K.V. Mechelen
Full name | Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen | |||
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Nickname(s) | De Kakkers, Malinois, Malinwa, Geel-rood | |||
Founded | 1904 | |||
Ground | Achter de Kazerne | |||
Capacity | 16,672[1] | |||
Chairman | Luc Leemans | |||
Manager | Besnik Hasi | |||
League | Belgian Pro League | |||
2022–23 | Belgian Pro League, 13th | |||
Website | Club website | |||
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Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen
KV Mechelen was founded in 1904 and, in
KV Mechelen declined in the late 1990s though they had two more spells at the highest level from 1999–2000 to 2000–01 and in 2002–03. At the end of that season, the club did not receive their Belgian professional football license. They were therefore relegated to the third division with a nine-point penalty. After two promotions in 2004–05 and in 2006–07, KV Mechelen returned to the first division.
The club's outfits are a striped yellow and red shirt with black shorts and socks. They play their home matches at the AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne, where AFAS is their stadium sponsor and Achter de Kazerne means 'Behind the Barracks'. The stadium has been named so because there used to be barracks next to stadium. KV Mechelen fans have a long-standing rivalry with KRC Mechelen.
History
Early days
The club was founded in 1904, a few months after the birth of city rival KRC Mechelen. The club had a first successful period in the 1940s. During World War II, in 1943, the club won their first domestic title. The second title came a few years later, in 1946, and in 1948 the club was successful again. After that, the club fell back. In 1954, they managed to finish third, only one point behind champions Anderlecht, but that was their last good season. Two years later, Mechelen was relegated to second division. During the 1960s and the 1970s, Mechelen went up and down between the first and second division.
The club enjoyed a spell of both domestic and European success in the period from 1987 to 1992. During these five seasons, Mechelen won one Belgian championship and one Belgian cup title. They also finished second in the Belgian league twice and lost the Belgian Cup final twice. After winning the domestic cup title in 1987, and hence qualifying for the European Cup Winners' Cup, they completed the extraordinary achievement of winning this tournament in 1988. Mechelen are the last Belgian team that has won a European trophy.
Since 2000
KV Mechelen seemed to be on its way to becoming one of the top clubs in Belgium, but quickly declined when their chairman Cordier (who owned the rights to most of their players) was forced to sell many players due to his company's bad results. On 10 June 2007, the team achieved promotion to the
After a successful 2010 and four seasons for the yellow reds, coach Peter Maes decided to leave Malinwa and signed a four-year contract with Lokeren. Malinwa made a deal with Marc Brys to take over from Maes. Marc Brys was coach of FC Den Bosch, a second division team in the Netherlands. After two seasons he was sacked and Harm Van Veldhoven was appointed for the 2012–13 season. Van Veldhoven also could not lead KV Mechelen to Play-off 1, the clubs' recent unspoken ambition. He was fired in December 2013. At the end of the 2013–14 season KV Mechelen appointed Aleksandar Janković as head coach. Despite Janković's inability to lead the club to Play-off 1, Janković left for topclub Standard Liège and Mechelen had to appoint a new manager. The club ended up choosing Yannick Ferrera for the vacant job, who had just been fired as manager of Standard Liège.
Match-fixing and 2017–19 Belgian football fraud scandal
2017 through 2019 proved to be a tumultuous period for the club. After eleven seasons at the highest level, the club was relegated on the last day of the
Rivalries
KV Mechelen's most traditional rival is
KV Mechelen also have a rivalry with football clubs from the neighbouring town of
Honours
Domestic
- Belgian First Division A
- Belgian Cup
- Winners (2): 1986–87, 2018–19
- Belgian Second Division
- Winners (7): 1925–26, 1927–28, 1962–63, 1982–83, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2018–19
- Belgian Second Division final round
- Winners: 1981, 2007, 2019
- Belgian Third Division
- Winners: 2004–05
International
- European Cup Winners Cup
- Winners: 1987–88
- European Super Cup
- Winners: 1988
European record
KV Mechelen's Belgian Cup win in 1987 saw the club participate in UEFA club competition for the first time in their history, entering the 1987–88 European Cup Winners' Cup. It proved to be a highly successful campaign, with Mechelen reaching the final undefeated by winning seven of their eight matches en route. They then went on to defeat Ajax 1–0 in the final, Piet den Boer scoring the decisive goal early in the second half.[8] The following season Mechelen played 1988 European Cup winners PSV in the UEFA Super Cup, and defeated the Dutch side 3–1 on aggregate. Mechelen remain the last Belgian club team to have won a European club competition.[9]
- As of December 2008.
Competition | A | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA |
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European Cup / UEFA Champions League | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 3 |
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 2 | 17 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 8 |
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | 4 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 15 |
UEFA Super Cup | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
A = appearances, GP = games played, W = won, D = drawn, L = lost, GF = goals for, GA = goals against.
Results
- Q = qualification round
- PO = play-off
- R = round
- Group = group stage / Group 1 = first group stage / Group 2 = second group stage
- 1/8 = eighth finals / 1/4 = quarter-finals / 1/2 = semi-finals
- F = final
Season | Competition | Round | Country | Club | Score |
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1987–88 | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 1R | Dinamo București | 1–0, 2–0 | |
2R | St Mirren | 0–0, 2–0 | |||
1/4 | Dinamo Minsk | 1–0, 1–1 | |||
1/2 | Atalanta
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2–1, 2–1 | |||
F
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Ajax | 1–0 | |||
1988 | UEFA Super Cup | F | PSV | 3–0, 0–1 | |
1988–89 | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 1R | Avenir Beggen | 5–0, 3–1 | |
2R | Anderlecht | 1–0, 2–0 | |||
1/4 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 1–0, 0–0 | |||
1/2 | Sampdoria
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2–1, 0–3 | |||
1989–90 | European Cup | 1R | Rosenborg | 5–0, 0–0 | |
2R | Malmö FF | 4–1, 0–0 | |||
1/4 | Milan
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0–0, 0–2 ( AET )
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1990–91 | UEFA Cup | 1R | Sporting CP | 2–2, 0–1 | |
1991–92 | UEFA Cup | 1R | PAOK | 0–1, 1–1 | |
1992–93 | UEFA Cup | 1R | Örebro SK | 2–1, 0–0 | |
2R | Vitesse | 0–1, 0–1 | |||
1993–94 | UEFA Cup | 1R | IFK Norrköping | 1–1 ( AET ), 1–0
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2R | MTK Hungária | 5–0, 1–1 | |||
3R | Cagliari | 1–3, 0–2 |
Summary of best results
(2 cups)
- - Quarter-finalists in 1990
- - Winners in 1988
- - Semi-finalists in 1989
UEFA Super Cup (1):
- - Winners in 1988
Players
Current squad
- As of 1 February 2024[10]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Former players
- Africa
- Algeria
Burkina Faso
- DR Congo
- Europe
- Belgium
- Albert De Cleyn
- Marino Sabbadini
- Michel Preud'homme
- Lei Clijsters
- Koenraad Sanders
- Philippe Albert
- Theo Custers
- Marc Wilmots
- Christian Kabasele
- Bjorn Vleminckx
- Mats Rits
- Christian Benteke
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Croatia
- Denmark
- Greece
Israel
- Montenegro
- Portugal
- Sweden
- The Netherlands
Coaching staff
- As of 17 October 2022
Position | Staff |
---|---|
Sporting Director | Tom Caluwé |
Manager | Besnik Hasi |
Assistant Manager | Agron Metaj |
Scout | Lavdrim Krasniqi |
Doctor | Bekim Meziu |
Physiotherapist | Bajram Ahmataj Arbnor Berisha |
Performance Manager | Abaz Sadiku |
Kit Manager | Përparim Xhemajli Arbër Ibishi |
Managers
- Désiré Bourgeois (1947–53), (1954–55)
- Albert De Cleyn (1955–57)
- Émile Stijnen (1959–61)
- Oliver Gaspar (1960–64)
- András Dolgos (1965–68)
- Piet Teughels (1968–69)
- Keith Spurgeon (1969–70)
- Staf Van den Bergh (1970–75)
- André Bollen (1975–77)
- John Talbut (1977–78)
- Piet Teughels (1979)
- Nedeljko Bulatović (1979–81)
- Kamiel Van Damme (1981–82)
- Leo Canjels (1982–85)
- Ernst Künnecke (1985–86)
- Aad de Mos (1 February 1986 – 30 June 1989)
- Ruud Krol, Fi Van Hoof (1 July 1989 – 14 January 1990)
- Fi Van Hoof (1990–91)
- Georges Leekens (1 July 1991 – 30 June 1992)
- Fi Van Hoof (1992–94)
- Walter Meeuws (1 July 1994 – 1 August 1995)
- Walter Meeuws, Willy Reynders (1995–96)
- Willy Reynders, Georges Heylens (1996–97)
- Franky Vercauteren (1997 – June 30, 1998)
- Rudy Verkempinck, Gunther Jacob & Valère Billen (1998–99)
- Gunther Jacob (1999–00)
- L. Clijsters, V. Billen & B. Hulshoff (1 July 2000 – 30 June 2001)
- Barry Hulshoff, Fi Van Hoof (2001–02)
- Stéphane Demol, Alex Czerniatynski (30 November 2002 – 30 June 2003)
- Alex Czerniatynski (2003–04)
- Rik Vande Velde, Živica Kanački (1 July 2004 – 25 January 2005)
- André Wetzel, Živica Kanački (2005 – June 30, 2006)
- Peter Maes (1 July 2006 – 30 June 2010)
- Marc Brys (1 July 2010 – 30 June 2012)
- Harm van Veldhoven (1 July 2012 – 30 December 2013)
- Franky Vercauteren (5 January 2014 – 5 May 2014)
- Aleksandar Janković (8 May 2014 – 6 September 2016)
- Yannick Ferrera (12 September 2016 – 22 October 2017)
- Aleksandar Janković (2 November 2017 – Jan 2018)
- Dennis van Wijk (Jan 2018 – Aug 2018)
- Wouter Vrancken (Aug 2018 – May 2022)
- Danny Buijs (1 June 2022 – 17 October 2022)
- Steven Defour (17 October 2022 – 2 November 2023)
- Besnik Hasi (8 November 2023 – present)
Chairmen history
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See also
- 2017–19 Belgian football fraud scandal
References
- ^ Het AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne Archived 5 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine kvmechelen.be (last check 30 March 2018)
- ^ "INFO EN CONTACT". Archived from the original on 7 September 2011.
- ^ "Streek-/Stadsderby's België: #1 KV Mechelen vs. Racing Mechelen". doorfansvoorfans.org. 8 January 2017. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- S2CID 145169427.
- ^ "Specialist Vitas bezorgt Lierse koude douche in sfeervolle derby in Mechelen". voetbalkrant.com. 9 April 2017. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Beerschot Wilrijk-fans zwaaien met geld voor derby tegen van matchfixing beschuldigde KV Mechelen". Gazet Van Antwerpen. 21 October 2018. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "Beerschot klaagt licentie KV Mechelen aan: 'It's a long shot'". Knack. 7 October 2019. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "11 mai 1988 à la Meinau : Mechelen-Ajax". Racing Stub. 17 May 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ Miller, Nick (9 February 2015). "Leeds, Aston Villa and River Plate among the Top 10 dramatic declines". ESPN FC. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
- ^ "A-kern 2023-2024". kvmechelen.be. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2023.