Shandre Campbell shines in Belgium South African youngster Shandre Campbell has been named in Club Brugge's Champions League squad ahead of their Last 16 clash against Aston Villa. Photo: Maarten Straetemns/Belga Photo via AFP
Image: Maarten Straetemns/Belga Photo via AFP
South African teen sensation Shandre Campbell's star continues to shine after he was included in Club Brugge's squad for their Last 16 clash against Aston Villa in the UEFA Champions League.
The two teams will go head-to-head in the first leg in Belgium on Tuesday, and the second leg will take place on Wednesday next week.
Campbell has been quietly impressing in Belgium since making the move from SuperSport United ahead of the current season.
After impressing with Club Brugge's reserve side Club NXT, Campbell was recently called up to the first team, and made his senior debut in an exciting league encounter against Sint-Truidense V.V. two weeks ago.
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Since moving to Europe, the highly-rated 19-year-old Campbell has scored six goals and has one assist in 15 games for Club NXT. Should he feature, he will become the first South African to play in the competition in six years.
The last South African to play in the Champions League was Percy Tau, who, during the 2018/19 campaign, featured regularly for Brugge, playing against the likes of Real Madrid and French giants Paris Saint-Germain.
Currently, Benni McCarthy remains the only South African footballer to win the Champions League. McCarthy, recently appointed as the head coach of Kenya, scored regularly as a Jose Mourinho coached FC Porto defied all odds to win the competition back in 2004.
Meanwhile, Campbell is expected to be named in Hugo Broos' Bafana Bafana squad for two World Cup qualifiers. Bafana host neighbouts Lesotho at Peter Mokaba Stadium Polokwane in two weeks, and have been designated as the away side at the same venue against Benin four days later.
IOL Sport