Sint-Truidense VV (Belgium)

Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging is a professional football club from the city of Sint-Truiden, in the fruit producing province of Limburg in the east of Belgium, who were formed on February 23rd 1924.

The club came to being following a merger between FC Union and FC Goldstar, with yellow and blue colours selected to match those of the colours of the city. Only 9 spectators turned up to their first game against Cercle Tongeren.

After four years ‘De Kanaries’ progressed from provincial football to playing in national competition and playing in the ‘Stayen’ home stadium. Kogelke Appeltants scored fifty goals in the 1938-39 season before football was interrupted during World War Two.

In 1947-48 the club progressed to the Second Division before reaching the semi-finals of the Coupe de Belgique in 1955-56 before progressing to the top flight at the completion of the 1956-57 campaign.

The young unknown Raymond Goethals arrived at STVV in 1959, installing new tactics as the club and team grew. The team finished fifth in the First Division in 1962-63 before the team ended as league runners-up to RSC Anderlecht in 1965-66.

Sint-Truiden’s star players of the day were Bosmans, Martens, Polleunis and Vandeboer who all went on to win international honours. Goethals left the club to take up the assistant manager’s job of the Belgian national team.

Lon Polleunis went on to win the Soulier d'Or, given to the best Belgian footballer over the previous twelve months in 1968. STVV reached the final of the Cup in 1970-71 where they went down 2-1 to Beerschot at Heysel with Eddy Lievens netting for De Kanaries.

Austrian striker Alfred Riedl finished joint top of the league scoring charts in 1972-73 as the season was marred with sadness as Paul Massa, the club chairman since 1937 died. Sint-Truiden were relegated at the completion of the 1973-74 campaign.

The following thirteen years were generally spent in mid table in Division Two. Coaches Marcel Vercammen, Gerard Bergholtz, Albert Bers and Wilfried van Moer had spells at Stayen while young players Armand Cleuren, Roland Velkeneers, Erwin Coenen and Renaat Koopmans broke through into the first team.

The team went on to win the Second Division title in 1986-87 as Marc Wilmots and Danny Boffin starred as promotion was secured back to the top flight. The team were relegated back to the second level in 1989-90 despite the efforts of star player Geert Hoebrechts.

New head coach Albert Van Marcke arrived for the 1992-93 season, but he was quickly replaced by Martin Lippens and then Guy Mangelschots. Mario Krohm became the latest scoring hero at Stayen as the team went back up to the First Division as champions.

Anders Nielsen, Peter Van Houdt and Deen Petersen began to shine before Mangelschots was replaced by Wilfried Sleurs and then Freddy Smets before Mangelschots returned for a second spell just after a year after his initial departure.

Former Dutch international Barry Hulshoff had a spell as head coach before being replaced by Poll Peters. Dusan Belic was voted as player of the year during the 1997-98 season. Willy Reynders and Jules Knaepen became the latest incumbents of the manager’s role before the arrival of Jacky Mathijssen in 2001.

The team continued to finish in the top five of the table and competed in the Intertoto Cup on a couple of occasions. STVV reached the final of the Coupe de Belgique for a second time in 2002-03 where they were defeated 3-1 at Heysel by RAA Louviéroise.

Marc Wilmots returned to the club as head coach in 2004 before the trio of Herman Vermeulen, Eddy Raeymaekers and Peter Voets all took control of the team throughout the 2005-06 campaign.

Four more head coaches arrived and departed at Stayen before the team were relegated in 2007-08 under the stewardship of Dennis van Wijk. Guido Brepoels was appointed as the new team boss, taking the team to promotion and the Second Division title in 2008-09.

With businessman Roland Duchâtelet as club chairman, Sint-Truiden looked to capitalise on the success, going on to finish fourth in the league with goalkeeper Simon Mignolet starring, while Ibrahim Sidibe banged in the goals.

Mignolet was sold to Sunderland, while the redevelopment of Stayen started after Easter in 2011. Duchâtelet departed as he bought Standard Liège while on the pitch De Kanaries struggled. New head coach Franky Van der Elst couldn’t save the team from relegation.

Brepoels returned for a second spell at the helm before he was replaced by Yannick Ferrera in the summer of 2013. Sint-Truiden just missed out on promotion in 2013-14 but sealed their return to the top level Belgian Pro League as the Second Division title was secured in 2014-15.

Ferrera departed to Standard Liège before the start of the 2015-16 season, with Chris O'Loughlin arriving as his replacement. The team skippered by Rob Schoofs ended the campaign in thirteenth place, leading to O’Loughlin being replaced by Ivan Leko.

In May 2016, chairman Bart Lammens announced that he’d sold his shares in the club to Roland Duchâtelet and Marieke Höfte. Höfte became the new club chairman, thus meaning that Sint-Truiden became the first pro Belgian club in the position.

The goals of Pieter Gerkens assisted STVV to a twelfth place top flight finish in 2016-17 before Tintín Márquez was appointed as coach for 2017-18 with Steven De Petter captaining the team.

Márquez was sacked in August 2017 to be replaced by Jonas De Roeck before the goals of Daichi Kamada helped the side to a seventh place regular season finish in 2018-19. Marc Brys arrived to become head coach for the 2019-20 season.

Miloš Kostić was appointed as head coach in January 2020 with Sint-Truidense finishing in twelfth place in the truncated 2019-20 season ended early through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sint-Truidense VV will play in the Belgian First Division A in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Thursday 20^th October 2016

My first visit to Brussels had come to an end and I was taking the train from the capital to Genk, for the Europa League clash against Athletic Club of Bilbao. I had various options of changing trains on route as I studied the Google Map App on my phone.

The city of Sint-Truiden looked ideal in terms of further connections and distance for a break. I was delighted to see that Stayen looked to be reasonably close to the station. This was confirmed as we pulled into town. My stop was confirmed!

It was indeed just a ten minutes walk in the opposite direction of the city centre along Gazometerstraat and then Tiensesteenweg, which brought me behind huge modern buildings including the Stayen Hotel and shopping outlets.

It was a bit of a surprise. Apart from an official entrance there were no signs of a football stadium. The club had cleverly used all the space available to cash in and build a mini retail park and top quality hotel.

All of this wasn’t helpful in my quest to get inside for a look. However, never one to just walk away, I headed past the gym, hairdressers, small stores and then a Lidl to find an open entrance in the corner by the railway line.

I wasn’t to be disappointed. I prefer traditional grounds, but Stayen looked absolutely perfect for a club of De Kanaries size with its three modern sides and traditional end including terracing and seating above. I wasn’t convinced that it would remain in place for long?

The artificial pitch installed at Stayen was also becoming more of a feature at larger clubs in Belgium and The Netherlands. Why not if it worked for the clubs and it met the strict criteria?

With time to spare before my next train and requiring a loo stop, I went in De Kanarie, a bar opposite the stadium which would be an obvious choice on a matchday. I caught the train to Genk in good form after visiting a splendid venue.