At a press event at the Wellington Group headquarters in London, the organization announced the creation of a new Belgian club that is expected to debut in the Belgian Premier League next season. Sportvereniging Red Star Aalst will mark Wellington's return to top tier football in the town of Aalst in the East Flanders region of Belgium.
"This is another exciting day" said Geoffrey Wellington, CEO of Wellington Group. "FC Aalst was perhaps the most storied club in my grandfather's iteration of the Sports Management division. With the founding of this new team, we will be able to have the return of top flight football to the region. It will be an exciting endeavour for us."
JR Wellington Sports Management Director of Football Eadburt Clement was also on hand to address the media and answer questions. "I'm sure that no one will be surprised that Red Star will go into next year with the same lofty long-term objectives as all of our other clubs" said Clement. "Seeing the league championship trophies for FC Aalst in our company's trophy case only gives me greater determination for our new club to find the same success. As the season for the Belgian Premier League is about to begin, that gives us a full year to get ready for high quality football. The next step will be to put a team in place that will be able to run the club day-to-day. We will worry about longer term goals once that core group is in place."
Several players have already joined the team on amateur contracts as the team will play a steady stream of exhibition matches leading up to their eventual professional debut. They are also expected to participate in the upcoming WG Financial Cup against their fellow Wellington owned teams.