Hearts fans should be excited about the prospect of Wouter Vrancken | OneFootball

It looks like Wouter Vrancken has found himself a new job. After guiding Sint Truiden to a historic third place finish last season, the Belgian head coach is off to Scotland to join up with Hearts. The Edinburgh based side narrowly missed out on the Scottish title last season and after losing Derrick McInnis to Rangers, Hearts have turned to Vrancken. Tony Bloom knows that type of coach Vrancken is, with his Union St Gilloise side having faced various teams managed by the former Belgian international on numerous occasions. Hearts fans should certainly be excited about the prospect of Vrancken as their head coach.

Vrancken first announced himself as a quality football coach during his time with KV Mechelen. He led the side to promotion and won the domestic cup back in 2019, the first time a team from the second tier had won the cup. Mechelen enjoyed great success under Vrancken, before he then moved on to join Genk and subsequently Gent. Vrancken had a fantastic first season with Genk, earning 2.1 points per game and winning 61% of his matches. Sadly, the future Hearts head coach was unable to keep this going into the second season and after coming under pressure left to join Gent. Vrancken only spent a short time with Gent before being sacked and joining Sint Truiden in April 2025.

Sint Truiden finished that season in the bottom four, with Vrancken ensuring they did not get relegated. Fast forward 12 months and Sint Truiden finished in third place and have qualified for European football. Much like his Mechelen side of a few years ago, the Canaries under Vrancken played enterprising attacking football. Hearts fans should expect the same when he takes over.

Under Vrancken, Sint Truiden had the most set piece goals in the Belgian Pro League with 17, the third best passing accuracy in the Pro League, the third most goals per game with 1.5 and the third highest xG in the Belgian Pro League. In each of these statistics, only Club Brugge and Union St Gilloise, the two sides that battled it out for the title, were higher. At the other end, they conceded the joint third fewest goals with 1.2 per game, against just behind the top two and level with Standard Liege.

What Hearts fans should also be hopeful about is that fact that under Vrancken Sint Truiden were not reliant on one player for their goals. Keisuke Goto, now of Freiburg, led the team with 11, but others chipped in to give them 61 in 40 games for the season.

While Hearts fans can be excited, it is worth noting that this will likely be the biggest test of Vrancken’s coaching career. He has only managed in Belgium, where he knows the league intricately and understands how to be successful there. Can his recipe for success in Belgium translate to Scotland? Time will tell, and very few have made the journey from Belgium to Scotland. Phillipe Clement took charge of Rangers for a brief period of time, with some success, but the pressures of Rangers are different to those of Hearts.

It is also worth bearing in mind that Vrancken has had his best success with teams that are not considered to be the ‘best’ in their leagues. Hearts are clearly a big club, but they are not in the same environment as the Old Firm sides. This will suit Vrancken, as he likes the chance to be an underdog and overachieve. Hopefully, the marriage between Hearts and Vrancken will be successful and the Edinburgh side can build on what was a fantastic season last year.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson