K.R.C. Mechelen

KRC Mechelen
Full nameKoninklijke Racing Club Mechelen
Nickname(s)Den Racing, De Racingers
Founded1904; 120 years ago (1904) (creation)
GroundOscar Vankesbeeckstadion,
Mechelen
Capacity6,123[1]
ChairmanKoen Van Exem
ManagerLucien Suykens
CoachJames Van Vaerenbergh
LeagueBelgian Division 2
2023–245th

K.R.C. Mechelen is a Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the first division 1951–52. KRC Mechelen also reached the final of the Belgian Cup in 1954. However, the team has been falling through the Belgian football league system since 2015 and in the 2017–18 season it will be playing in the Belgian Provincial Leagues for the first time since 1906.

History

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Founded in July 1904 as Racing Club de Malines, the club registered with the federation two years later on 22 June 1906 and received the matricule n°24. The name of the club changed three times: first the suffix Société Royale was added (1929), then the name was translated into Dutch becoming Koninklijke Racing Club Mechelen (1937).

Racing Mechelen played its first season in the first division in 1910–11 and finished 8th of 12 teams. By this time, rival FC Malines, later called KV Mechelen, was playing in second division. The following season, Racing ended 11th just one point away from Beerschot and was relegated. Just before World War I, Racing finished second in their division while FC Malines was third (8 points away). Thus RC Malines were promoted, playing the following season in the first division, which was played in 1919–20. They ended in 6th place. Two years after that FC Malines was playing in the first division too. In 1929 and 1930 after having spent one year in the second division (1924), the club grabbed third place in the first division. A record it would beat in 1952 with a second place after a new sequence of two third places (1950 and 1951). In 1954 it qualified for the final game of the Belgian Cup. Afterwards, the club fell to the second division and has rarely played at a higher level in recent decades.

Stadium

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3 April 2004: North stand

The Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion is a football stadium in the Belgian city of Mechelen. The stadium is located just to the north of the centre of town over the River Dijle. It was built in 1923 and is named after the former president of the club: Oscar Van Kesbeeck (1886–1943) who was a Flemish Liberal Politician. The current capacity of the stadium is 6,123.[2] The Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion is located just under a mile away from Argosstadion Achter de Kazerne, which is home to rivals KV Mechelen.

Honours

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Current squad

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Belgium BEL Gianni De Ruysscher
2 DF Belgium BEL Thibault Borrens
3 DF Belgium BEL Stein Stuyck
4 MF Belgium BEL Niels Mariën
5 MF Belgium BEL Nils Van Delm
6 FW Belgium BEL Dani Martinez Correas
7 FW Belgium BEL Dean Maleszewski
8 MF Belgium BEL Andreas Luckermans
9 FW Belgium BEL Wannes Janssens
10 MF Belgium BEL Lothar Hens
11 DF Belgium BEL Yannick Dierickx
12 MF Belgium BEL Savio Stoffels
13 FW Belgium BEL Sacha Fontaine
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 FW Belgium BEL Kevin Huysmans
17 FW Belgium BEL Kevin Yagan
18 MF Belgium BEL Augustin Dondo
19 DF Belgium BEL Wout Kerckhofs
20 DF Belgium BEL Bram Kerckhofs
21 DF Belgium BEL Christophe Van Dorst
22 GK Belgium BEL Indy Van Bulck
23 GK Belgium BEL Frederic Ledent
26 MF Belgium BEL Sabri Hmouda
FW Belgium BEL Dean Doncos
FW Belgium BEL Alessandro Pignoloni
FW Belgium BEL Alec Mertens

On loan

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player

Managers

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References

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  1. ^ stadion, racingmechelen.be (last check 30 March 2018)
  2. ^ stadion Archived 30 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, racingmechelen.be (last check 30 March 2018)
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