Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen buys the whole team coffee every time they keep a clean sheet
Every time Brighton & Hove Albion keep a clean sheet, their goalkeeper, Bart Verbruggen, buys the whole squad coffee from a local bakery. On Sunday they beat Crystal Palace 5-0, their fourth game in a row without conceding, so that’s another round.
19 October 2026
Photo: via BBC News
Bart Verbruggen is Brighton & Hove Albion’s goalkeeper, and he has a rule. Every time the team keeps a clean sheet, which means a game where the other side doesn’t score, he buys everyone a coffee.
The coffee comes from the Flour Pot Bakery in Brighton. Each time, the bakery is invited to the club’s training ground to serve the first team, and Verbruggen pays.
Mariana Katsouris, from the bakery, told BBC Radio Sussex they’ve been there every week for the past six weeks. “He always likes to treat the team and everyone else,” she said.
Only when he’s in the building
The Argus first wrote about the coffees in September. Then the international break came round, and Verbruggen was off to join the Netherlands squad. Some of his teammates would still be at the training ground on the Monday and Tuesday, so they asked whether he’d do two rounds. Here’s how he told it to The Argus:
Some boys said they are in on Monday and Tuesday, so they said, ‘Okay, you’re going to do it twice?’. I said, ‘No chance. I would only do it when I’m also in the building’. So they have to wait a little bit!Bart Verbruggen, to The Argus
That round had been earned by a 3-0 win over Arsenal, the champions, which Verbruggen kept clean with a save from Kai Havertz. It was his fifth clean sheet of the season.
A busy few weeks
Since then he’s had plenty more to buy. On Sunday Brighton beat their rivals Crystal Palace 5-0 at home. It was their fourth game in a row without conceding, and it left them third in the Premier League.
Katsouris told the BBC what it means for the bakery:
It’s a great honour to be part of their success and part of the journey this season. It’s great for us as they support a local independent business and we help them support their goals.Mariana Katsouris, Flour Pot Bakery, to BBC Radio Sussex
Carry a story in five words
We run a game called Long Story Short: one real news sentence a day, and you keep the five words that carry it. Today’s is below. Do play.
How to play
One real news sentence. The job is to keep the five words that carry the story and let the rest go, then guess. Blue means the right word in the right place, orange the right word in the wrong place.
Yesterday: When a teacher was turned down as a donor, his school’s janitor volunteered, and the janitor’s kidney, given to a stranger in a swap, saved the teacher’s brother. The five were janitor’s kidney saved teacher’s brother.