| Full name | Koninklijke Racing Club Genk | ||
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| Founded | 1988 (merge) (KFC Winterslag 1923) | ||
| Ground | Cristal Arena, Genk (Capacity: 25,000 21,500 (UEFA matches)[1]) |
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| Chairman | Andy Craven | ||
| Manager | Mario Been | ||
| League | Belgian Pro League | ||
| 2010–11 | Belgian Pro League, 1st | ||
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Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkoː.nɪŋk.lə.kə ˈreː.sɪŋ ˌklʏp ˈʝɛŋk]), usually referred to as Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and they have won 3 Belgian champion titles in 1998–99, in 2001–02 and in 2010–11 as well as 3 Belgian Cups, most recently in 2008–09. They qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage, after beating Maccabi Haifa. They did so in the 2002–03 season, and finished 4th of their group with 4 points.
The club formed in 1988 by the merger of Waterschei Thor with KFC Winterslag, from which it took over the matricule number. It has been one of the most successful clubs in Belgium since the late 1990s and so they regularly qualify for European competitions. The club has been playing in the first division since the 1996–97 season. They play their home matches in the Cristal Arena. Their main outfit is blue and white.
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The club FC Winterslag was founded in 1923 and they became that year a member of the Belgian Football Association that gave it the matricule number 322. On its 35th anniversary the club added the Royal prefix Koninklijke to their name to become KFC Winterslag. In 1972–73 Winterslag reached the second division and they eventually qualified for the 1974–75 Belgian First Division after finishing second in the second division final round. They had taken advantage of the increase in the number of first division clubs (from 16 to 20). The club ended the season in last place but won the second division right after.
KFC Winterslag reached the 5th place in 1981 but two seasons later it was relegated to the second stage after a disappointing last place. That season Standard Liège won the championship on bribery in a match against the club of Waterschei Thor that would eventually merge with the matricule number 322. Following a spell of four seasons in the second division, Winterslag found its place again in the first division by winning the 1987 final round, one point ahead of Tongeren. It finished 15th on 18 but at the end of the season, the club merged with the neighbour club of Waterschei Thor which was playing in the second division since its relegation in 1986.
K Waterschei SV Thor Genk was created in 1919 as Waterschei's Sport Vereeniging Thor with Thor being the acronym of Tot Herstel Onzer Rechten (English: To recover our rights). It registered with the FA only in 1925 and received matricule number n°533. The club enjoyed a spell in the first division in the late 1950s to the early 1960s and again from 1978 to 1986. After two seasons in the second division, K. Waterschei S.V. Thor Genk merged with K.F.C. Winterslag to form K.R.C. Genk.
During the 1982–83 season, the match between Standard Liège-Waterschei had been fixed and Standard eventually won the championship. Waterschei won the Belgian Cup twice (1980 and 1982). Quite remarkably, the latter victory led to Waterschei reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup in the 1982–83 season. After defeating PSG in the quarter-finals, Waterschei lost the first leg of the semi-final 5–1 at Pittodrie Stadium, home of the eventual winners, Aberdeen F.C. A 1–0 victory in Waterschei, courtesy of Eddy Voordeckers, could not reverse the position. They then merged with Winterslag in 1988 to form the current club.
The new club was named K.R.C. Genk and as it kept the Winterslag ranking, it began in the first division but finished last. The next year Genk managed to win the final round in 2nd division and then played 4 seasons in the first division. In 1995 the club hired Aimé Anthuenis a coach and Racing finished second and skipped the final round as two first division teams merged (Seraing and Standard Liège). After an eighth place in 1997, the club had a good 1997–98 season with a cup win and a second place in the championship. In its first European season, Racing Genk eliminated successively Apolonia and MSV Duisburg but it lost to RCD Mallorca in the round of 16 after two draws (1–1 on aggregate) in the last Cup Winners' Cup ever. The season was ended well as Genk won its first Belgian championship in May, with manager Aimé Anthuenis then moving to Anderlecht.
Genk played in the UEFA Champions League in 1999–2000 but lost in the second qualifying round to NK Maribor. The season was salvaged by winning the Belgian Cup again, this time to Standard, but Genk ended the championship in 9th place. It finished 11th in the following season and lost in the UEFA Cup second round to Werder Bremen after a win against FC Zürich. After this poor spell, Genk managed to win the championship once more in the 2001–02 season. In 2002–03, they reached the Champions League group stages for the first time in their history. Although they came 4th, they impressed fans with draws against Real Madrid, AS Roma and AEK Athens.
In the 2006–07 season, Genk finished second to Anderlecht. The Limburgians had been ahead almost the entire season but were pipped at the post by Anderlecht after losing at Germinal Beerschot. The 2007–08 season was a disaster, as Genk didn't even manage to finish in the top half of the division, ending in a disappointing tenth.
Three bad seasons followed. Genk finished the 2007–08 season 45 points and a 10th spot in the league: the worst result in 7 years. The 2008–09 season was bad for Genk as well, finishing 8th in the domestic league. The season ended on a positive note with by winning the Belgian Cup, which gave them a ticket to the fourth Europa League qualifying round. The 2009–10 season Genk started off badly when they were kicked out of the Europa League by OSC Lille. Things didn't go well in the domestic league either. Manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck was fired in December and was replaced by Frank Vercauteren. Genk finished 11th, but Vercauteren managed to lead the club to European football by beating derby rival Sint-Truidense VV in the final of Play Offs II.
The 2010–11 season started well for KRC Genk when they beat Inter Turku with 1–5 in Finland. They progressed to the 4th qualifying round of the Europa League and drew the Portuguese club FC Porto. Genk lost both games against FC Porto, despite two good performances.
On the 30th of January, 2010 KRC Genk announced that coach Frank Vercauteren signed a new contract that runs till June 2013.
They only lost their first game of the season on the 20th matchday and started the Play-Offs in second place. The club won the 2010–11 Belgian Pro League after drawing 1–1 with title challengers Standard Liége.[2] This was KRC Genk's third League win in its existence and its supporters celebrated with a pitch invasion straight after the final whistle.
KRC Genk started the 2011–2012 season by winning the Supercup against Cup winners Standard Liège. On the 11th of August, coach Frank Vercauteren confirmed he was leaving Genk and signed with Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira FC. In the 3rd Qualifying Round of the 2011–2012 UEFA Champions League KRC Genk beat FK Partizan over two legs and drew Maccabi Haifa in the play-Off Round. Maccabi Haifa F.C beat Genk 2–1 in the first leg in Israel, while the second leg was won by Genk with the same 2–1 score in Belgium. During the penalty shoot-out, goalkeeper László Köteles helped Genk to qualify by saving two penalties.[3] For the second time in its history, KRC Genk reached the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. They were drawn in Group E with Chelsea FC, Valencia CF and Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
KRC Genk is able to count on a loyal group of about 25,000 supporters; around 23,000 of these have season tickets. The Genk Bus is all the rage at Gsy Skwl and the Asl. The die hard supporters can be found in Tribune Zuid or 'TZ' (South Stand), located in the southern end of the stadium comprising blocks SS-TT-UU. TZ was created at the start of the 2009–10 season, at the same time KRC Genk gave squad number '12' to the supporters. To this day, Tribune Zuid is the place in the Cristal Arena with the most atmosphere. Tribune Zuid unites all supporter clans such as Drughi, Ultras, Geneche and Casuals.
KRC Genk also has famous supporters including Scottish super-bear Gustopher, as well as with Pat Krimson (Patrick Claesen) of the dancegroup 2 Fabiola and Kim Clijsters.
Due to their qualification into the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League the British sports show Soccer AM became fans of the team. Genk had their vice-captain Dániel Tőzsér on the show and arranged a "Genk bus" to go and watch the Genk vs Chelsea F.C game on November 1st 2011. Recent episodes often involve the phrase "all aboard the Genk bus". When asked why they supported Genk Max Rushden said "because Genk's a funny word"
| Competition | A | P | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League | 3 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 23 |
| Cup Winners' Cup | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 3 |
| UEFA Cup | 2 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 15 |
| UEFA Europa League | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 16 |
| Intertoto Cup | 2 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 13 |
A = appearances, P = matches played, W = won, D = drawn, L = lost, GF = goals for, GA = goals against.
As of September 1, 2011
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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