Formation In 1864, an association called the 'Société Gymnastique la Gantoise', which was tasked with promoting gymnastics, was founded. Some branches quickly became independent and in 1891 the team merged with the Association Athlétique, which was in itself a merger of younger teams, such as Racing Club, Running Club and Red Star. The new merger team was called Association Athlétique La Gantoise, and aside from gymnastics, the activities were broadened to athletics, boxing, cricket, cycling, fencing, hockey, swimming and tennis. In this context, the athletics team KAA Gent was founded. In the last decade of the 19th century, organized football was introduced in Ghent. Different small teams were founded and some merged into Racing Club Gantois on 1 April 1899, which would later become the biggest challenger of KAA Gent. Only in 1900, a football section was founded by the students of the College of Melle, which is a place close to Ghent. The first president of the team was doctor Hector Priem. The games were played on the Carpentierplein, which was situated at the crossroads of the Kortrijksesteenweg, the Clementinalaan, the Oostendestraat and the Astridlaan. Initially, the colours black and white were chosen, but by 31 October 1900, when the team became an official member, the colours were changed to blue and white. On 15 November 1900, the first regular game was played, against Omnium Sporting Club.
Early 20th Century For the first few years, the team mostly played in the
Belgian Second Division, and later on in the
First Division. In 1904 the team moved to the Mussenstraat. In 1913, the World Exposition was held at that place, and the team moved once more, this time to the Albertlaan. Over there, a football pitch, training fields, tennis courts, an athletics court, galleries and other accommodations were being built. At 9 December 1915, during the
First World War, the stadium completely burned down. In 1912–13, AA La Gantoise became champion in the Second Division. In 1914, the team received the royal title and was called Association Royale Athlétique La Gantoise, which was abbreviated to ARA La Gantoise. During the world exposition, the team organized several sporting events. The first season in the First League, 1913–14, was nevertheless very difficult for the team and only by means of a test match against
Standard Club Liégois, relegation was avoided. In 1920, the team moved again, this time to Gentbrugge, where the
Jules Ottenstadion was built. La Gantoise fell back to the Second Division and it was not until 1936 it managed to win the promotion play-offs and return to the
First Division. In the mid-fifties, the team played their strongest football yet. In 1953–54 it ended third with an equal total of points as
KFC Malinois and only one point behind the champions
Anderlecht. The next season, La Gantoise was alone on the second spot, this time with three points less than the champions. In 1964 it won the Belgian Cup (
Beker van België), which was the first major tournament victory for the team. Because of their cup win, it became the first Belgian team to participate in the European Cup Winners' Cup. La Gantoise was defeated in the first round by
West Ham United. In 1967, the club relegated once more, after three decades of playing in the First Division. It did, however, only take them one year to clinch promotion again.
Late 20th Century In 1971, the name of the team was translated into Flemish, as it became "Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent" (commonly known as KAA Gent or AA Gent). The 1970–71 season was the start of a bad decade for Gent. They were relegated to the
Second Division six games before the season's ending, after the defeat to
Club Brugge. In 1974, they even relegated to the
Third Division. Gent had ended last and couldn't assure its promotion to the Second Division in the final round. After one season, they would return to the Second Division and remained there until 1980, when the team returned to the First Division. The 1980s would become a much better period for the team. In 1984 they won the Belgian Cup again, and during that period the team played in European competitions four times. In 1986–87, Gent reached the Third round in the UEFA Cup. In 1990–91, the team played at the top of the standings for a long time, under the guidance of René Vandereycken and players such as Frank Dauwen,
Eric Viscaal and
Erwin Vandenbergh, but finally it ended on the third spot. So instead of competing in the
UEFA Champions League, the team played in the
UEFA Cup in 1991. After defeating
Lausanne-Sport,
Eintracht Frankfurt and
Dynamo Moscow, Gent played the quarter finals against
Ajax. The following years, Gent fell back to the lower places in the standings. From 1994 until 1997, they finished just above the relegation places in the league. By the end of the 1990s the results improved again, and with coach
Trond Sollied, KAA Gent qualified for European football once more in 1999–00. In these series, Gent lost heavily against
Ajax, under new coach
Henk Houwaart. The next season, Gent reached the
UEFA Intertoto Cup, where they would reach the semi-finals against
PSG. The following seasons, league results varied between lower sub-top places and top four finishes.
2000s In 2004, Gent signed coach
Georges Leekens. In his first season, the team ended at the sixth spot in competition. With Leekens as a coach, KAA Gent made some impressive performances, such as the 4–1 victory over rival
Club Brugge on 1 April 2006. In 2006–07, despite a weak start of the competition, the team managed to reach the fourth place in the
Belgian Pro League. It repeated that achievement the following year. The next season, coach Georges Leekens left the club and joined
Lokeren.
Trond Sollied, the Norwegian trainer who had been very successful seven years before, succeeded him. Under his guidance, KAA Gent played its third Cup Final, in which it only lost at the end from
Anderlecht. Sollied left Gent again after one season, this time for
Heerenveen.
Michel Preud'homme, who had just become champion of the Jupiler Pro League with
Standard Liège, signed a contract for three seasons, together with his colleagues
Manu Ferrera and
Stan van den Buys. In 2008–09, the team ended at the fourth spot, after a strong comeback in the second part of the competition, with an equal number of points as
Club Brugge, who had won one more game and ended third. In 2009–10, there was a heavy battle for second place in the
Belgian Pro League between Gent and Club Brugge and the
Champions League ticket that came with it. They played each other on 8 May 2010. Gent won by a convincing 6–2 score to earn Champions League football. One week later, Gent also won the Belgian Cup for the first time in 26 years, defeating the other Bruges
Pro League team,
Cercle Brugge.
2010s On 17 July 2013, the club officially inaugurated their new stadium, the
Ghelamco Arena, with a 2–0 win over
VfB Stuttgart in a gala match. On 21 May 2015, Gent clinched their first
Belgium League title by defeating
Standard Liège 2–0 at home, automatically qualifying for the
group stage of the
UEFA Champions League. Gent were drawn in Group H, against Russian champions
Zenit Saint Petersburg, the Spanish team
Valencia and the French
Lyon. On matchday 1, Gent draw 1–1 with Olympique Lyon at
Ghelamco Arena, securing their first point in the Champions League group stages. In matchday 2, they were beaten by Zenit 1–2 at
Petrovsky Stadium,
Saint Petersburg,
Russia. On matchday 3, they lost again 1–2 against Valencia at
Mestalla,
Valencia,
Spain. On matchday 4, at
Ghelamco Arena, Gent defeated Valencia 1–0, after
Sven Kums successfully converted a penalty kick in the second half to obtain their first Champions League victory. On matchday 5, at
Stade de Gerland,
Lyon,
France, Gent beat Lyon 2–1 with a dramatic winning goal with the last touch of the match in the 95th minute. On matchday 6, Gent won 2–1 against Zenit, finishing the group in second place and becoming only the second Belgian team to advance to the Champions League knockout phase after Anderlecht in
2000–01. In the round of 16, Gent were drawn against
Wolfsburg. In the first leg at Ghelamco Stadium, Gent were defeated 2–3 by Wolfsburg. The second game, this time in Wolfsburg, ended 1–0, ending Gent's European tournament. However, it was the best European season for them. In the 2016–17 season, Gent played in the Europa League. They faced
Tottenham Hotspur, first winning at home in the
Ghelamco Arena and then drawing in
Wembley, thus advancing on aggregate. Around 8,000 KAA Gent fans attended the match in the away-end, after they were awarded an extra 1,000 tickets for their excellent reputation. In the next round they were defeated by fellow Belgian side KRC Genk. == Rivalries ==