Bryan Heynen

Bryan Heynen has spent his entire career at one club. He joined the KRC Genk academy in 2003 as a six-year-old, having taken his first steps in the game at Opitter FC, and worked his way through the youth ranks until his promotion to the first team in 2015, making his senior debut that July. No loan spell, no move elsewhere — everything he has won in the game has come in Genk colours.

The high point arrived in the 2018–19 season, when Genk won the Belgian First Division A title and Heynen missed only five league games all campaign. Two years later he lifted the Belgian Cup as captain, leading the side out in a 2–1 win over Standard Liège in the final. In October 2022 he produced the moment that best sums up his career at the club: a long-range volley against Royal Antwerp so good it was voted the Belgian Pro League Goal of the Year.

By September 2024 he had made his 300th appearance for Genk, a milestone few at the club reach, and has continued to add to that tally since, passing 300 league appearances with 35 league goals to his name. He has worn the captain's armband since the 2019–20 season and, in March 2025, committed his future to the club with a contract extension running to 2029.

International recognition came later than the domestic success. Rudi Garcia called him into the senior Belgium squad in 2025 for the Nations League play-off against Ukraine, a tie played over two legs — a heavy defeat in Murcia followed by a 3–0 win at Genk's Cegeka Arena that sent Belgium through on aggregate. Heynen was part of the squad for both matches.