Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV () or by their nickname De Kanaries (), is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden, Limburg that plays in the Belgian Pro League, the highest tier of football in Belgium.
Founded in 1924 with matricule number 373, STVV has played their home games at the Stayen since 1927. The club's best league finish was second in 1965–66. They also reached the final of the Belgian Cup twice.
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 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. He was replaced by Marc Wilmots, 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.
On 15 November 2017, Japanese-based electronic commerce and Internet company DMM.com acquired Sint-Truidense, becoming the full owner. Since the takeover, the club began recruiting and developing Japanese players, such as, Daichi Kamada, Wataru Endo, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Daniel Schmidt, Zion Suzuki, Daiki Hashioka and Joel Chima Fujita.
Honours Belgian First Division Runners-up (1): 1965–66 Belgian Second Division Winners (4): 1986–87, 1993–94, 2008–09, 2014–15 Belgian Cup Runners-up (2): 1970–71, 2002–03 Belgian League Cup Winners (1): 1998–99
European record European record Competition Pld W D L GF GA UEFA Europa League 2 1 0 1 3 4 UEFA Conference League 0 0 0 0 0 0 UEFA Intertoto Cup 8 5 0 3 15 8 Total 10 6 0 4 18 12
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate 1999–00 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1R Spartak Varna 6–0 2–1 8–1 2R Ararat Yerevan 3–1 2–05–1 3R Austria Wien 0–2 2–12–3 2003–04 UEFA Intertoto Cup 2R Tobol 0–2 0–1 0–3 2025–26 UEFA Europa League PO Omonia 1–0 2–4 3–4 UEFA Conference League LP Iberia 1999 align=center Midtjylland align=center Brann align=center Hajduk Split align=center Ajax align=center Lugano align=center
Current squad
Out on loan
Coaching and medical staff Head coach: Frédéric De Meyer Assistant head coach: 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 (1979–81) Wilfried Van Moer (1982–84) Eric Vanlessen (1984–85) Guy Mangelschots (1986–90) Walter Meeuws (1990–91) Odilon Polleunis (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) Marc Wilmots (2004–05) Herman Vermeulen (2005–06) Eddy Raeymaekers & Peter Voets (2006) Thomas Caers (2006) Peter Voets (2006) Henk Houwaart (2006–07) Valère Billen (2007) Peter Voets (2007) Dennis Van Wijk (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 (2017) Jonas De Roeck (2017–18) Marc Brys (2018–19) Miloš Kostić (2020) Kevin Muscat (2020) Peter Maes (2020–21) Bernd Hollerbach (2021–23) Thorsten Fink (2023–24) Christian Lattanzio (2024) Felice Mazzù (2024) Frédéric De Meyer (2025) (caretaker) Wouter Vrancken (2025–26) Frédéric De Meyer (2026–present)
References
External links
Team profile at UEFA (archived)