Cappellen
Full nameRoyal Cappellen Football Club
Founded1906 (1906)
GroundStadion Jos Van Wellen, Kapellen
Capacity3,506
ChairmanCarlo van Acker
ManagerTom Schipper
LeagueNational Division 1
2022–23Belgian Division 2 VV B, 1st of 18 (promoted)
WebsiteClub website

Royal Cappellen Football Club is a Belgian football club from the town of Kapellen, near Antwerp. Cappellen has matricule number 43 and has yellow and red as main team colours. The club has a long history in the higher divisions of Belgian football. In the latter part of the 1960s the club dropped for a long time into the provincial leagues, however in the early 1990s it managed to climb back into Promotion. As of 2023–24 they are playing in the Belgian National Division 1 after promotion from Belgian Division 2 in 2022–23 part of VV B.

History

The club Cappellen Football Club was founded in 1906 by a few youngsters who were not able to play with Victoria FC, at that time the only team in town. Soon they got the club officially registered. For the first few years the team played in the provincial leagues, but when in 1926 the national level of football in Belgium was extended with a third division, Cappellen got auto-promoted and thus managed to play on a national level for the first time.

Cappellen was able to keep up with the pace and even managed to end in the top few several times, ultimately leading to the team attaining promotion into the second division at the end of the 1932 season. Again Cappellen seemed to have few trouble in scoring points and in the 1935–36 season they even ended in fourth position, just two points away from direct promotion into the highest division. However just before the second world war, Capellen got demoted into third division again.

After the war Cappellen managed to climb back into second division during the 1946 season, but they immediately dropped back into third that season. In 1952, the structure of the Belgian league was altered to lower the number of teams in the higher divisions and to introduce a fourth national level, Cappellen remained in the promotion-division, but this was now fourth instead of third national level. The club never managed to regain promotion into third level and eventually it even dropped into the provincial leagues again in 1958. From 1961 until 1967 the team spent a few seasons in the promotion division again, but then sunk deep into the provincial leagues for many years.

It was only in 1989 that Cappellen managed to re-enter at national level into the promotion division which was rapidly followed by yet another promotion in 1991 to the third division. Even there Cappellen showed some good results as they ended in second position for three years in a row. In 1995 however they finally managed to win the division and as such the team was promoted into the second division, exactly half a century after they last played at that level.

Since 2000, Cappellen is playing in the third division again, with varying results.

In 2022–23, Cappellen secure promotion to Belgian National Division 1 after defeat KV Mechelen II narrowly 1–0 with goal in minute 27 Idriss Diawara on final day in Matchweek 34 on 14 May 2023.[1]

Current squad

As of 16 August 2023.[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Belgium BEL Owen Gasten
2 DF Belgium BEL Maxim Deckers
4 DF Belgium BEL Seppe Somers
5 DF Belgium BEL Jonas van Kerckhoven
7 MF Belgium BEL Nando Nöstlinger
8 MF Belgium BEL Stefan Verbist
9 FW Belgium BEL Jesse Littel
10 FW Belgium BEL Thomas Van Zantvoort
11 FW Belgium BEL Leo Njengo
12 MF Belgium BEL Beslan Sagov
13 GK Belgium BEL Bjorn Joossens
14 FW Belgium BEL Redan El Madani
15 FW Belgium BEL Elano Da Silva
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF Belgium BEL Idriss Diawara
17 MF Belgium BEL Ruben Kesteleyn
18 MF Belgium BEL Robbe Kil
19 FW Belgium BEL Yordi De Schutter
20 DF Belgium BEL Strahinja Ristovic
21 GK Belgium BEL Robbe Demont
22 DF Belgium BEL Nico Lemaire
23 DF Belgium BEL Arno De Kuyffer
25 FW Belgium BEL Holly Tshimanga
27 FW Belgium BEL Pepijn Stijnen
29 MF Belgium BEL Lodewijk Werker
33 DF Belgium BEL Joren Geudens

Honours

References

  1. "CAPPELLEN FC – JONG KV MECHELEN 1-0". www.rcfc.be/. 16 May 2023.
  2. "RCFC | Royal Cappellen Football Club". 16 August 2023.


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