Lee Johnson Leads Lommel SK to Belgian Promotion

Lee Johnson guided Lommel SK to promotion to the Belgian top flight, the club's first appearance there in more than two decades. The 45‑year‑old described the move abroad as a “huge adaptation” and said he would recommend such opportunities to anyone. Johnson, who guided Sunderland to the 2021 EFL Trophy, previously managed Bristol City and was sacked by Fleetwood Town in December 2023. He joined Lommel SK in March 2025 after a decade‑long connection with City Football Group, the owner of Lommel and parent company of Manchester City. Between leaving Fleetwood and arriving in Belgium, he travelled to Nigeria to study African players’ pathways and to Copenhagen for a piece on team spirit and psychological safety. His first priority was to avoid relegation from the Challenger Pro League, a goal secured with a win over table‑topping Zulte Waragem in his debut. Lommel finished fifth in the 2025‑26 season and earned promotion through the play‑offs, winning five of six matches and drawing the final leg against Pro League side FCV Dender EH. In doing so, Johnson achieved what Englishmen Steve Bould and Liam Manning before him could not. In Belgium the top two Challenger Pro League teams gain automatic promotion, while clubs placed third to sixth contest a two‑legged play‑off and the winner then faces the third‑bottom Pro League side for a final spot. Lommel navigated six play‑off games to clinch their ascent, a longer route than the English Football League’s promotion system. Johnson worked with a squad comprising 16 different nationalities despite not speaking any foreign language fluently. He said connection can be achieved through touch, sight and belief, and that his role was to settle, push and cajole young, talented players who had not experienced frequent defeats. Johnson likened the Belgian top flight to the English Premier League, calling the quality and physicality “the equivalent of getting promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.” He added that the passion of the fans and the momentum of the squad will be crucial as Lommel aims to make an impression rather than merely survive. Looking ahead, Johnson said his biggest challenge will be making sustainable decisions in the top league and that he wants to manage at the highest level for as long as possible. He believes the reduced fixture load in Belgium offers more coaching weeks to develop players compared with the relentless schedule of the Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy in the UK.