Daring Club Leuven, was a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
from the city of
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
,
Flemish Brabant
Flemish Brabant ( nl, Vlaams-Brabant ; french: Brabant flamand ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Haina ...
that existed between 1922 and 2002, when it merged with
Stade Leuven and
F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee to form
Oud-Heverlee Leuven
Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...
. The club played its home matches in
Kessel-Lo
Kessel-Lo (population 26,000) is a town in Belgium. It is a borough of Leuven, situated to the east and north of Leuven proper. Kessel-Lo is bordered by Holsbeek, Lubbeek, and several other sub-municipalities that are part of Leuven (Leuven munic ...
.
History
After being founded and joining the
Belgian FA on 28 June 1922 to start with
matricule
Association football is the most popular sport in Belgium, which has been played since the end of the 19th century. The national association was founded in 1895 with the intention of bringing some order and organization to the sport. The firs ...
n°223, the club played under several names in the first few seasons. Starting as Standard Club Sportif Louvaniste, then Football Club Leuven, before settling on Sporting Club Louvain, abbreviated as SC Louvain. Sporting Club Louvain was not the first club in Leuven, as both
Stade Louvaniste (1903, matricule n°18) and
Victoria FC Louvain
Victoria FC Louvain, was a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven, Flemish Brabant that existed between 1920 and 1945, when it ceased to exist and unofficially merged into Daring Club Leuven.
History
The club was founded and joined the ...
(1922, matricule n°203) had already joined the Belgian FA at that point. The club slowly rose, reaching the
Belgian Third Division
The Belgian Third Division ( nl, Derde klasse, french: Division III) was the third highest level in Football in Belgium, Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each (Belgian Third Division A, A and Belgian Third Division B, B) at the sam ...
for the first time in 1928, at that time the lowest level of national football. In the Third Division, SC Louvain was paired with both city rivals, but finished dead last, relegating back to the
provincial levels immediately.
In 1934 the club was able to promote back into the national level, again meeting with their city rivals. This time however, SC Louvain was able to avoid relegation, already becoming fourth in 1936, the season in which Stade Leuven became champions. Until the end of the 1930s, the club remained one of the stronger teams in the division. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, several football clubs from Leuven merged. SC Louvain merged with Victoria FC Louvain, continuing in the Belgian Third Division as Daring Club Leuven under matricule n°223 of SC Louvain.
In 1946 the club shortly dropped into the provincial division again, but was able to return immediately. In 1949
Hooger Op FC Leuven
Hooger Op FC Leuven, was a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven, Flemish Brabant that existed between 1924 and 1949, when it ceased to exist and merged into Daring Club Leuven.
History
The club was founded towards the end of 1923 and ...
(matricule n°347), another football club from Leuven but which also had an athletics division, also merged into the club, which continued as Daring Club Leuven. The athletics division eventually would become Daring Club Leuven Atletiek.
Daring Club Leuven slowly became one of the stronger clubs in its division again, becoming third in 1950 and champions in 1951, promoting for the first time to the
Belgian Second Division
The Belgian Second Division (known as the Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Associa ...
, where it met with Stade Leuven again. That same year, the club obtained the Royal designation, officially becoming Koninklijke Daring Club Leuven. It did not help the club's results, as it finished in penultimate position, relegating again to the Third Division, which was no longer the lowest national level due to the creation of the
Belgian Fourth Division
The Belgian Fourth Division was the lowest nationwide division in Belgian football. The division was split into four separate leagues, A, B, C and D. The team with the most points in the four leagues together was declared the overall winner ...
in 1952.
The following years, Daring Club Leuven mostly finished mid-table, being reunited with Stade Leuven from 1953 as they had relegated as well from the Second Division. Mediocre seasons followed, but with Stade Leuven dropping another level in 1958, Daring Club Leuven became the leading team from Leuven for several years, with results also starting to improve towards the end of the 1950s. In 1960 the club even ended as runners-up, followed by a third place in 1961, before the decline started. In 1964 only 9 points were obtained out of 30 matches, with the club finishing last as a result by a clear 14-point margin. For three seasons the club was reunited with Stade Leuven, now in the Fourth Division, before being relegated into the provincial leagues in 1967.
In took three seasons for the club to return to the national level for the last time, spending nine seasons in the Fourth Division from 1970 to 1979, with the highlight a second place in 1975, before finally dropping permanently into the provincial leagues.
The club sunk further down, eventually even ending up at the third provincial level (seventh level overall) in 1991. Towards the end of the 1990s, the club was going up and down between the first and second provincial level, finally spending its last season in the first provincial level in 2001–02, after which it dissolved as it merged with
Stade Leuven and
Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee to form
Oud-Heverlee Leuven
Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...
. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee (matricule n°6142) was a much younger club from the neighboring municipality of
Oud-Heverlee
Oud-Heverlee () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the villages of ''Blanden'', ''Haasrode'', ''Oud-Heverlee proper'', ''Sint-Joris-Weert'' and ''Vaalbeek''. On January 1, 2018, Oud-Hev ...
which had managed to climb up to the Belgian Third Division, allowing Oud-Heverlee Leuven to continue with its matricule in that division, causing the matricule of Stade Leuven and Daring Leuven to disappear.
Honours
*
Belgian Third Division
The Belgian Third Division ( nl, Derde klasse, french: Division III) was the third highest level in Football in Belgium, Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each (Belgian Third Division A, A and Belgian Third Division B, B) at the sam ...
:
**Winners (1): 1950–51
*
First Provincial Division:
**Winners (3): 1933–34, 1946–47, 1969–70
*
Second Provincial Division:
**Winners (3): 1987–88, 1997–98, 2000–01
*
Third Provincial Division:
**Winners (1): 1993–94
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daring Club Leuven
Defunct football clubs in Belgium
Association football clubs established in 1922
Association football clubs disestablished in 2002
1922 establishments in Belgium
2002 disestablishments in Belgium
Oud-Heverlee Leuven
Sport in Leuven