Koninklijke Football Club Diest is a Belgian association football club from the town of

Diest Diest () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Situated in the northeast of the Hageland region, Diest neighbours the provinces of Antwerp to its North, and Limburg to the East and is situated around ...

, Flemish Brabant. It played two spells in the first division: from 1961–62 to 1964–65 and from 1970–71 to 1974–75, finishing 7th in 1964.

History

The club was founded in 1909 as Hooger Op Diest Football Club and registered to the

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, ...

the same year to receive the

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°41, playing in black and white. In 1948 it merged with Standaard Athletiek Diest (matricule n°231) to become F.C. Diest. Seven years later it added

Koninklijk or (, Dutch for 'royal') is an honorary title given to certain companies and non-profit organisations in the Netherlands and to a lesser extent Belgium, by the monarchs of each country. It was first introduced by Louis Bonaparte in 1807, then Ki ...

e (meaning royal) to its name to become K.F.C. Diest. The club first reached 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 ...

in 1957. It won this competition in 1961 and subsequently played at the highest level for the following years. In 1965 it was back at the second level and it won the competition again in 1970. In 1987–88 it played in the third division but returned to the second division due to a merger with F.C. Assent (at that time in second division) to become K. Tesamen Hogerop Diest, known as KTH Diest, now adding red to its colours. The club gradually dropped levels again, to the third division in 1996, fourth division in 2002 and into the Belgian Provincial Leagues in 2005. In 2006, with the club in last place at the 5th level and in severe financial difficulties, it went bankrupt and dropped two levels at once down to level seven. At that point the club changed its name back to K.F.C. Diest and reverted to the original colors of black and white. In 2009 the club promoted again, undefeated even, followed by another promotion in 2010 to again reach the highest level of provincial football. In 2016, the club promoted for the first time into the national leagues again, where it is currently residing in the

Belgian Third Amateur Division The Belgian Division 3, commonly referred to as simply Derde Afdeling (in Dutch) or Division 3 (in French) is the fifth-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Division 2. It was created by the Royal ...

(fifth level).

Notable players

* René Carmans *

Timmy Simons Timmy Simons (born 11 December 1976) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He was known for his tireless work ethic and penalty-taking ability, having scored 48 competitive goals through penalties, mi ...

References

Belgian football clubs history

nbsp;– 1st and 2nd division final tables Association football clubs established in 1909 Football clubs in Belgium 1909 establishments in Belgium Organisations based in Belgium with royal patronage K.F.C. Diest Belgian First Division A clubs {{Belgium-footyclub-stub