Full Name: Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk City: Kortrijk Founded: 1971 Stadium: Guldensporenstadion (10,000) Colors: Red, White Previous Names: KV Kortrijk (1971-2002), CVBA KV Kortrijk (2002-03) Nicknames: De Kerels, De Veekaa
Description:
KV Kortrijk has roots going back to 1901 and in fact this year is often given as the club's foundation. Let's take a look back through the years. Each Belgian club is given a matricule (basically an ID number) at the time they join the Belgian FA. The lower the number, the older the club. Low numbers are a great badge of pride for many clubs and strange mergers are often executed to keep a certain matricule alive. KV Kortrijk is a good example.
SC Courtraisien was launched in 1901 with the matricule #19. Courtrai is the French version of the city's name and SC Courtraisien translates as Courtrai's Sports Club. In 1918 SC Courtraisien merged with another city club FC Courtraisien to create Courtrai Sports. In 1927 they reached 25 years of existence and were allowed to add Royal to their name, becoming Royal Courtrai Sports. All Belgian clubs of 25 years can do this, although since 1958 that time frame has been increased to 50 years. In 1951 the club changed its name to the Flemish Koninklijke Kortrijk Sport, reflecting the increasing prominence of the Flemish language in this part of Belgium. Twenty years later they merged with city rivals Stade Kortrijk to create Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk. While this was technically a brand-new club they were allowed to keep the historic matricule of 19. For the 2002-03 season KV Kortrijk played with the sponsor name CVBA KV Kortrijk before reverting back to KV Kortrijk.
KV Kortrijk's logo mirrors that of the coat of arms of the city of Kortrijk and also includes a crown at the top, symbolic of their royal patronage. The red and white colors are also those of the city of Kortrijk.The nickname De Kerels means The Boys in Flemish. The nickname De Veekaa is a way of saying The VK, as in Voetbalclub Kortrijk.
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