🇧🇪 K.S.K Beveren (Belgium)

K.S.K Beveren (Belgium)

Belgium, a country that has produced so many top-quality players over the years, it is hard to imagine that they have never won a major tournament internationally. There are signs that may change soon, with the country finishing third at the 2018 World Cup. They have players now who are in their prime such as Eden Hazard, Keven De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku with so many others to add to that list. Their domestic league isn’t bad either, with club sides regularly competing in the Champions League and Europa League. Clubs like Anderlecht, Club Bruge, Gent and Genk have all put it up to the best of Europe and have never been taken lightly by the opposition. It is also a country that is seen to have a high quality of life and a high standard of living, making it one of the richest and most peaceful places to live on in the world. However, this still doesn’t stop it from it’s football clubs having financial problems and the country has seen it’s fair share of clubs fall into the category of ‘Forgotten Clubs’. The club I am going to tell you about is one that some would say isn’t a ‘Forgotten Club’ and in fact, still lives on today. But under what name and where, is debatable amongst fans. There is no doubt it has a rich history, winning league titles and domestic cups and even providing a European shock along the way. Again, some will say they are not a ‘Forgotten Club’ as they never went out of existence, but the fact is, they did, in thei original form that is, and therefore qualify as a ‘Forgotten Club’. You will see this with other clubs that I write about in this book, that mergers are common amongst clubs who start to struggle, and instead of going defunct, they decide to come together and live as one. This, of course, does not always go down well with both sets of fans of the clubs that merge and newly breakaway clubs are formed by them. It’s a complicated story most of the time and K.S.K Beverens story is no different. But it is a very interesting one. Here it is.

The original Beveren club, Standaard Beveren, was founded in 1922 by a local businessman named Paul Verhaert. They became a member of the Belgian Football Association and where given a federation registration number of ‘Matricule 737’. The original club stayed as part of the Association until May 1931, when they fell into financial trouble and dissolved. This would be the first time the club had parted ways with its original form. But three years later, on the 23^rd of July, 1934, a pub landlord in Beveren was asked to get a team together to play against another football team from the nearby Municipality of Temse. The team from Beveren, who were called Standaard Beveren on the day of the match, won 2-1, and so it was decided they would form a football club but call it S.K Beveren. They applied to be apart of the Belgian Association of Football on September 5^th 1935 and received their official registration number, ‘Matricule 2300’.

Straight away, the newly formed side picked up two titles back to back in their local league, and shortly moved to a new stadium called the Velodrome in 1938. Owned by a local brewer and businessman, Frederik Thielemans, who the stadium was eventually named after, the Freetheil Stadium. But during the World Wars, football in Belgium was badly hampered, liked the rest of Europe and football leagues were created on an emergency basis. SK Beveren started competing again in their top provincial league in 1945, when the Second World War had ended. It took three years before they would be promoted to the national divisions, under the guidance of new chairman, Louis Verhaert. In 1949 the club went up after defeating Herzele.

With the club now in new unprecedented territory, they had to wait a few years before being promoted from the Belgian Fourth Division. However, they didn’t have to wait too long, as it just took them three years to climb out of the bottom national division. It was feat that saw the club use mainly local talent, instead of importing footballers from different Municipalities. They gained promotion through the play-offs with a 2-1 win over Willebroek. But their progress stalled for the next eight years, with the club playing in the Belgian Third Division from 1952 until 1960, regularly fighting for survival and struggling to come to terms with the level of quality they were now facing. It was the 1959-60 season when their luck finally ran out and the club finished 15^th meaning they were relegated back to the Fourth Division. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, the club re-grouped and planned and in doing so decided that giving local youth a chance was their best way to gaining promotion again. Indeed, it proved to be the right choice because after three years, the club gained promotion to the Third Division, Amongst the players that got them back up where prolific striker Robert Rogiers, winger Jensen Janssens and centre midfielder, Wilfred Van Moer. Jens Janssens would go onto make 7 caps for the Belgian national team and score one goal for them, while Wilfred Van Moer would go on to make 57 appearances for the Belgium National team and also manage them in 1996. 1963 proved to be one the most successful seasons in the clubs history, as Beveren romped to the Fourth Division title, winning it by 16 points, ahead of second placed Brasschaat. They went the whole season unbeaten and scored an incredible 111 goals in the process. The next season saw them finish 3^rd but they went on a cup run that year that saw them reach the last 16 stage, only to be knocked out by First Division club, Cercle Bruge. The following season, 1965-66, saw them once again finish third. It was just a taste of what was to come as they finally gained promotion to the Second Division when they became Third Division champions in 1966, after clinching a draw away to Zwevegem, with a late goal from striker, Robert Rogiers, securing a 2-2 draw and promotion. Beveren didn’t stop there, however, and in their first season in the Second Division, they won it under the guidance of their new coach Guy Thys, a man who would eventually lead the Belgian national team to their only major tournament final to this date when he guided them to the 1980 European Championship final only to be defeated by West Germany in Italy by the score line, 2-1. They clinched the title with a 3-2 win over UR Namur.

The 1967 season, and their first in the top division in Belgium started off with a 1-1 draw against Sint-Truidense VV. Jean Janssens wrote his name in the Beveren history books, scoring the clubs first ever goal in the First Division. It didn’t take long for the club to get their first win in the top flight, when in just their second game, and their first at home, they beat Daring Molenbeek 2-0. It caught the imagination of the Beveren public who turned out in their thousands to watch the team play at the Freethiel Stadion. A record attendece of 18,000 watched Beveren lose out to Belgian football giants, Anderlecht 2-1. The club finished a respectable 13^th that season. The 1968-69 season would prove to be even better, with the club finishing 6^th, with the help of prolific goal scorer Robert Rogiers. His 16 goals in total saw him become joint top goal scorer in the league that season.

That summer saw the club participate in the Intertoto Cup, although that year there were no knockout phases and therefore no winner was declared. Beveren competed in Group 9, a group that consisted of three other teams. They were Polish club Odra Opole, Swiss club La Chaux-de-Fonds and Danish club, Boldklubben 1913. The Belgian club finished second in the group, behind Odra Opole, winning two, drawing two and losing two. The 1969-70 season once again saw progression on the field for the club, with a 4^th place finish under the management of Ward Volkaert meaning the qualified for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, or what would be the equivalent of what today we call the Europa League. The club once again competed in the Intertoto Cup or what was also known as the Rappan cup, and were placed in Group B4, alongside German club Weder Bremen, Swedish club Oster, and Austrian club LASK. Beveren finished third in the group, managing to only win one game.But it was their European exploits in another tournament that caught everyone’s attention that year.

The club met Austrian side, Wiener Sport Club in the first round and beat them at the Sportclub-Platz in Vienna, 2-0 on the 16^{th of} September 1970. The goals were scored by Rogiers and Janssens. The return leg, saw the Belgians run out easy winners on the night as they put three past the Austrian club without reply, leaving the tie 5-0 on aggregate in Beverens favour. It set up a second-round tie against Spanish giants, Valencia. Not many gave Beveren a chance to get any type of result, but the Belgian club were to surprise everyone and on the 22^nd of October 1970, they pulled of one the greatest victories in their club’s history when they beat Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium in front of 45,000 people. The goal was scored by De Raeymaeker in the 77^th minute and it gave the Belgian club the advantage going into the second leg. Even though they were one nil up in the tie, not many expected them to knock-out Valencia, and fully expected Valencia to sweep them aside in the second leg. That wasn’t the case and the game, played in front of 20,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadion in Antwerp saw the Belgian side progress after drawing 1-1 on the night and winning the tie 2-1 on aggregate. Once again, De RaeyMaeker scored the goal against Valencia in the 60^th minute to put Beveren 2-0 up on aggregate. A late goal by Forment for the Spanish side in the 84^th minute proved to be only a consolation as Beveren progressed to the next round, where they would meet English side Arsenal FC. This time, the quality of the opposition was too much for Beveren, and they lost the first leg at Highbury, 4-0. They faired much better in the second leg, drawing 0-0 but the damage had been done in London and they were eliminated from the competition.

The club stayed in the First Division for years, having success in the Belgian Cup in 1977-78 season. It saw the club qualify for the 1978-79 European Cup Winners Cup, and they went on another European adventure. First, they faced Northern Ireland side, Ballymena United FC, in which they beat 3-0 in both home and away legs, winning 6-0 on aggregate. The second round saw SK Beveren face Croatian side, NK Rijeka. After drawing 0-0 in the home leg, SK Beveren won the second leg 2-0 to progress to the quarterfinals. It was there they met Italian giants Inter Milan. The first leg was played in the San Siro, in Milan and the two sides played out a 0-0 draw. The advantage was with SK Beveren going into the second leg, with their fans behind them, they felt confident they could pull off a result. And that is what they did. On the 21^{st of} March 1979, Stevens scored the only goal of the night in the 85^th minute to ensure SK Beveren would be going through to the semi finals to face Barcelona.

On the 11^{th of} April 1979, SK Beveren travelled to the Camp Nou, full of confidence that they could once again pull of a shock result. However, they suffered a set back in front of crowd of 70,000 when they conceded a penalty in the 65^th minute. Rexach stepped up and slotted the penalty away to give the Catalan club the advantage going into the second leg. The second leg was played two weeks later on the 25^th April, 1979 in front of a crowd of 20,000 fans. It was tight affair and SK Beveren had their chances to equalise but failed to do so and in the 85^th minute they conceded their second penalty in the tie. This time Krankl stepped up to take it and he made no mistake, putting Barcelona 2-0 on aggregate and sending them through to the final, one they would eventually win against German club Fortuna Dusseldorf.

After that the club underwent a name change again in 1978, when they changed their name to SK Beveren. It proved to be a lucky omen, because in 1979 they won their first ever First Division title, beating Anderlecht by four points, winning nineteen games, drawing eleven and losing just four all season. It also meant that they qualified for the 1979-80 European Cup. They met Swiss club, Servette in the First round on the 19^th of September 1979, losing in the first leg in Switzerland, 3-1. The second leg was played on the 3^{rd of} October 1979, at the Freethiel Stadion. Beveren took an early lead when Albert tucked away a penalty in the 18^th minute, but Servette equalised soon after when Italian, Berto, scored in the 37^th minute, leaving the tie 4-2 in the Swiss club’s favour. That is how it ended, and SK Beveren were eliminated.  The club went on to win their second First Division title in the 1983-84 season, again pipping Anderlecht to the title. They finished the season winning twenty-two games, drawing seven and losing just five and once again qualifying for the European Cup. This time they managed to get past the first round, beating Icelandic side IA, 7-2 on aggregate, drawing the first leg away from home 2-2 and winning the second leg in Beveren, 5-0. It et up a second-round tie with Swedish Club IFK Gothenburg. The first leg in Sweden ended 1-0 to the home side, meaning Beveren would have win the second leg, which they did, 1-0 in normal time, thanks to a goal in the 76^th minute from Creve. It sent the game into extra-time. With the away goals rule still in play, it meant that if IFK Gothenburg were to score then SK Beveren would need two more. Unfortunately for the Belgians, that is what happened and in the 99^th minute, Pettersson scored to put the Swedish side 2-1 up on aggregate, but more importantly gave them that all important away goal. Beveren came back and scored again, making it 2-1 on the night and 2-2 on aggregate through a Gorez penalty in the 100^th minute, but it wasn’t enough and IFK Gothenburg progressed instead.

The next season, the club undertook another name change, this time referring to themselves as KSK Beveren. The club continued to compete under this name and had relative success, especially in the Belgian Cup, coming runners-up in 1984-85 and again in 2003-04 when they were defeated by Club Brugge, 4-2 at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. But only three years later the club found itself in financial difficulties and nearly lost their professional licence which would have seen them relegated back down to the Third Division. They successfully appealed the decision and continued playing in the Jupilier League until the 2007 season when they found themselves finishing bottom, having only won five games all season, drawing ten and losing nineteen. It was the start of a dramatic fall for the club who found themselves in the Third Division for the 2010-11 season as they did not apply for a professional licence due to financial difficulties.

This is where the story of KSK Beveren gets controversial, as from 2010 the club decided it was best to merge with another football club, KV Red Star Waasland, becoming KV Red Star Waasland-Beveren and moved to the stadium of defunct club Sint -Niklass. But the matricula number that the newly merged club used was that of KV Red Star Waasland. A group of fans from KSK Beveren decided to start a new club, under the name KSK Beveren and began life in the lower divisions of Belgian football. They are called YB SK Beveren and are currently the only Belgian football club that are 100% fan owned. Both clubs claim to be the rightful heir of KSK Beveren.

I got in touch with the Belgian Football Podcast to find out more about KSK Beveren while also speaking to a fan of YB SK Beveren, to find out what it is like to be the only 100% fan owned club in the country. Both their insights into the history of the club and layers were second to none. First up is Scott Coyne, one of the members of the Belgian Football Podcast.

Thank you for taking the time out to answer these questions on KSK Beveren and Belgian football. First thing I must ask is why Belgian football? How did you get into it?

Belgian Football Podcast: The Belgian Football Podcast is the No1 English language podcast covering Belgian football. It was founded 3 yrs ago by Ben Jackson  @benjack94...Ben was quickly joined on the team by Scott Coyne (answering these questions) @scott_coyne  @coyneconsultant and Joris Becq, @Joris_Becq who is actually Belgian and a Genk fan! It has grown significantly in its 3 yrs and we have plans to expand further

KSK Beveren is a complicated club for a number of reasons with a complicated history. What can you tell the readers about KSK Beveren that they may not know about?

Belgian Football Podcast: KSK are a significant club...with 2 Championship wins and 2 Belgian cups to its name. The club’s heyday was un late 1970s/early 1980s. In 2010 the club effectively folded...and the club in existence today is 100% fan owned.

So many great players have come from Belgium throughout the years, but it's safe to say the current crop are their nations Golden Generation. In your opinion can they live up to that title and produce a major tournament win?

Belgian Football Podcast: The current red devils’ side is overburdened by the term "golden generation" tag. We think the window has now passed for them to win a major title. But they will still have a decent WC in Qatar. QF should be a realistic aim, and with a little fortune...maybe another semi. The generation coming behind this one is equally impressive if not more so, so who is to say whether it might the next generation that go that step further. The future of Belgian football at a national level is bright.

KSK Beveren, a club that went up and down the leagues in its history. It seems they had their best success when given local youth a chance. Is this a common thing Belgian clubs do or do they turn to foreign imports like in other leagues? Or is this just a KSK Beveren thing?

Belgian Football Podcast: Most Belgian clubs have a strong youth system and policy. The academies are generally strong. Belgium really values youth development in its football culture - it is important and can be across clubs and leagues, it is not exclusive to Beveren.

The club had a few former players that would be considered decent, Yaya Toure being the standout name. In our research a player named Robert Rogiers seemed to pop up a lot. He seemed to be a prolific goal scorer yet there is very little written about him. Can you enlighten the readers about him?

Belgian Football Podcast: He is probably well because he played in Europe for KSK during their Fairs Cup run in the late 1970s. He made his debut aged 16...and scored 48 goals in 174 apps for KSK. He was capped twice by The Red Devils as well!

Another star player that caught our attention that played for Beveren was Wilfred van Moer, a former Belgian International player and manager, who sadly passed away only last year. Winning the Belgian Golden shoe three times is no mean feat. What can you say about him?

Belgian Football Podcast: Van Moer is arguably Beverens most famous player. He was outstanding for the national team and played during the final of Euro 1980 in which Belgium narrowly lost 2-1 to west Germany. He also won The Golden Shoe on 3 occasions as well,  this is the yearly award for Belgium’s best player and made 169 apps for KSK and also managed the national team very briefly.

Finally, I know it is a complicated situation with there being two clubs claiming to be the original KSK Beveren, with Waasland-Beveren being the merger and KSK Beveren being fan owned now. I won't ask you who is the rightful heir as its an unanswerable question, but where do you think the future of football in Beveren is heading. Will there be another merger or is this how it will stay? Two separate clubs who may one day meet in the same league?

Belgian Football Podcast: There are plans for a merger, but we think they will not be successful, too much animosity and a split in the Beveren community. There are also other teans in same geographical area (Antwerp province), Lokeren, Lierse, Waasland Beveren, Antwerp, KV Mechelen and even Racing Mechelen.

Stijn Kluskens, a man who runs the KSK Beveren Twitter account, gave me an in-depth insight about how the history of KSK Beveren and how their current fortunes are going and what it is like to be apart of a 100% fan owned football club. This is one interview that, if you love your history of football, is one that you will come away from reading feeling you have learned a lot about Beveren and football. In fact, it has given me the inspiration to start a new feature on my ‘Forgotten Clubs’ blogsite, ‘Forgotten Players’. When you read this, you will understand why

Thank you for taking time out to answer my questions on KSK Beveren, one of the more complex stories I have had the pleasure to write about. First of all, you are 100% fan owned and of my knowledge, you are the only Belgian club to have that status. What are the pros and cons of being fan owned?

Stijn Kluskens: Personally, I think the biggest advantage is that you have the certainty that the individuality / soul of your club is preserved. No sudden rich guy that pops up who can change the logo, the colours. No crazy merger situations, no fear that your club has to move 100km further, and above all the club can really mean something to the community. You give football back to what it was made for: the supporter!

And, you know everything about the club and there are no more secrets. You know that the club will not do crazy things and you can help decide how and where you want to grow as a club.

I feel even more connected to the club than I used to be. And nobody can be angry about the small things like ticket and drink prices because you can decide/vote. If something bothers you, just send an email and it can be discussed at the next meeting, it's that simple!

 But!!! It comes with a price: No rich owner means no big budget. So, you have to be more patient for success on the field and work really hard for it. It also becomes a lot harder to do that as a professional team, but not impossible at all. Then you will have to work differently, but the essence of the story must remain the same.

 KSK Beveren have had some really good players play for them over the years, most notably a player named Wilfred van Moer, who went on to manage the Belgian national side. What can you tell me about him and how he is regarded by the KSK Beveren fans?

Stijn Kluskens: I did my research (source book KSK Beveren part 1) for the details because I am too young to watch him play. But the name, reputation of Van Moer is legendary in the town!! If you are a Beveren supporter, you know Van Moer!! You know our little general!

Van Moer is without a doubt the most successful player ever produced by the famous youth academy of SK Beveren. He won everything there is to win in this football country: golden boots, league titles, cups, and the respect of football critics on both sides of the language border.

Wilfried Van Moer was born on 1 March 1945 just after the Second World War. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Beveren. He played a lot at ‘the Congoken’ a sandy public field that was the beating football heart of the village. Numerous players who would

later make it to the first team, including some Red Devils, played here daily until darkness fell. It became the unofficial youth academy of the then unknown club SK Beveren.  

On April 23, 1961 - The time had come: Wilfried was 16 and he was allowed to make his debut with the big boys. Host Maccabi Hoboken saw the young prodigy score twice on his debut. A week later, on the last day of the season against VG Oostende, Van Moer scored twice again. The flashing light of many Belgian top clubs has already turned on…

 For two seasons, Beveren managed to keep him at the Freethiel. It earned the club a place in the third division in 1963, after losing that place three years earlier. In the championship season, the offensive line scored no fewer than 111 goals in 30 games, 22 of which were at the expense of 18-year-old Van Moer. Beveren asked three million Belgian francs so that in the end only Antwerp remained in the running. The Great Old put 1.5 million francs on the table, later with an extra million after his contract extension at the Bosuil. Van Moer himself lived up to all expectations. Before the next decade, Wilfried won three golden boots. He moved to Standard and won three league titles in a row between 1969 and 1971. The talent Van Moer was endowed with eventually turned against him: the midfielder was increasingly subjected to terrible fouls and injuries. In 1972 he was scandalously tackled at the European Championship by the Italian Mario Bertini, which led to a broken leg.

 It caused Wilfried to leave his beloved Sclessin. Van Moer opted for modest FC Beringen, despite negotiations with Beveren. For four years he saved them from relegation. Wilfried was already well into his thirties but was blessed with the experience and vista of the perfect playmaker. National coach Guy Thys decided to reselect Van Moer for the Red Devils and found the missing link. In 1980, Belgium, led by the Little General, reached the final of the European Championship. In the same year, Van Moer was fourth in the election of European Footballer of the Year. The icing on the cake came with his long-awaited return to the Freethiel. At 35, Wilfried returned to the nest from which he had flown almost 20 years earlier. For two years he still acted at a top level, before leaving on one last adventure as a player to STVV. And so there is only one highlight missing from Wilfried Van Moer's rich palmares: a top prize with the club where it all started.

As a coach, Van Moer returned to Beveren in 1987 after strong results he had achieved at the small FC Assent, with which he was promoted from third to second division. It became a passage of only a year. He later became national coach of the Red Devils, before saying goodbye to football for good in 1996.

Wilfried Van Moer is an undisputed icon of SK Beveren. He was the first to put the small club on the football map and became an example for many young talents who would blossom at the Freethiel in the 60s and 70s. Many of our young supporters have never had the chance to see Van Moer at work, but his name and heroic deeds for club and homeland remain part of the collective football heritage of Beveren and Belgium. Moreover, all those successes did not go to the head of the boy from the working-class neighborhood, who always remained his sensible and serene self and appeared only sporadically in the media.

Who, in your opinion, is the best player to have played for KSK Beveren and who is your favourite player to have pulled on the Beveren shirt? It can be the same player if you like.

Stijn Kluskens: Favourite player. Without a doubt Heinz Schönberger. One of the best football players to have played on the Belgian football fields. A true ball virtuoso who you couldn't get off the ball without making a foul. The best player KSK Beveren has ever had. And also a wonderful person who still lives in Beveren.

Best player. Lambert Smid. Technically very gifted footballer with great pace and stamina. He also had excellent kick in his right foot and was the playmaker in the midfield for six years but was also not afraid to do the dirty work. He always played with a big heart and gave 200% of himself every game! A man that everybody loved.

What is the vision for KSK Beveren? Where do you see the club in five years’ time?

Stijn Kluskens: A stable healthy fan owned club that plays just below professional football. That contributes to the local community. That offers affordable and good youth football at all levels. And to secure and continue the history and future of KSK Beveren.

Belgian football seems to be on the up, especially on the international stage with the country currently (at the time of writing this) being number one ranked nation in world football. There must be a lot of excitement in the country coming into a World Cup year. Do you think Belgium can win it?

Stijn Kluskens: A World Cup is always something special that everyone lives towards to. But I have the feeling that the disappointment of the previous edition has not yet been processed. Our generation is also just over its top so we will need to have that extra bit of luck to make it to the final and maybe a win. I think quarter finals.

What is your favourite moment in the history of KSK Beveren? Whether you were actually there or not.

Stijn Kluskens: Inter Milan, 21 March 1979 1/4 finale European Cup Winners Cup. The very small amateur team from Beveren had played 0-0 in Milan and could dream of a football fairytale. And so it happened in minute 85 of the return game! Hofkens with the legendary move and Steven blasts us to the biggest party ever in Beveren! Those songs are song to this day!! Those story’s come up every summer on a nice evening with a bottle of wine.

Finally, KSK Beveren, a Belgian club that clearly has a passionate fan base (I've watched the fan videos). Is there anything you would like to add or tell the readers about KSK Beveren?

Stijn Kluskens: The past of KSK Beveren deserves to have a bright future. KSK Beveren stands for tradition, pride and future and we want to ensure the future of the club by giving football back to the supporter with fan participation as a fan-owned club.

And check out some of our former players you will be surprised!!!

KSK Beveren, SK Beveren, Waasland-Beveren or YB SK Beveren. So many names for a club that has so much history in Belgian football. A club that has won two topflight titles and two Belgian cups, while taking down some of Europe’s elite clubs throughout the years. Their history, albeit a complicated one, is an interesting one, full of ups and downs and littered with great players having worn the jersey of Beveren. They were the first club from East Flanders to win the league title in the topflight, when they won it in 1979 and are, to this day, the only champions that are based in a municipality and not a city, although at the time of writing this Royale Union Saint-Gilloise could change that if they win the league in 2022. The question of who the rightful heir of KSK Beveren is one that I thought about asking but decided to leave it alone. I knew I would never get a right answer, and this book isn’t about causing controversy, instead just creating nostalgia, so the question can be left being debated between the fans. One thing is certain, the people of Beveren will never lose their passion for football and they will always be represented in some shape or form on a football pitch. I guess it’s up to them as to who or what football club they decide to support. What a story!