He gets his talent from his father: Romeo Vermant, son of former Schalke professional Sven, has celebrated his debut in Belgium’s first division.

Sven Vermant played for FC Schalke 04 for four years. Between 2001 and 2005, the Belgian played 98 Bundesliga games, scoring six goals and setting up 13 assists. During his time in Germany, Vermant’s son Romeo was born – and he obviously got some of the central midfielder’s talent.

For Romeo Vermant, who turned 19 in January and was born in Gelsenkirchen, played his first game in the Belgian First Division on Saturday when he was substituted in FC Brugge’s game at KV Kortrijk. However, he was unable to prevent the 1-0 defeat.

Vermant came through the entire youth section of Bruges – where his father also became an idol and played a total of over 400 games for the traditional Belgian club. Until now, Romeo played primarily in the second team of Bruges, but with six goals in 22 games, he attracted so much attention this season that he has now slipped into the professional squad. In the Uefa Youth League, Vermant scored a goal against Bayer Leverkusen. Unlike his father, however, Vermant is at home in attack. He is also an U19 national player for Belgium.

Sven Vermant is still popular at Schalke after his four years in Königsblau. He won the DFB Cup with Schalke in 2002. The 49-year-old has fond memories of his time in Gelsenkirchen: “The stadium was always full and the Schalke fans supported us passionately. That was extremely important for the team. The fans gave us courage. We were not afraid of any opponent. We then showed that on the pitch,” Vermant said in a RevierSport interview in June 2020.

After his time with S04, Vermant returned to Bruges – now his son is following in his footsteps.