K.S.V. Waregem

Koninklijke Sportvereniging Waregem was a Belgian football club that existed between 1925 and 2001. It played three spells at the highest level in the Belgian football league system each separated by a single season at the second level: from 1966 to 1972, from 1973 to 1994 and in 1995-96. Its best ranking was reached in 1968, 1985 and 1993 when it finished 4th.

History

"Waereghem Sportif" (in French) was founded in 1925 in Waregem, West Flanders, then changed its name to "Waregem Sportief" (its Dutch translation) in 1945. One year later, the club merged with Red Star Waregem to become S.V. Waregem. The new team became a member of the national association on the same year and was assigned the matricule n°4451. In 1951 the club received the right to be called royal (Dutch: "Koninklijk") which was at the time given to any team founded 25 years ago.

K.S.V. Waregem became the first team from Waregem to play in the second division in 1963. In 1966 it accessed to the first division and remained at that level for a while (except in 1972-73 and in 1994-95). It even won the 1974 Cup and the 1982 Supercup. In 1996, Waregem was finally relegated to second division where they stayed until 1999 (to fall into third division). In 2001, due to financial problems, the club had to merge with Zultse V.V. and to keep their matricule (n°5381). The new club was named S.V. Zulte-Waregem and it plays the stadium that K.S.V. Waregem used to play in.

Players

*flagicon|Ireland Liam Buckley (1984-86) 25 apps 5 goals
*flagicon|Belgium David Collyns (1988-89) 5 apps 0 goals, now coaching FC Bonanza
*flagicon|Belgium Philippe Desmet
*flagicon|Belgium Wim De Conick
*flagicon|Australia Aurelio Vidmar (1992-1994) 57 apps 25 goals

References

* [http://users.skynet.be/pluto/Textbelgium/Teams.html Pluto website] - Belgian football clubs history
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesb/belghist.html RSSSF archive] - 1st and 2nd division final tables