K.R.C. Mechelen

Racing Mechelen

Full name	Koninklijke Racing Club Mechelen
Nickname(s)	Den Racing, De Racingers
Founded	1904 (creation) 1906 (registration)
Ground	Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion, Mechelen
Ground Capacity	13,687
Chairman	Martin Jeurissen
Manager	Christophe Leclerc
Coach	Thierry Pister
League	Belgian Second Division
2014–15	15th (relegated)
Home colours Away colours

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.

History

Founded in August 1904 as Racing Club de Malines, the club registered with the federation two years later on the 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

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 13,687, of which there are around 1,900 seats and a few dozen business seats also. The Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion is located just under a mile away from Argosstadion Achter de Kazerne, which is home to rivals KV Mechelen. The Oscar Vankesbeeckstadon is currently the largest stadium overall in the Belgian Third Division.

Honours

• Belgian First Division:
  • Runners-up (1): 1951–52
  • Third place (4): 1928–29, 1929–30, 1949–50, 1950–51
• Belgian Second Division:
  • Winners (4): 1909–10, 1947–1948, 1974–1975, 1987–1988
  • Runners-up (5): 1913–1914, 1924–1925, 1938–1939, 1945–1946, 1984–1985
• Belgian Third Division:
  • Winners (3): 1961–1962, 1965–1966, 1968–1969
• Belgian Cup:
  • Runners-up (1): 1953–1954

Current squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Lars Knipping 2 DF Denis Dessaer 3 DF Yentl De Maegd 4 DF Nils Van Delm 5 MF Mattis Adem 6 MF Sofiaan Zarrouk 7 FW Alec Mertens 8 FW Sami Lkoutbi 9 FW Sandro Tardio 10 MF Vittorio Villano 11 FW Anthony Pulcinelli 12 FW Dani Almeida 13 MF Sacha Fontaine 14 GK Maxim Meulders 16 DF Jorge Verschuren 17 DF Tim Peleman

No. Position Player 18 MF Anass Arbage 19 FW Souhail El Aissaoui 20 MF Dimitri Billiet 22 FW Christopher Kabika 28 MF Ilias Kaissoumi 29 FW Naoufal Boumina 32 MF Gil Figys 33 DF Yani Huybrechts 39 DF Frank Ndongala 45 DF Patrick Tshiani 56 DF Kenny Mpaka 65 DF Hervé Telen 77 MF Mehdi Khchab 91 DF Matthew Ubaliza 94 FW Tarik Dahman  – MF Jérémy Mayele

On loan

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

Managers

External links

• (Dutch) Official website