Frigyes Vanden Auweele

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Frigyes Vanden Auweele is head of osteopathy at Liverpool FC.

The Belgian joined the club in the full-time role after two decades’ experience working with a number of teams across a wide range of sporting disciplines, in addition to running a private practice in his home country.

His previous work included consultancy for Belgium football outfit Oud-Heverlee Leuven, cycling team Trek-Segafredo, volleyball club VHL and individual athletes.

Frigyes is part of the medical department under Dr Andreas Schlumberger as a specialist in osteopathy, which aims to identify, treat and prevent issues in the athlete’s body by focusing on the dysfunction of the locomotor system and the peripheral and autonomic nervous system. The main goal is to enhance performance and reduce the risk of injury.

“I was asked to come [to Liverpool]. First they didn’t tell me which team. I was pretty busy already and I didn’t know which team it was but when I heard which team it was I couldn’t say no,” he said.

“Obviously as a sports therapist, as a sports osteopath it’s the highest you can get. Trek-Segafredo was also a world team so I worked with very, very high athletes, world athletes. But this is something else. It’s in a professional setting.

“Also, that I can do my thing full-time here is also new for me because I was working as a consultant, which means I give advice and then I cannot follow up on it all the time. That’s new for me that I can do the sports osteopathy thing and I can follow up on that.

“That’s also very valuable for me: not only give the advice but also do the treatments and follow up on the treatments.”

Vanden Auweele gained a master’s degree in physical therapy at the KU Leuven research university and then studied osteopathy at Antwerp’s Flanders International College of Osteopathy.

He took up his current position with the Reds in the summer of 2022 and is based at the AXA Training Centre.

“I’m very proud I can do this because obviously as a sports therapist it’s the highest you can reach, so I hope to do my thing here and I can be of value. I’m happy to be here,” added Frigyes.