S.V. Zulte Waregem

Football club infobox
clubname = Zulte Waregem


fullname = Sportvereniging
Zulte Waregem
nickname = Essevee
founded = 1950 (creation)
July 1, 2001 (merge)
ground = Regenboogstadion,
Waregem
capacity = 8,500
chairman = flagicon|Belgium Willy Naessens
manager = flagicon|Belgium Francky Dury
league = Belgian First Division
season = 2007-08
position = Belgian First Division, 7th
pattern_la1=_green_shoulders|pattern_b1=_thinredsides|pattern_ra1=_green_shoulders
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=_green_shoulders|pattern_b2=_thinredsides|pattern_ra2=_green_shoulders
leftarm2=000000|body2=000000|rightarm2=000000|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000
valid=2006/07

S.V. Zulte Waregem is a Belgian football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. The club is a product of the 2001 merger between Zultse V.V. and K.S.V. Waregem, a former first division regular. They won the 2004-05 second division, gaining promotion to the Belgian First Division. In May 2006, they won the Belgian Cup.

History

Zulte Sportief was founded in 1950 and directly became a member of the national association (matricule n° 5381). The club Zultse V.V. (with the same matricule) was started after the 1976 merger between Zulte Sportief and S.K. Zulte. In 2001, the team merged with K.S.V. Waregem, who had played in the first division for many years. No team from Zulte ever achieved promotion to the second division before S.V. Zulte Waregem in 2002. Zultse V.V., though, gained access to the third division in 1995. The club finished 14th out of 16 for two seasons and was relegated the second time after the playoff.

In 1999, the season in which it came back, Zultse finished 4th in this division. Two years later, the new club became champion of the 3rd division A. The registered office of Zulte Waregem lies in Zulte but the club is based in the stadium of K.S.V. Waregem in Waregem and the red and white colours of K.S.V. Waregem prevail.

The club got a chance to shine on the European stage during the 2006/07 season, reaching the Round of 32 of the UEFA Cup, facing off against English club Newcastle United, although they lost 4-1 on aggregate.

tadium

Zulte Waregem plays its home matches at the Regenboogstadion, which means Rainbow Stadium in Dutch. The stadium used to be the home of K.S.V. Waregem until the withdrawal of the club. It has 6,800 seats, with a full capacity of 8,500. The field is surrounded by a track. The Regenboogstadion does not meet UEFA's requirements for hosting UEFA Cup games, so Zulte Waregem's home games in the 2006-07 competition were played at the home of K.A.A. Gent. [ [http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2013444,00.html Roeder wary of falling flat against Belgian part-timers] ]

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable former players

;flagicon|Belgium Belgian
*Tony Sergeant
*Pieter Merlier
*Salou Ibrahim
*Frédéric Dupré

;flagicon|Earth Foreign
*flagicon|Serbia Dragan Mrđa
*flagicon|Peru Juan Diego González-Vigil

Honours

*Belgian Second Division:
**Winners (1): 2004-05
*Belgian Cup:
**Winners (1): 2005-06
*Belgian Supercup:
**Runners-up (1): 2006

Affiliated clubs

;flagicon|England England
* Portsmouth F.C. (FA Cup winners 2008)

External links

*nl icon [http://www.svzw.be Official website]

References