KFC Winterslag history (1923–1988) The club
FC Winterslag was founded in
1923 and that gave it the matricule number 322. On its 35th anniversary the club added the Royal prefix
Koninklijke to their name to become KFC Winterslag. In
1972–73 Winterslag reached the
second division and they eventually qualified for the
1974–75 Belgian First Division after finishing second in the
second division final round. They had taken advantage of the increase in the number of first division clubs (from 16 to 20). The club ended the season in last place but won the second division right after. KFC Winterslag reached the 5th place in
1981 which allowed them to play UEFA Cup matches, where it defeated
Bryne FK from Norway and English Premier league giant
Arsenal. In the next round it was knocked out by
Dundee United from Scotland. Two seasons later it was relegated to the second stage after a disappointing last place. That season
Standard Liège won the championship on bribery in a match against the club of Waterschei Thor that would eventually merge with the matricule number 322. Following a spell of four seasons in the second division, Winterslag found its place again in the
first division by winning the
1987 final round, one point ahead of
Tongeren. It finished 15th on 18 but at the end of the season, the club merged with the neighbour club of Waterschei Thor which was playing in the second division since its relegation in
1986.
K Waterschei SV Thor Genk K Waterschei SV Thor was created in
1919 as Waterschei's Sport Vereeniging Thor with Thor being the acronym of
Tot Herstel Onzer Rechten (). It received matricule number n°533. The club enjoyed a spell in the first division in the late 1950s to the early 1960s and again from 1978 to 1986. During the 1982–83 season, the match between
Standard Liège and Waterschei and Standard eventually won the championship. Waterschei won the Belgian Cup twice (1980 and 1982). The latter victory led to them reaching the semi-finals of the
European Cup Winners Cup in the 1982–83 season. After defeating
PSG in the quarter-finals, Waterschei lost the first leg of the semi-final 5–1 at
Pittodrie Stadium, home of the eventual winners,
Aberdeen A 1–0 victory in Waterschei, courtesy of Eddy Voordeckers, could not reverse the position. After two seasons in the second division, K. Waterschei SV Thor Genk merged with KFC Winterslag in 1988 to form the current KRC Genk.
KRC Genk (1988–present) 1990s and 2000s The new club was named KRC Genk and as it kept the Winterslag ranking, it began in the first division but finished last. The next year Genk won the final round in 2nd division and then played 4 seasons in the
first division. In 1995 the club hired
Aimé Anthuenis a coach and Racing finished second and skipped the final round as two first division teams merged (
Seraing and Standard Liège). After an eighth place in 1997, the club had a good 1997–98 season with a cup win and a second place in the championship. In its first European season, Racing Genk eliminated successively
Apolonia Fier and
MSV Duisburg but it lost to
Mallorca in the round of 16 after two draws (1–1 on aggregate) in the last
Cup Winners' Cup. The season was ended well as Genk won its first Belgian championship in May, with manager Aimé Anthuenis then moving to
Anderlecht. Genk played in the
UEFA Champions League in 1999–2000 but lost in the second qualifying round to
Maribor. The season was salvaged by winning the Belgian Cup again, this time to Standard, but Genk ended the championship in 9th place. It finished 11th in the following season and lost in the
UEFA Cup second round to
Werder Bremen after a win against
FC Zürich. After this poor spell, Genk won the championship once more in the 2001–02 season. In 2002–03, they reached the Champions League group stages for the first time in their history. Although they came 4th, they impressed fans with draws against
Real Madrid,
Roma and
AEK Athens. In the 2006–07 season, Genk finished second to Anderlecht. The Limburgians had been ahead almost the entire season but were pipped at the post by Anderlecht after losing at Germinal Beerschot. The 2007–08 season was a disaster, as Genk failed to finish in the top half of the division, ending in a disappointing tenth place. Three bad seasons followed. Genk finished the 2007–08 season on 45 points and in 10th spot in the league: their worst result in seven years. The 2008–09 season was poor for Genk as well, finishing 8th in the league. The season ended on a positive note with them winning the
Belgian Cup, which gave them a ticket to the fourth Europa League qualifying round. The 2009–10 season started badly when they were knocked out of the Europa League by
Lille. Things did not go well in the domestic league either. Manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck was fired in December and was replaced by
Franky Vercauteren. Genk finished 11th, but Vercauteren led the club to European football by beating derby rival
Sint-Truiden in the final of Play-offs II.
2010s The 2010–11 season started well for KRC Genk when they beat
Inter Turku with 1–5 in Finland. They progressed to the 4th qualifying round of the Europa League and drew the
Portuguese club
Porto. Genk lost both games against Porto, despite two good performances. On 30 January 2010, KRC Genk announced that coach Franky Vercauteren signed a new contract that ran untl June 2013. They only lost their first game of the season on the 20th matchday and started the Play-offs in second place. The club won the
2010–11 Belgian Pro League after drawing 1–1 with title challengers
Standard Liége. This was KRC Genk's third league win in its history and its supporters celebrated with a pitch invasion straight after the final whistle. On 11 August, coach Frank Vercauteren confirmed he was leaving Genk and signed with
United Arab Emirate club
Al-Jazira. In the 3rd Qualifying Round of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League KRC Genk beat
FK Partizan over two legs and drew
Maccabi Haifa in the play-off Round. Maccabi Haifa beat Genk 2–1 in the first leg in Israel, while the second leg was won by Genk with the same 2–1 score in Belgium. During the penalty shoot-out, goalkeeper
László Köteles helped Genk to qualify by saving two penalties. For the second time in its history, KRC Genk reached the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. They were drawn in Group E with
Chelsea,
Valencia and
Bayer Leverkusen. In late August 2011,
Mario Been was announced as the new manager. The Champions League campaign was one with ups and downs. Genk got a 1–1 result against both Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen and a goalless draw against Valencia. Away from home, Genk lost all three games. The season in the Jupiler League was a difficult one, with Genk only just qualifying for the play-offs by finishing sixth in the regular competition. In the play-offs however, Genk started to play better and climbed up to third place. By finishing in third place, KRC Genk qualified for the third qualifying round of the
Europa League. The 2012–13 season started well for Genk by qualifying for the Europa League group stage after beating
Aktobe and
FC Luzern. In this group stage KRC Genk performed very well and ultimately won the group without a single defeat. Genk finished first with three points more than
Basel and by doing so, qualified for the next round where they faced
VfB Stuttgart. It was the first time in the club's history that they played European football after the winter break. Stuttgart got the better of Genk over the two games. In the league, Genk qualified for the play-offs and performed well until the title was out of reach; fifth place was the result. Genk ended their season on a positive note by winning the Belgian Cup. They defeated
Cercle Brugge in the final, in front of 30,000 Genk fans. In the 2016–2017 season, Genk participated in the
UEFA Europa League; they started playing in the second qualifying round and
qualified for the third qualifying round (on 21 July 2016) and the play-off round (on 4 August 2016). They won their group with 3 home victories over
Athletic Bilbao,
Rapid Wien and
Sassuolo and after defeating
Astra Giurgiu (2–2 and 1–0) in the 2nd round they drew
KAA Gent from the domestic
Belgian Pro League with 2 confusing games Gent-Genk, Genk-Gent and an impressive 2–5 away victory. Even when Genk got beaten in the quarter final against
Celta de Vigo (3–2 and 1–1), it was Genk's most successful European season. Genk won the
2018–19 Belgian First Division A for the fourth time in their history, hence they qualified for the
2019–20 UEFA Champions League after an eight-year absence. Genk started their
2019–20 UEFA Champions League campaign with a poor 6–2 loss against Austrian club
Red Bull Salzburg. In the second match they drew 0–0 against Napoli, and in the third match they lost 1–4 against Liverpool. == Stadium ==