RSC Anderlecht
Ground: Constant Vanden Stock – Lotto Park
Capacity: 22,500
Club Founded: 1908
League: Belgian Pro League (current level)
Anderlecht is the most successful Belgian football team in European competitions, with five trophies, as well as in the Belgian domestic league, with thirty-four championship wins.
Early History
Promotion was quickly won, with forward playing for the side, Théo Verbeeck becoming club chairman at the age of twenty-three, as Anderlecht reached national football in 1913. The team performed well until the competition was abandoned during World War I.
New Stadium
The club grew in popularity, so a new stadium was built in Parc Astrid. The ground was named Stade Emile Versé after the first major patron of the club. Sylva Brébart was appointed as the first manager of the team.
The Royal Belgian Football Association extended the top tier. SC Anderlechtois defeated FC Liégeois in a play-off to win promotion to the top flight as Ferdinand Adams ended the campaign with thirty goals. Brébart was replaced by Charles Bunyan Sr in August 1922.
Unfortunately, the new team boss died just ten years later, when his son Cyrille took over. The team went down a division but won promotion just twelve months later. The pattern was repeated later in the decade.
A First League Title
‘Les Mauves et Blancs’ continued their cycle of being somewhat of a yo-yo club, before the club changed their title to Royal Sporting Club Anderlechtois in 1933. The latest manager, Claude Leclercq, was sacked, with a committee taking charge of the team as the team won promotion back to the top-flight Division of Honour.
Anderlecht signed forward Jef Mermans upon resumption for a record transfer fee once peace was restored after World War II. ‘The Bomber’ would score the goals to help the club to its first Belgian championship in 1946-47 after coming close in the previous two seasons.
Domestic Dominance
Another title soon followed in 1948-49, as Anderlecht began to dominate the domestic game through the following decade, as the former Blackburn Rovers and Northampton Town goalkeeper Bill Gormlie replaced Ernest Churchill Smith as team manager. More league titles followed at the beginning of the 1950s.
The road outside Stade Emile Versé was renamed Avenue Théo Verbeeck in honour of the club chairman of forty years. Gormlie’s Anderlecht side went on to be crowned as First Division champions three more times before the end of the decade, as the club embarked on their early experiences in the European Cup.
This included a defeat to the ‘Busby Babes’ of Manchester United during the 1956-57 campaign. After Gormlie’s resignation, the Frenchman Pierre Sinibaldi took over in the summer of 1960 as Anderlecht began another ten years at the top of Belgian football.
New players Jean Trappeniers, Laurent Verbiest, Jean Plaskie, Georges Heylens, Paul Van Himst and Wilfried Puis came into the side. The 1960s saw the team win the Belgian title six times, with five of them being consecutive from 1964 to 1968, with Hungarian Andreas Beres being in charge from the summer of 1966.
The Coupe de Belgique, the national cup competition, was also added for the first time in 1964-65 as Standard Liège were defeated 3-2 after extra time. The star player of the time was undoubtedly Van Himst, who finished as league top scorer on four occasions.
European Final
Such was the club's dominance that in 1964, the Belgium national team manager, Raymond Goethals, fielded a team full of Anderlecht players in the friendly game against the Netherlands. In 1969-70, Anderlecht reached the final of the European Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Arsenal were defeated 3-1 in the home leg, before RSCA defeated 3-0 at Highbury.
Former Anderlecht and Belgium player Constant Vanden Stock became the new Anderlecht chairman in 1971, quickly authorising the signing of Dutch stars Jan Ruiter and Rob Rensenbrink. In his first season at the helm, the team completed the league and cup double, with Standard Liège defeated in the knockout final at Heysel.
European Success
Anderlecht retained the cup the following season against the same opponents.
A sixteenth league title arrived at Parc Astrid in 1973-74 before the team lifted the domestic cup a year later with a 1-0 victory against Royal Antwerp. The win set Anderlecht up for glory in European competition.
In 1975-76, Anderlecht lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup. 51,296 fans turned out to watch the team defeat West Ham United at Heysel. Rob Rensenbrink and François Van der Elst both scored twice in an exhilarating display led by manager Hans Croon before being replaced by former Belgium boss Goethals.
This was despite Lierse S.K. being beaten in the final of the Coupe de Belgique. Anderlecht lifted the European Super Cup by defeating Bayern München before the team reached the final of the Cup Winners' Cup, where Hamburger SV proved too strong as they won the match 2-0 in Amsterdam’s Olympisch Stadion, as Arie Haan starred.
However, Anderlecht returned in 1978-78, as two goals each from Rensenbrink and Gilbert Van Binst set up a 4-0 win against Austria Vienna at Parc des Princes in Paris to lift the Cup Winners Cup once again.
Van Himst Returns
Liverpool were beaten in the Super Cup with the help of new arrival Franky Vercauteren. Urbain Braems replaced Goethals, as new signings such as Morten Olsen arrived at the club. Anderlecht won another league title in 1980-81. The following season, Aston Villa defeated the team in the semi-finals of the European Cup.
Club legend Paul Van Himst was appointed as manager for the 1982-83 season as the club rebuilt their home stadium and renamed it Stade Constant Vanden Stock. A third European title arrived for the trophy cabinet as Anderlecht lifted the UEFA Cup, with SL Benfica the beaten finalists, as Kenneth Brylle and Juan Lozano netted the vital goals.
Bribery Controversy
The club returned to the UEFA Cup final of 1983-84 against Tottenham Hotspur. Morten Olsen scored in the 1-1 draw in the home leg. Alexandre Czerniatynski scored for RSCA as the second leg also ended 1-1. The game was decided in favour of the Londoners on penalty kicks.
There was still more to come, as it was discovered that in the semi-final victory against Nottingham Forest at Stade Constant Vanden Stock, the referee was paid a bribe totalling £27,000 by the Anderlecht chairman.
Van Himst led the team to the First Division title in 1985-86 before he was replaced by former player Haan the following season as Anderlecht retained their title after falling in the semi-final of the European Cup against Steaua București.
A twentieth top-flight league title arrived before the end of the decade. Star player Enzo Scifo departed, and Haan was replaced by Georges Leekens, who was quickly replaced by a returning Goethals. RSCA lifted their sixth Belgian Cup in 1987-88 with a 2-0 win against Standard Liège as Luc Nilis scored.
Aad de Mos was appointed as the new manager, with a team containing youngsters such as Marc Degryse, Luís Oliveira, Philippe Albert and Johnny Bosman. Another Coupe de Belgique was won against Standard Liège. The 1990s were to be a highly successful decade for the club, kicking off by winning the league title in its first season.
Johan Boskamp arrived to take charge of the team to aid them to the championship in 1992-93. The club merged with the women's team Brussels Dames '71 to become RSC Anderlecht rather than the old Anderlechtois. Boskamp’s team went on to complete three consecutive league titles.
Despite the domestic success, which also included a cup triumph against Club Brugge, Boskamp was replaced by Herbert Neumann. The club had just taken part in their thirtieth consecutive season of European football, but the directors wanted more success. Boskamp was quickly brought back.
Tougher Times
Success was proving harder to come by. After defeat to Germinal Ekeren in the 1997 cup final, Boskamp was sacked and replaced by René Vandereycken coming in to replace him. The new man didn’t last until the winter break before former boss Haan was brought back.
The Dutchman didn’t last much longer before Jean Dockx and Franky Vercauteren were put in charge of the team. New manager Aimé Anthuenis led the club to its twenty-fifth league title. The team went on to retain the title to start the new millennium in fine style as the strike partnership of Tomasz Radzinski and Jan Koller created mayhem for opposing defences.
Both strikers were sold for big fees as the club continued to go no further than the group stages in the Champions League or the early rounds of the UEFA Cup. Anthuenis was replaced by Hugo Broos in the summer of 2002.
Back to the Top
Vincent Kompany starred as Anderlecht won the Belgian League twice before he was sold on, with the latter title win coming under manager Franky Vercauteren. The side retained the title in 2006-07. Vercauteren’s assistant, Ariel Jacobs, succeeded his boss in the manager’s role the following year.
Anderlecht went on to lift their eighth Coupe de Belgique with a 3-2 success against KAA Gent. Romelu Lukaku made his debut as his team won the Belgian title, which was the first in domestic football with a regular title play-off league.
The domestic top flight was retitled the Belgian Pro League, with Anderlecht winning their thirty-first title in 2011-12. The Argentinian defensive midfielder Lucas Biglia led the team with Dieumerci Mbokani, Guillaume Gillet and Matías Suárez adding the goals. John van den Brom replaced Jacobs as manager at the end of the season.
The league title was retained, with Tom De Sutter adding to the goals column. Van den Brom was sacked and replaced by Besnik Hasi in March 2014. The Albanian and his side kept their nerve to complete a title-winning season thanks to goals from Aleksandar Mitrović.
A runners-up spot followed before the appointment of new manager Karim Belhocine. Goals from Łukasz Teodorczyk and Youri Tielemans led Anderlecht to another league triumph; their thirty-fourth in total, in 2016-17.
Recent Years
Hein Vanhaezebrouck was soon appointed to lead the team. A shocking 2018-19 campaign saw several changes in manager after the dismissal of Vanhaezebrouck. Fred Rutten and then Karim Belhocine had two spells before the appointment of club legend Kompany as manager and fellow favourite Franky Vercauteren as coach.
'Paars-Wit' failed to challenge for honours, leading to the appointment of another new manager, Felice Mazzù. His spell was short-lived, with his successor being Brian Riemer. The club continued to change its team boss without finding a solution.
Caretaker manager, Jérémy Taravel, who had replaced Will Still, took Anderlecht to the final of the Coupe de Belgique in 2025-26, which ended in a 3-1 defeat to Union SG after extra time.
My visits
Stadium Visit - Thursday 20th October 2016
My brief visit to Brussels only had an hour or so to go before I headed across country to the Europa League tie between Genk and Athletic Club. I’d already visited Stade Roi Baudouin, Heysel II and Stade Edmond Machtens before jumping on the 49 bus to the Meir stop.
I took a nice walk through Parc Astrid, which brought me out on Avenue Théo Verbeeck, from where I walked through the gates to the stadium complex to look for an open entrance to take a look inside the arena.
My stroll took me right round the far side with absolutely no opportunity of seeing inside. It was only when I walked along behind the side with the main facilities that I grasped a chance. I noted that a gate through and past an office was open. I needed no further invitation.
My view was excellent after climbing a set of steps to the upper tier in the southwest corner of Stade RSCA Constant Vanden Stock, as the stadium was officially titled. It was virtually a continuous two-tiered bowl with corporate boxes between the levels, apart from the north west corner, where the road outside made expansion prohibitive. A scoreboard filled in where the seating may have been.
Delighted with access, I didn’t hang around and push my luck. I headed back by bus from behind the north stand from the Anderlecht De Linde Plein stop to Aumale Metro station before heading to Stade Joseph Marien by tram to take a look at the home of Royale Union St Gilloise.
RSC Anderlecht 2 Sint-Truiden VV 3
Belgian First Division A - Sunday 20th August 2017
👨👨👧👧 18,000 🎟️ Season Ticket
Match Planning
I’d always wanted to attend an Anderlecht home game. When I fell in love with the game, the Belgian giants were one of Europe’s great sides as Rob Rensenbrink and François Van der Elst tore teams apart. The club were still an iconic name.
I’d heard that tickets should be possible for a run-of-the-mill home game, but the task was to be made easier. I posted on the Facebook group ‘European Football Weekends’, setting out my itinerary and asking for advice.
Fellow member Anthony Vargas had got in touch and asked if I fancied meeting up as he had similar plans. This seemed like a good idea. Another member, Antonio Monterino, got in touch to offer assistance with the tickets. All was looking good.
Pre Match
We were to meet Antonio, who could provide us with two season tickets from fellow RSCA fans who couldn’t make the game. To make things even better, we were to meet in a traditional fans' bar.
Before heading to the bar, I called in at three local venues to take photos and grabbed a bite to eat in the city centre. I took the Metro to Saint-Guidon and found Taverne Le Pavilion around the corner opposite some other fans' bars.
The location was perfect in the shadow of the beautiful church with plenty of trees. Before long, I was joined by the other two gents, as well as Antonio’s pals from Ostend. We got the low down on the home club, the bars and general football chat. It was definitely better with knowledgeable hosts.
The chat and beer were so good that we were a couple of minutes late into the ground. The fella doing the searches wasn’t holding anyone back for long, and we were soon upstairs and into our seats just three rows back in the upper section in the north east corner. We’d paid €25 for the use of the ticket. I was most happy.
We were in an area with plenty of passionate characters who were excellent in their support for the team. The atmosphere was excellent with lots of singing and plenty of fans standing, getting the noise going.
In the bar, we’d been told that a seventy-year-old Peter Crouch in a wheelchair would be of more use and mobility than RSCA’s Swedish centre forward, Isaac Thelin, who was on loan from Bordeaux. I was keen to take a look for myself!
The Match
Both sides tested out each other's defence in the opening exchanges before Anderlecht went ahead in the eighteenth minute as Massimo Bruno scored with a fantastic curling shot into the far corner.
Sint-Truiden were level just three minutes later when a cross went right across the six-yard box, where Yohan Boli headed home at the far post. Newcastle United loanee goalkeeper Matz Sels seemed a bit static to me.
He could have easily won a penalty for his side, but referee Wim Smet waved away the appeals. However, he pointed to the spot soon after when Onyekuru was fouled by Stylianos Kitsiou. The penalty from Sofiane Hanni wasn’t near enough the corner and at the perfect height for the visitors' keeper, Lucas Pirard, to push away.
The home supporters were not amused. They had plenty more reasons to vent their ire on the restart. Former Anderlecht player Jonathan Legear came on at the start of the second half for STVV. He was hugely unpopular as he’d left Stade Constant van Stock to join bitter rivals Standard Liège. He was given plenty of abuse when he touched the ball.
Inevitably, he got into the thick of the action. Eight minutes after the restart, Jordan Botaka crossed from the left. Sels didn’t claim the low ball, and Legear swooped to fire past the custodian. It didn’t go down very well.
Young Anderlecht midfielder Leander Dendoncker was doing his best for the home side, but he and Onyekuru were fighting a losing cause. Thelin was indeed atrocious and eventually replaced.
Boli made it 3-1 after sixty-six minutes, but RSCA had lots of opportunities of their own. Substitute Łukasz Teodorczyk and Bruno somehow transpired to miss a simple opportunity after being set up by Onyekuru, who himself should have probably scored a little earlier.
Sint-Truiden still looked extremely dangerous, with Lingear having a particularly fine game. The home crowd supported their team vocally, but were extremely upset by some of the stuff being served up.
Eventually, their team got a goal back when Teodorczyk finished from close range. RSCA pressed forward for the final three minutes plus stoppage time, but it was not to be. Too many errors, plus the penalty miss, proved too much to rescue anything from the game. STVV looked like a decent enough outfit.
We’d been tipped off about the food stands outside the ground, and once again our hosts were bang on. I got a large black pudding sausage with fried onions in a bun for €4. It was as good a football food as I’d had in ages and perfect for getting a thirst up.
Post Match
We returned to Le Pavilion, a bar with proper Anderlecht fans and where there is plenty of respect shown. Antonio and the boys weren’t happy with the result, but were still marvellous company. It had been a treat to attend a game with proper supporters.
Anthony and I said our goodbyes after a couple of drinks and headed back to the Metro to reach Central Station so that we could make the train for our evening match in the south of the country between Royal Excel Mouscron and KAA Gent.
Anthony and I said our goodbyes after a couple of drinks and headed back to the Metro to reach Central Station so that we could make the train for our evening match in the south of the country between Royal Excel Mouscron and KAA Gent.
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