and the Cercle board chose not to extend Tipurić's contract. Harm Van Veldhoven was chosen to replace him, and oversaw three decent but unspectacular seasons for Cercle, brightened by the emergence of the talented Stijn De Smet and Tom De Sutter. When Van Veldhoven was announced as new coach of G. Beerschot, Cercle chose former Anderlecht player and assistant manager Glen De Boeck as his successor. In his debut year, De Boeck surprised with successful attacking and attractive football. Cercle ended the season fourth in the top division, their best post-war ranking. The 2009–10 season saw them ending as runners-up in the Belgian Cup final, which was enough to qualify for the Europa League. Shortly afterwards, manager Glen De Boeck surprisingly signed a contract with Germinal Beerschot, only one month after having signed a new 4-year-deal with Cercle Brugge. De Boeck declared to the press that he only had some questions about his lawn mower for Beerschot president Herman Kesters, but had finally ended up signing for the Antwerp side. Cercle Brugge appointed AA Gent reserves coach Bob Peeters as their new manager. It will be Peeters' first experience in the Pro League. This season also brought Cercle's first European attendance in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, where they defeated TPS from Finland and reached the third qualifying round were they stranded against Anorthosis Famagusta F.C.. In November 2012 Peeters was fired for poor results. Despite attracting star player Eiður Guðjohnsen, he failed to get Cercle away from that last place and was replaced by Foeke Booy. The team still struggled to avoid relegation. After the bad results they sacked Foeke Booy and the new trainer was Lorenzo Staelens. Lorenzo Staelens would be replaced by Arnar Vidarsson in their last season in first division. A few months later Vidarsson would also be replaced by Dennis Van Wijk, Cercle eventually lost Play-Off III to SK Lierse and relegate to second division. Second division, financial difficulties and take-over by Russian Oligarch (2015–present) The first season in the second division, Cercle ended 5th out of 17. The next season (2016–17), the competition was renamed to 1B and contained 8 teams. Manager Vincent Euvrard was sacked after a disappointing start and was replaced by José Riga. Cercle ended 7th in the competition and had to play a relegation poule with Tubize, Oud-Heverlee Leuven and Lommel United to secure their place in 1B. Lommel United