Former Lincoln City Defender Promoted To European Top Flight Division

Lincoln City will be playing in the ninth-strongest division in the world next season when they attack the Championship, but a player we released a couple of years ago has just been promoted to the seventh-strongest in the world.

TJ Eyoma was released by the Imps at the end of the 2023/24 season, and after a spell at Northampton, he joined Lommel SK in Belgium. He’s not the first former Imp to try his luck in the lower reaches of European football: Mide Shodipo and Tashan Oakley-Booth both spent time in Portugal’s second tier in recent seasons.

The Challenger Pro League, Belgium’s second tier, is rated below League Two, and TJ apparently took a step back, but has now taken a giant leap forward. Lommel earned promotion to the Jupiler Pro League, under the guidance of former Sunderland boss Lee Johnson, and TJ has played a crucial part in that promotion.

They finished fifth in the division, which meant they entered a play-off round featuring Beerschot, RFC Liège and Patro Eisden Maasmechelen. They beat RFC Liège 5-1 across two legs, games in which TJ did not feature. They then beat Beerschot 6-2 across two legs, with our former right back getting just 17 minutes.

In Belgium, once you’ve won your division’s play-off, you then face a team in a relegation place from the division above, across two legs. TJ featured for 17 minutes as his side won 3-2 against Dender, after being 2-1 down with seven minutes to play. His role in that revival saw him play all 102 minutes at the Florent Beeckmanstadion, where his side showed immense defensive resilience to draw 0-0, and earn promotion.

That means next season TJ, who had three spells with the Imps between 2020 and 2024, will be hoping to line up against the likes of Anderlecht, Union SG and Club Brugge in a division that can be won by a side not finishing top. Club Brugge won the title last season, despite Union SG being top after 30 matches. At that point, the top six go forward and play in a Champions’ play-off, which starts as a fresh competition, albeit with each side starting that stage with half the points they accrued in the first half of the season.

Baffling, but good luck to TJ!