KRC Genk (Belgium)

KRC Gent

Ground: Cegeka Arena

Capacity: 23,718

Club Founded: 1988

League: Belgian Pro League (current level)

The merger of Thor Waterschei and KFC Winterslag to form a new club, in the Belgian former mining city of Genk, produced a team capable of challenging for honours and playing regularly in UEFA competitions.

Koninklijke Racing Club Genk, from the industrial city in Limburg, near the Dutch border cam about following a merger between local rivals KFC Winterslag and K Waterschei SV Thor Genk.

Winterslag

FC Winterslag had been formed in 1923, becoming KFC in 1958 when the Royal prefix Koninklijke was added to their title. After competing in regional football for several decades, Winterslag were promoted to Division II in 1972-73.

The following year, the team reached the top-flight, before being involved in a couple of relegations, before regaining their status. A fifth-place finish in 1980-81 was as high as Winterslag would reach under manager Robert Waseige, before they were relegated once more in 1982-83. 

Winterslag had returned to the top level of Belgian football for the 1987-88 campaign, which was the last under their independent status.

Waterschei

K Waterschei SV Thor had been formed in 1919, playing in regional and then Division II football for several decades before being promoted to the First Division at the end of the 1950s. They were relegated at the end of the 1961-62 campaign, taking sixteen years to regain their top-flight status.

Waterschei won the Coupe de Belgique, the national cup competition, in 1980 following a 2-1 victory against K.S.K. Beveren. A second national cup success followed two years later. KSV Waregem were defeated 2-0.

Triumph and Scandal

The triumph sent Waterschei on a tremendous run in the European Cup Winners' Cup campaign in the 1982-83 season, as Paris Saint-Germain were defeated before the Belgians were defeated in the semi-final by Aberdeen, as Lárus Guðmundsson and Eddy Voordeckers starred throughout the run.

The same season saw Waterschei involved in an infamous match in Belgian football history, as it was found that the game between Standard Liège and Waterschei had been fixed. Belgian and Standard skipper Eric Gerets had offered cash to Waterschei players to fix the game.

Standard won the match 2-1. Many of their players and management were given suspensions, while Waterschei’s Roland Janssen and Aimé Coenen were both suspended for six months following an appeal.

Waterschei were relegated to Division II at the end of the 1985-86 season, where they remained until the summer of 1988, when they merged and took Winterslag's top-flight place as KRC Genk under manager Joseph Vliers.

New Beginning

KRC were relegated in their first season but quickly returned.  Aimé Anthuenis was appointed as manager in 1995, taking the team to the league runners-up spot. Another second-place finish ensued while Genk lifted the Coupe de Belgique with a 4-0 win against Club Brugge.

Genk became champions of Belgium for the first time in the 1998-99 season, with the club returning to the cup final to collect the trophy once again with a 4-1 victory against Standard Liège in 1990 under the stewardship of Paul Theunis.

A second league title followed three seasons later, with Sef Vergoossen as coach. Hugo Broos took over the team in June 2005, but his spell wasn’t one of success despite the goals of Jelle Vossen. The manager was succeeded by Ronny Van Geneugden in February 2008

League and Cup Honours

Interim boss Pierre Denier led the side to the Belgian Cup with a 2-0 victory against KV Mechelen, before Hein Vanhaezebrouck was appointed as the new manager in July 2009. Franky Vercauteren succeeded him, taking Genk to a third league title in 2010-11 with young players Christian Benteke, Thibaut Courtois and Kevin De Bruyne shining.

Mario Been came in as the new Genk manager, leading the club to a fourth Coupe de Belgique in 2013 as Cercle Brugge were defeated 2-0. Emilio Ferrera and then Scotsman Alex McLeish had subsequent spells as team manager, followed by Peter Maes.

Maes' side progressed in the Europa League in the 2016-17 season before Albert Stuivenberg took over the role. Phillipe Clement was appointed as the new manager in December 2017, taking the side to the final of the Coupe de Belgique, where they went down 1-0 after extra time to Standard Liège.

The goals of Mbwana Samatta, Leandro Trossard and Ruslan Malinovskyi took the team to the 2018-19 league title before Clement moved on to join Club Brugge. A short spell under Felice Mazzù was followed by the arrival of Hannes Wolf.

Recent Times

Goals from Junya Itō and Théo Bongonda helped Genk win the 2021 Coupe de Belgique 2-1 against Standard Liège after the appointment of new manager Jess Thorup. John van den Brom was given the job for the following season, being replaced by Bernd Storck before the Cup was retained on penalties against Anderlecht.

League performances continued to disappoint. New manager Wouter Vrancken led Genk to second place in 2022-23. The goals of Tolu Arokodare helped the side to third place in 2024-25 under manager Thorsten Fink, who was replaced by Nicky Hayen the following December.

My visit

KRC Genk 2 Athletic Club 0 

UEFA Europa League Group F - Thursday 20th October 2016 

👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 9,530 🎟️ €30

European Football Weekend

My few days on the continent were into the second day, as after a night out and morning around and about Brussels, I took a train to Genk after a brief stop off in St Truiden. I really arrived with very little knowledge of my destination apart from it being a former coal mining town with a relatively low population.

It wasn’t easy finding a room for the night, so I plumped for somewhere nearer to the stadium at the Hotel-Brasserie Het Klooster for €57.50 for the night. It turned out to be a lovely place, and the downstairs bar had a fantastic choice of local beers. It was a bit of a shame when it was time to head to the game.

Pre Match

Some visitors from Bilbao were also staying at the same hotel, and I began the walk around to the Luminus Arena with them. Once on the main Duinenlaan, I headed up towards the stadium before grabbing some food at the vans outside.

My ticket had been purchased in advance and printed online for €30. I’m not sure whether it was the late 9.05pm kick off, the ticket prices or live TV coverage, but the attendance was disappointing, although there was an impressive following over from Biscaya.

Luminus Arena was a very impressive modern venue, which was obviously quite new. Three sides had continuous two tiers of seating. The two corners of the Main Stand had corporate facilities wedged between seating. The side had seating downstairs with corporate facilities above.

Because of the low attendance, the stewards were relaxed. As a consequence, I moved to different vantage positions during the match. This was handy in the cold weather. A stadium card had to be bought for any purchases from the kiosks, so I gave it a miss.

Europa League Action

Genk looked like a pretty decent side. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the standard of Belgian football, but they were certainly no mugs.

Athletic came close after thirteen minutes when an Aritz Aduriz shot was just too high. Thomas Buffel had a decent shot saved for the Belgians midway through the half. Tino Susic also came close to giving Genk the lead before they went ahead five minutes before the interval when Jakub Brabec fired home from close range.

Both sides exchanged half changes before the Swedish referee Stefan Johannesson blew his whistle for the break. Genk were just about value for their lead.

Into the second half, Athletic gave it their best, but they were forced back by the home side. Leon Bailey set up Alex Pozuelo saw a shot well saved by Iago Herrerin in the Bilbao net. Brabec then saw a header blocked as KRC went for the kill.

With seven minutes remaining, they put the game to bed when Wilfred Ndidi made it 2-0 with a right-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom corner of the net. Athletic countered with a couple of late attempts without being able to get past Genk custodian, Marco Bizot.

At full time, I grabbed some food as I headed back down the main drag. I was half tempted to pop into a local social club on the way home. However, I gave it a miss and headed straight back to my room so I could get a good rest before my journey to Düsseldorf the following day.

Helpful Info

At breakfast, my young host had got up and fed me royally. He was a Genk supporter, and he took time to tell me about the merger, as well as showing me some great old black and white photos around the wall from the old derby games and the mining heritage of the area. It rounded off my brief visit perfectly.

There were some Bilbao fans at the station waiting to board a train to get to an airport and make their journey home. I travelled to West Germany, checked into a hotel in a nondescript town, and then headed to my Friday night match. Read all about it here.