Koninklijke (, Dutch language, Dutch for 'royal') is an Title of honor, 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 Lou ...

Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV () or by their nickname De Kanaries (), is a Belgian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club located in the city of

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

in Limburg. Sint-Truiden plays in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

. Their best ranking was a second place in 1965–66. They also reached the final of the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

twice. The club was founded in 1924. They are matricule number 373. The club colours are yellow and blue, hence their nickname ''De Kanaries'', meaning 'The Canaries'. They have played their home games at the

Stayen Stayen is a football stadium in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. It is the home ground of K. Sint-Truidense V.V., STVV. The stadium holds 14,600 after its most recent rebuild. The original stadium was built in 1927. The name "Stayen" is a local dialec ...

since 1927.

History

The club was created in 1924 following the merger between FC Union and FC Goldstar, two clubs from Sint-Truiden. The colors of the club were chosen to be yellow and blue, to match the colors of the city, and it was named Sint-Truidense Voetbal Vereeniging. The first game of the team, against Cercle Tongeren, was played in front of only 9 attendees. In the late 1930s, Léopold Appeltans was the leading player of Sint-Truidense. On 21 November 1948 he became the first capped player for

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

while playing at this club. In the late 1940s it qualified for the second division. It also changed its name to Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging in 1947. Five years later it finished second in the second division and thus promoted to the first division. Successful manager Raymond Goethals arrived at Sint-Truiden in 1959. Under his management, the team finished second of the top division in 1966. The former Sint-Truidense goalkeeper Jacky Mathijssen became the manager of the club in 2001 and remained at the helm for three seasons after which he left for

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

. He was replaced by

Marc Wilmots Marc Robert Wilmots (born 22 February 1969) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the sporting director of Standard Liège. During his club career as an attacking midfielder, he won trophies with KV Mechelen, Stand ...

, who was fired shortly after. The team finished the season under the coaching of the trio Guy Mangelschots, Eddy Raymaekers and Peter Voets. At the end of the 2004–05 season the board of directors hired Oostende manager Herman Vermeulen but he was dismissed on 9 February 2006 as the club languished in seventeenth position. In 2008 the women's team of FCL Rapide Wezemaal joined STVV. STVV 1999 Nissan Cup

Honours

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

**Runners-up (1): 1965–66 *

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division 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 Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

**Winners (4): 1986–87, 1993–94, 2008–09, 2014–15 *

**Runners-up (2): 1970–71, 2002–03 * Belgian League Cup **Winners (1): 1998–99

European record

:''As of 5 March 2006:''

Current squad

Coaching and medical staff

*Head coach: Wouter Vrancken *Assistant head coach: Sil Rouvrois, Dries Van Meirhaeghe *Physical coach: Stefan Winters *Team manager: Peter Delorge *Goalkeeping coach: Jurgen De Braekeleer *Team representative: Romain Proesmans *Kit men: Benny Liebens & Valere Stevens *Club Doctors: Pieter Bormans & Peter Bollars *Physiotherapists: Wouter Robijns & Par Vandenborne *Masseur: Roger Reniers

Managers

* Raymond Goethals (1959–66) * Ward Volckaert (1966–69) * Marcel Vercammen (1971–73) *

Gerard Bergholtz Gerard "Pummy" Bergholtz (born 29 August 1939 in Maastricht) is a retired association football player and manager from the Netherlands. Playing career Club He played for Rapid, Kimbria Maastricht, MVV and Feijenoord, before moving abroad to play ...

(1979–81) *

Wilfried Van Moer Wilfried van Moer (1 March 1945 – 24 August 2021) was a Belgian association football, footballer who won the Belgian Golden Shoe three times, first in 1966 while at R. Antwerp F.C., Antwerp then in 1969 and in 1970 while at Standard Liège. ...

(1982–84) * Eric Vanlessen (1984–85) * Guy Mangelschots (1986–90) * Walter Meeuws (1990–91) *

Odilon Polleunis Odilon Polleunis (1 May 1943 – 20 September 2023), nicknamed Lon, was a Belgian footballer who won the Belgian Golden Shoe in 1968 while at Sint-Truiden. He played 22 matches and scored 10 goals for the Belgium national team between 1968 an ...

(1991–92) * Rudy Liebens & Marek Dziuba (1992) * Albert Van Marcke (1992) * Martin Lippens (1992–93) * Guy Mangelschots (1992–96) * Wilfried Sleurs (1996) * Freddy Smets (1996–97) * Guy Mangelschots (1997) * Barry Hulshoff (1997–98) * Poll Peters (1998–99) * Willy Reynders (1999–2001) * Jules Knaepen (2001) * Jacky Mathijssen (2001–04) *

(2004–05) * Herman Vermeulen (2005–06) * Eddy Raeymaekers & Peter Voets (2006) * Thomas Caers (2006) * Peter Voets (2006) *

Henk Houwaart Henk Houwaart (born August 31, 1945) is a Dutch football manager and a former football player. Playing career Born in the Hague, Houwaart began his career in 1963 as a footballer playing for ADO Den Haag until 1967, when he left the club to play ...

(2006–07) * Valère Billen (2007) * Peter Voets (2007) *

Dennis Van Wijk Dennis Johannes van Wijk (; born 16 December 1962) is a Dutch association football, football coach and former football player. Van Wijk was a left-back who began his career in the youth system of Ajax Amsterdam. He was unable to break into the ...

(2007–08) * Guido Brepoels (2008–11) * Franky Van der Elst (2011–12) * Guido Brepoels (2012–13) * Yannick Ferrera (2013–15) * Chris O'Loughlin (2015–16) * Ivan Leko (2016–17) *

Tintín Márquez Bartolomé "Tintín" Márquez López (born 7 January 1962) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently a manager. His career was closely associated to Espanyol, as both a player and coach. Pl ...

(2017) * Jonas De Roeck (2017–18) * Marc Brys (2018–19) * Miloš Kostić (2020) *

Kevin Muscat Kevin Vincent Muscat (born 7 August 1973) is an Australian former association football player and he is the currently head coach of Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port. As a player, he played as a defender, and represented the Australia n ...

(2020) * Peter Maes (2020–21) * Bernd Hollerbach (2021–23) *

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, who is the head coach of Belgian Pro League club KRC Genk. Playing career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to S ...

(2023–24)

References

External links

*
UEFA page
{{Belgian Pro League Association football clubs established in 1924 Football clubs in Belgium 1924 establishments in Belgium Sport in Sint-Truiden Belgian Pro League clubs