K.R.C. Mechelen is a Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the first division 1951–52. KRC Mechelen also reached the final of 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 ...

in 1954. However, the team has been falling through the

Belgian football league system The Belgian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Belgium. Men's system The league system underwent restructuring which was approved by the Royal Belgian Football Association. One important step was the ...

since 2015 and in the 2017–18 season it will be playing in the Belgian Provincial Leagues for the first time since 1906.

History

Founded in July 1904 as Racing Club de Malines, the club registered with the federation two years later on 22 June 1906 and received 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°24. The name of the club changed three times: first the suffix Société Royale was added (1929), then the name was translated into

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

becoming

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 Racing Club Mechelen (1937). Racing Mechelen played its first season in the first division in 1910–11 and finished 8th of 12 teams. By this time, rival FC Malines, later called KV Mechelen, was playing in

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 ...

. The following season, Racing ended 11th just one point away from Beerschot and was relegated. Just before World War I, Racing finished second in their division while FC Malines was third (8 points away). Thus RC Malines were promoted, playing the following season in the first division, which was played in 1919–20. They ended in 6th place. Two years after that FC Malines was playing in the first division too. In 1929 and 1930 after having spent one year in the second division (1924), the club grabbed third place in the first division. A record it would beat in 1952 with a second place after a new sequence of two third places (1950 and 1951). In 1954 it qualified for the final game of the

. Afterwards, the club fell to the second division and has rarely played at a higher level in recent decades.

Stadium

The Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion is a football stadium in the

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 languag ...

city of Mechelen. The stadium is located just to the north of the centre of town over the

River Dijle The Dyle (french: Dyle ; nl, Dijle ) is a river in central Belgium, left tributary of the Rupel. It is long. It flows through the Belgian provinces of Walloon Brabant, Flemish Brabant and Antwerp. Its source is in Houtain-le-Val, near Nivelles ...

. It was built in 1923 and is named after the former president of the club: Oscar Van Kesbeeck (1886–1943) who was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Liberal Politician. The current capacity of the stadium is 6,123.stadion
, racingmechelen.be (last check 30 March 2018) The Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion is located just under a mile away from Argosstadion Achter de Kazerne, which is home to rivals KV Mechelen.

Honours

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 te ...

: **Runners-up (1): 1951–52 **Third place (4): 1928–29, 1929–30, 1949–50, 1950–51 * Belgian Second Division: **Winners (4): 1909–10, 1947–1948, 1974–1975, 1987–1988 **Runners-up (5): 1913–1914, 1924–1925, 1938–1939, 1945–1946, 1984–1985 *

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division ( nl, Derde klasse, french: Division III) was the third highest level in Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each ( A and B) at the same level. This competition, originally known as the Belgian Promotion ...

: **Winners (4): 1961–1962, 1965–1966, 1968–1969, 2013–2014 *

: **Runners-up (1): 1953–1954

Current squad

On loan

Managers

{, , valign="top", * 1919–56:

Jan Dogaer Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

* 1956–57: Richard Gedopt * 1957–58: Janos Pintye * 1958–58: Guillaume Placklé * 1958–61: Marcel Bruyninckx * 1961–62: Albert Herremans * 1962–63: Marius Mondele * 1963–64: Gérard Engelen * 1964–65: Jean Hamers * 1965–68: Rik Van Herp * 1968–68: Jos De Winne * 1968–68: Emile Deghislage * 1968–72: Rik Matthys * 1972–72: Oliver Gaspar * 1972–76: Ernst Künnecke * 1976–77: Bob Maertens * 1977–81: Raoul Peeters * 1981–83: Jean-Pierre Borremans * 1983–85: Albert Bers * 1985–86:

Włodzimierz Lubański Włodzimierz 'Włodek' Leonard Lubański (Polish pronunciation: ; born 28 February 1947 in Gliwice-Sośnica) is a former Polish football striker, the second all-time highest goal scorer for the Polish national team. For his national team, ...

* 1986–89: Rik Pauwels , valign="top", * 1989–90: Raoul Peeters * 1990–91: Guy Mangelschots * 1991–92: Albert Van Marcke * 1992–93: Jan Ceuleers/ Piet Demol * 1992–93: Piet Demol * 1993–94: Piet Demol/ Rik Pauwels * 1994–97: Albert Van Marcke * 1998–98: Marc Huysmans * 1998–98: Albert Van Marcke * 1998–98:

David Kipiani David Kipiani ( ka, დავით ყიფიანი; 18 November 1951 – 17 September 2001) was a Georgian football midfielder and manager. Kipiani principally played as a playmaker and is considered one of Georgia's greatest playe ...

/ Albert Van Marcke * 1999–01: Patrick Hantson * 2001–03: Marc Ghys * 2003–04: Marc Ghys/{ Joël Crahay * 2004–05: Joël Crahay/ Patrick Asselman * 2005–06: Patrick Asselman/ Colin Andrews * 2006–07: Colin Andrews * 2007–09: Regi Van Acker * 2009–10: Regi Van Acker/ Luc Leys/

Danny Hoekman Danny Hoekman is a footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football Leag ...

/ Marc Ghys * 2010–11: Raoul Peeters * 2011–12: Marc Ghys/

Sadio Ba Sadio Ba (born 24 January 1973) is a retired Belgian football player and currently football coach. He played as a right midfielder. Ba previously played with K.V.C. Westerlo for several seasons in the Belgian First Division. Honours Westerlo * ...

* 2012–:

Thierry Pister Thierry Pister (born 2 September 1965 in Belgium) is a former Belgian footballer and manager. Honours Standard Liège * Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fu� ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mechelen Football clubs in Belgium Association football clubs established in 1904 1904 establishments in Belgium K.R.C. Mechelen Organisations based in Belgium with royal patronage Belgian Pro League clubs