (AET) p.s.: 6–5	Joseph-Monrose 56'
Westerlo [D1] H 3–1	Marić 40' (pen.) Finnbogason 80', 84'	Round Seven	Sint-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
- [D1] = Belgian First Division
- [D2] = Belgian Second Division

Match details

24 March 2012

20:30 CET

Lokeren	1–0	Kortrijk
Harbaoui 77'

King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels

Referee: Jérôme Efong Nzolo

Lokeren

Kortrijk


LOKEREN:
GK	21	Copa
DF	13	Georgios Galitsios
DF	23	Ibrahima Gueye
DF	4	Jérémy Taravel
DF	28	Laurens De Bock
MF	7	Killian Overmeire
MF	8	Koen Persoons
MF	10	Ivan Leko		62'
FW	29	Nill De Pauw		90+3'
FW	9	Hamdi Harbaoui		86'
FW	11	Benjamin De Ceulaer	19'
Substitutes:
DF	3	Hassan El Mouataz		86'
MF	6	Tiko
GK	12	Jugoslav Lazić
FW	14	Benjamin Mokulu
MF	17	Geir Ludvig Fevang		90+3'
FW	19	Baye Djiby Fall		62'
MF	24	Ayanda Patosi
Manager:
Peter Maes


KORTRIJK:
GK	16	Darren Keet
MF	21	Brecht Capon
DF	3	Baptiste Martin	25'
DF	23	Ervin Zukanović
MF	11	Mustapha Oussalah
MF	8	Nebojša Pavlović
MF	17	Gertjan De Mets	60'
MF	10	Ernest Nfor		69'
MF	20	Mohamed Messoudi
FW	18	Pablo Chavarría	13'	81'
FW	9	Dalibor Veselinović
Substitutes:
GK	1	Kristof van Hout
MF	4	Ismaïla N'Diaye
DF	5	Alassane També
DF	6	David Wijns
FW	7	Steeven Joseph-Monrose		69'
DF	14	Landry Mulemo
MF	19	Brecht Dejaeghere		81'
Manager:
Hein Vanhaezebrouck