Dennis Praet: ‘It’s Always Been Football For Me’

At nine years old, Dennis Praet had a decision to make that would shape his future professional career in the sporting world. A keen tennis player, the Belgium native was also progressing through Genk’s academy system after spending his formative years at SJV Motbroek and the club that became OH Leuven, now owned by King Power International. Soon to be a graduate of Anderlecht famed academy, his footballing journey commenced alongside a passion for another sport. He may have had to choose between football and tennis, but since then, only one has remained at the forefront of Praet’s mind.

“I started playing football when I was four or five-years-old, so at a very young age,” the Leuven-born midfielder began. We're speaking within LCFC Training Ground, the state-of-the-art training facility and base that Praet and his team-mates call home. “Together with tennis, I started those two sports. From that age, they saw already that I had a lot of feeling with the ball.