Royal FC Mandel United, formerly KFC Mandel United, is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club competing in the third-tier

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 was originally founded in 1926, and is based in

Izegem Izegem (; vls, Yzegem) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Izegem proper and the towns of Emelgem and Kachtem. Emelgem was added to Izegem in 1965, Kachtem in 1977. Iz ...

, Belgium which is located in the Flemish Region. Royal FC Mandel United Formed through the merger of KFC Izegem and OMS Ingelmunster in 2017, Strive Football Group took a major share in the newly created

public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company ...

in April 2021, changing the name of the club from KFC Mandel United to Royal FC Mandel United. The

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

stated that the acquisition of the club "is fully part of Strive Football Group’s ambition to develop the best football talent, providing players with the best exposure opportunities worldwide".

History

KFC Izegem

KFC Izegem was founded as Football Club] Izegem in 1926 and joined the Belgian Football Federation one year later. FC Izegem started in the regional divisions. At the end of the

Second World War 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 ...

, in 1945, Izegem was promoted to the national series for the first time. From that season on, they played in the

national league The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

s. Izegem soon performed well and finished the next seasons ranked at the top of the league every time. In 1950, FC Izegem finally managed to win its series. For the first time in its history, the club was promoted to 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 ...

. After some major league reforms, a large number of second division teams had to drop a level. In 1953, the club received the royal title. In the sixties, after having been relegated twice, Izegem climbed back to the national divisions. The following decades, however, it went up and down between the lower national divisions and the highest provincial series. Most of the seventies and eighties, they played in 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 ...

. In the first season in the third division, Izegem finished second, barely one point behind series winner Aalst, and so missed the chance to advance to the second division. KFC Izegem returned to 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 2012 and from then onwards, they managed to stay in that division.

OMS Ingelmunster

OMS Ingelmunster was founded in 2003 after the disappearance of the first football club in the municipality, KSV Ingelmunster. OMS Ingelmunster was already founded in 1930 and played after the Second World War as SV Olympic Ingelmunster. At that time, Molen Sport Ingelmunster also played in the municipality. Both clubs continued together from 1962 onwards as KSV Ingelmunster. This club had risen to the national series in the 1990s, even to Second Division. After a not so successful merge with the team of

Harelbeke Harelbeke (; vls, Oarlbeke) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Harelbeke proper and the towns of Bavikhove and Hulste. On January 1, 2019, Harelbeke had a total pop ...

, a new club was founded to continue the long history of Ingelmunster football. The new club was called Olympic Molen Sport Ingelmunster, a name that refers to the two former clubs of Ingelmunster, Olympic and Molen Sport. OMS Ingelmunster joined the Belgian Football Federation with matricule number 9441 and adopted the yellow and red colors of the former KSV Ingelmunster. The club started in the very lowest provincial series but was soon able to move up in the following years. Thanks to a championship title in the Second Provincial in 2009, the club advanced to the highest provincial level that year, where it immediately made it to the final round in 2010. Ingelmunster became champions in 2012, and played in the

fourth division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

for the first time.

Mandel United

The two clubs of KFC Izegem and OMS Ingelmunster merged in the spring of 2017 and began play in the 2017–18 season as KFC Mandel United. KFC Mandel United finished second three times in the

Belgian Second Amateur Division The Belgian Division 2, commonly referred to as simply Tweede Afdeling (in Dutch) or Division 2 (in French) is the fourth-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian National Division 1. It was created by t ...

and ultimately was promoted in 2020–2021 to

National First Division The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club association football, football after the South African Premier Division. Both t ...

, where the team currently plays. During the 2018–19 season, the team made an impressive run in the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

. KFC Mandel United knocked out top-tier club

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amate ...

to reach the round of sixteen as one of few teams outside the first division to do so. After a strong game in

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The muni ...

, another First Division team, Mandel lost 3–2.

Grounds

KFC Mandel United played its home matches at OMS Ingelmunster Stadion for the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons. The team then moved to Skyline Arena in Izegem beginning in the 2019–20 season. Skyline Arena has a capacity of 2,200 spectators. Skyline Arena is used by all Royal FC Mandel United Academy teams for all training sessions and games. It has two artificial grass fields and two natural grass fields and extended hospitality options.

Youth academy

Royal FC Mandel United has academy teams from U7 to U19. The team has set up a cooperation with two local

fitness clubs A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness and health ser ...

and is working together with most of the schools of

. Two of the club's development pillars are to develop the club into an international platform for the development of young talents and to offer young Belgian players unique international career development opportunities through the integrated Strive Football Group network, increasing the club's attractiveness for young talents.

Crest and colours

Royal FC Mandel United's colors are red, black, and a hint of yellow, which are the historical colors of the club. The logo features a crown, representing the title of "Royal", a favour bestowed on the club by the

King of Belgium Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's he ...

thanks to its 50 years of existence. The logo includes KFC Izegem's year of inception: 1926. The flag of the city of Izegem, a

Dutch-speaking Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' i ...

city in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

located in the

Flemish Region The Flemish Region ( nl, Vlaams Gewest, ),; german: Flämische Region usually simply referred to as Flanders ( nl, link=no, Vlaanderen ) ; german: link=no, Flandern is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and t ...

where the club is based, is also featured in the logo. It represents the city's coat of arms since the 19th century with the cross and 12 blackbirds. The waves in the logo symbolise the Mandel River, where the city of Izegem and the club are located on its southern bank. The name of the merged club, Mandel United, refers to a tributary of the Lys, the small river Mandel. The logo aims to mark the club's history, while giving it a new impulse, following the involvement of Strive Football Group. The slogans of the club, 'Oes jeun', 'goestèhn' and 'goaze gevn', mean having fun, having the desire and giving everything.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandel United, KFC Association football clubs established in 1926 Football clubs in Belgium 1926 establishments in Belgium