Football Club Verbroedering Dender Eendracht Hekelgem, also simply known as Dender or Verbroedering Dender, is 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 ...

association football club based in

Denderleeuw Denderleeuw () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek. The municipality comprises the towns of Denderleeuw proper, and . In 2021, Denderleeuw had a total populati ...

. From the 2022–23 season, the club will be playing in the

Challenger Pro League The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 201 ...

after winning

Belgian National Division 1 The Belgian National Division 1, commonly referred to as simply Eerste Nationale (in Dutch) or Nationale 1 (in French) is a semi-professional and the third-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First ...

. The club is named after former clubs KFC Denderleeuw Eendracht Hekelgem and Verbroedering Denderhoutem, which merged at the end of the 2004–05 season, and after the river

Dender The Dender (Dutch, ) or Dendre ( French, ) is a 65-kilometre (40 mi) long river in Belgium, the right tributary of the river Scheldt. The confluence of the two rivers is in the Belgian town of Dendermonde. The Western or Little Dender is 22 kilome ...

, which crosses the town of Denderleeuw. The home stadium of the club is

Florent Beeckmanstadion Van Roystadion is a stadium in Denderleeuw, Belgium. It is mainly used for football (soccer), football and is the home stadium of F. C. Verbroedering Dender E.H., Dender EH. Built in 1997, it has a capacity of 6,429. In 2008, the FCV Dender EH-ma ...

, located in Denderleeuw. Their best league ranking was the 15th place in the first division (in 2007–08 and 2008–09). The club colours are blue and black.

History

Early history

Verbroedering Denderhoutem was founded in 1935 and registered to the

Royal Belgian Football Association The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, th ...

in 1943. They first reached the

Promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

(4th-highest level in Belgian football) in the 1980s. After several relegations and promotions in the provincial leagues and Promotion, the club finally reached the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

in 1998–99. They remained at that level except for one season in 2003–04 when they played in the Promotion. After one season back at the third level, Denderhoutem merged with fellow club KFC Denderleeuw EH from the third division.

Rise to the top tier

Verbroedering Dender won consecutively the third division A title (in 2005–06) and the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title (in 2006–07), to reach the first division in 2007–08 for the first time in their history. They achieved promotion after beating

Dessel Dessel () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the town of Dessel proper. In 2021, Dessel had a total population of 9,659 inhabitants. The total area is 27.03 km². Nuclear industries ...

0–2 on the second division's 33rd match day on 13 May 2007. They finished at the 15th place in 2007–08 and again in 2008–09, though the club was relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season because the number of clubs in the first division was reduced from 18 to 16.

Post–top division history

The club was relegated from the Second Division in the 2011–12 season after finishing second bottom. In the 2015–16 season, Dender qualified for the newly formed Belgian third tier named

Belgian First Amateur Division The Belgian National Division 1, commonly referred to as simply Eerste Nationale (in Dutch) or Nationale 1 (in French) is a semi-professional and the third-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First ...

. In the 2020–21 season, the division was renamed

but the season was cancelled after one game due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium The COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belgium on 4 February 2020, when one of a group of nine Belgians repatriated from Wuhan to Brussels was repor ...

. They won promotion back to the second tier, now renamed the

, in the 2021–22 season. The promotion was not without controversy. On the penultimate game of the promotion play-offs against

RFC Liège Royal Football Club de Liège (more commonly known as RFC Liège) is a professional football club based in Liège, Belgium. It currently plays in the Belgian First Amateur Division. Its matricule is 4, meaning that it was the fourth club to regi ...

on 22 May 2022, Dender lost 1–0 which saw them move into second place and Liège move to first place. The following day, it was announced that Liège would receive a three-point deduction and a €1000 fine after failing to field enough U21 players in their 3–0 win against Dender back in March 2022. As a result, Dender were awarded a 5–0 win and moved back to the top of the table. Liège released a statement to say that they would be appealing the decision. However, the points deduction would turn out to be irrelevant. This is because Liège lost on the final game of the season against

Knokke Knokke () is a town in the municipality of Knokke-Heist, which is located in the province of West Flanders in Flanders, Belgium. The town itself has 15,708 inhabitants (2007), while the municipality of Knokke-Heist has 33,818 inhabitants (2009). ...

, while Dender won 1–0 against

Dessel Sport Koninklijke Football Club Dessel Sport, or KFC Dessel Sport, is a Belgian association football club based in Dessel in the province of Antwerp. Current squad ''Updated 11 August, 2022''Belgian Second Division Final Round The Belgian Second Division play-offs were a series of playoff matches to decide promotion to the Belgian Pro League, organised between 1974 and 2015. Following a large reform of the Belgian football league system at the end of the 2015–16 season ...

: **Runners-up (1): 1997–98 *

Belgian Third Division A The Belgian Third Division A was one of the two leagues at the third level of the Belgian football league system, the other one being the Belgian Third Division B. This division existed from the 1952–53 to 2015–16 seasons and was played every ...

: **Winners (1): 2005–06 *

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 ...

: **Winners (1): 2006–07 *

**Winners (1): 2021–22

Players

Current squad

''Updated 19 September 2022.''

References

External links

FCV Dender at UEFA.COM

FCV Dender at Weltfussball.de

FCV Dender at National Football Teams.com

FCV Dender at Football Lineups.com

Official twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dender Football clubs in Belgium Sport in East Flanders 1935 establishments in Belgium Association football clubs established in 1935 Belgian First Division A clubs