Koninklijke Racing Club Mechelen, simply known as Racing Mechelen or KRC Mechelen, is a Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the first division 1951–52. KRC Mechelen also reached the final of the Belgian Cup in 1954. However, the team has been falling through the Belgian football league system since 2015 and in the 2017–18 season it was playing in the Belgian Provincial Leagues for the first time since 1906.

History Founded in July 1904 as Racing Club de Malines, the club registered with the federation two years later on 22 June 1906 and received the matricule n°24. The name of the club changed three times: first the suffix Société Royale was added (1929), then the name was translated into Dutch becoming Koninklijke Racing Club Mechelen (1937).

Racing Mechelen played its first season in the first division in 1910–11 and finished 8th of 12 teams. By this time, rival FC Malines, later called KV Mechelen, was playing in second division. The following season, Racing ended 11th just one point away from Beerschot and was relegated. Just before World War I, Racing finished second in their division while FC Malines was third (8 points behind). Thus RC Malines were promoted, playing the following season in the first division, which was played in 1919–20. They ended in 6th place. Two years after that FC Malines was playing in the first division too. In 1929 and 1930 after having spent one year in the second division (1924), the club grabbed third place in the first division. A record it would beat in 1952 with a second-place finish after a new sequence of two third places (1950 and 1951). In 1954 it qualified for the final game of the Belgian Cup. Afterwards, the club fell to the second division and has rarely played at a higher level in recent decades.

Stadium

The Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion is a football stadium in the Belgian city of Mechelen. The stadium is located just to the north of the centre of town over the River Dijle. It was built in 1923 and is named after the former president of the club: Oscar Van Kesbeeck (1886–1943) who was a Flemish Liberal Politician. The current capacity of the stadium is 6,123.stadion , racingmechelen.be (last check 30 March 2018) The Oscar Vankesbeeckstadion is located just under a mile away from Argosstadion Achter de Kazerne, which is home to rivals KV Mechelen.

Honours Belgian First Division: Runners-up (1): 1951–52 Third place (4): 1928–29, 1929–30, 1949–50, 1950–51 Belgian Second Division: Winners (4): 1909–10, 1947–1948, 1974–1975, 1987–1988 Runners-up (5): 1913–1914, 1924–1925, 1938–1939, 1945–1946, 1984–1985 Belgian Third Division: Winners (4): 1961–1962, 1965–1966, 1968–1969, 2013–2014 Belgian Cup: Runners-up (1): 1953–1954

Current squad

On loan

Managers

1919–56: Jan Dogaer 1956–57: Richard Gedopt 1957–58: Janos Pintye 1958–58: Guillaume Placklé 1958–61: Marcel Bruyninckx 1961–62: Albert Herremans 1962–63: Marius Mondele 1963–64: Gérard Engelen 1964–65: Jean Hamers 1965–68: Rik Van Herp 1968–68: Jos De Winne 1968–68: Emile Deghislage 1968–72: Rik Matthys 1972–72: Oliver Gaspar 1972–76: Ernst Künnecke 1976–77: Bob Maertens 1977–81: Raoul Peeters 1981–83: Jean-Pierre Borremans 1983–85: Albert Bers 1985–86: Włodzimierz Lubański 1986–89: Rik Pauwels 1989–90: Raoul Peeters 1990–91: Guy Mangelschots 1991–92: Albert Van Marcke 1992–93: Jan Ceuleers/ Piet Demol 1992–93: Piet Demol 1993–94: Piet Demol/ Rik Pauwels 1994–97: Albert Van Marcke 1998–98: Marc Huysmans 1998–98: Albert Van Marcke 1998–98: David Kipiani/ Albert Van Marcke 1999–01: Patrick Hantson 2001–03: Marc Ghys 2003–04: Marc Ghys/{ Joël Crahay 2004–05: Joël Crahay/ Patrick Asselman 2005–06: Patrick Asselman/ Colin Andrews 2006–07: Colin Andrews 2007–09: Regi Van Acker 2009–10: Regi Van Acker/ Luc Leys/ Danny Hoekman/ Marc Ghys 2010–11: Raoul Peeters 2011–12: Marc Ghys/ Sadio Ba 2012–: Thierry Pister

References

External links