Club Brugge prepare to repel Birmingham

Club Brugge KV will look to maintain their unbeaten home record against English sides as Birmingham City FC come calling in UEFA Europa League Group H.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition, and this is also Birmingham's first UEFA contest against a Belgian team.

• The Blues took on R. Union Saint-Gilloise in the 1959 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-finals, the non-UEFA affiliated precursor to the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League. They won 4-2 away and at home.

• Club Brugge's 16 games against English sides have ended W6 D2 L8 (W6 D1 L0 in Bruges). They lost to Liverpool FC in the two-legged 1976 UEFA Cup final and 1-0 against the same side in the 1978 European Champion Clubs' Cup final, which was staged in London.

Match background
• Brugge have won their last three UEFA Europa League home games. They failed to secure a single win at the Jan Breydelstadion in last season's group stage, drawing the first and losing the remaining two. They have already topped that by beating NK Maribor 2-0 in their first Group H home fixture.

• Birmingham are yet to lose in two UEFA away games, having recorded a draw and a win on their travels. The 2010/11 English League Cup finalists lost their first European game on matchday one, going down 3-1 at home to SC Braga.

• Birmingham boss Chris Hughton came up against Club Brugge as a Tottenham Hotspur FC player in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup second round; his side lost 2-1 in Bruges but won the return fixture 3-0 at White Hart Lane.

Team facts
• Birmingham's Chilean midfielder Jean Beausejour spent the 2006/07 season in Belgium with KAA Gent but left without making a senior appearance.

• Club Brugge's Dutch defender Ryan Donk was loaned to Birmingham's West Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion FC in the 2008/09 season.

• The Belgian side's defender Carl Hoefkens spent four seasons in England, with Stoke City FC (2005-07) and West Brom (2007-09), playing in a draw and two defeats against the Blues.

• Club Brugge midfielder Jonathan Blondel spent two seasons at Tottenham Hotspur from 2002, but made just two league appearances – both as a substitute.

• Club Brugge's Dutch boss Adrie Koster played for Roda JC and PSV Eindhoven before moving into coaching. He led AFC Ajax for a while after a spell running their youth team and took over as boss at the Jan Breydelstadion in 2009.

• Chris Hughton replaced Alex McLeish as Birmingham coach in June following their relegation from the Premier League. The London-born former Irish international left-back spent the bulk of his playing career at Tottenham (1977-90), where he also started coaching. His first senior role came at Newcastle United FC from 2009 to 2010.