Founded as
Sporting Club Anderlechtois on 27 May 1908 by a dozen football lovers at the Concordia café (located in the ''Rue d'Aumale/Aumalestraat
in the municipality of Anderlecht), the club beat Institut Saint-Georges in their first match, 11–8. They joined the official competition in 1909–10, starting at the lowest level in the Belgian football league system, then the third provincial division. In 1912–13, they gained promotion to the second-higher level of football, then named the Promotion. After only one season at that level, the championships were suspended due to World War I, and resumed in 1919–20. With the popularity of the team increasing, Anderlecht had moved to a new stadium in the Astrid Park in 1917 (then known as Meir Park). They baptized the stadium Stade Emile Versé'' in honor of the club's first major patron, the industrialist Emile Versé. At the end of the
1920–21 season, Anderlecht was promoted to the first division for the first time in their history. In the next 14 seasons, Anderlecht was relegated four times (1923, 1926, 1928 and 1931) and promoted four times (1924, 1927, 1929, 1935), earning themselves the mockery of local rival clubs
Union Saint-Gilloise and
Daring Club de Bruxelles, who nicknamed them the "lift club". In 1933, 25 years after their formation, the club changed their name to
Royal Sporting Club Anderlechtois. Since their promotion in 1935, Anderlecht has remained at the top level of football. With
Jef Mermans, a
striker signed from
K Tubantia FC in 1942 for a record fee of 125,000
Belgian francs, Anderlecht won their first league title in 1947. Their success increased in the following years as they won six more titles between
1949–50 and
1955–56 (winning three consecutive titles twice) and two more in
1958–59 and
1961–62. In the 1960s, under the coaching of
Pierre Sinibaldi and then of
Andreas Beres, the club even won five titles in a row (from
1963–64 to
1967–68), which is still a Belgian league record. The star of this team was
Paul Van Himst, topscorer in 1965, 1967 and 1969 and
Belgian Golden Shoe winner in 1960, 1961, 1965 and 1974. Anderlecht played in the first
European Champion Clubs' Cup in
1955–56, and lost both legs of their tie against
Vörös Lobogo. They had to wait until the
1962–63 season to win their first European tie, with a 1–0 victory over
Real Madrid, which followed a 3–3 draw in Spain. For the first time, they advanced to the second round, where they beat
CSKA Sofia before losing to
Dundee in the quarter-finals. In the
1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Anderlecht lost in the final against
Arsenal. Between 1975 and 1984, Anderlecht only won one championship but they achieved considerable European success. The club reached three consecutive finals of the
European Cup Winners’ Cup, starting in
1975–76. In that season, Anderlecht secured their first major European trophy by defeating
West Ham United 4–2 in the
final held in Brussels. Both
Rob Rensenbrink and
François Van der Elst managed to score two goals. The
following season, they reached the
final again but narrowly lost 2–0 to
Hamburg in Amsterdam. In
1978, Anderlecht returned to the top of the competition by winning their second Cup Winners’ Cup title, overcoming
Austria Wien 4–0 in Paris. to reach the
1978 European Cup Winners' Cup final Their victories in 1976 and 1978 also earned them spots in the
European Super Cups, contested between the winners of the
European Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup. Anderlecht triumphed on both occasions: in
1976, they defeated
Bayern Munich over two legs (1–2 away, 4–1 at home), and in
1978, they overcame
Liverpool with a 4–3 aggregate score. The team’s success in these finals contributed significantly to Anderlecht's international reputation, and established Anderlecht as one of Europe’s leading clubs of the era. and
Jacky Munaron in 1978 The 1982–83 season was a noteworthy season for the club for numerous reasons: former Anderlecht favourite Paul Van Himst was named the new coach, they won the
1982–83 UEFA Cup after a 2–1 aggregate victory in the
final against
Benfica, and under the impulse of sporting director
Michel Verschueren, the rebuilding of the club stadium began. But in the domestic league, Anderlecht had to settle for second place behind Standard. Their bid to retain the UEFA Cup in
1983–84 failed at the
final hurdle against English side
Tottenham Hotspur. It turned out afterwards that Anderlecht had reached the final by bribing the semi-final referee to the equivalent of £27,000, ensuring passage against another English side,
Nottingham Forest. After three second-place finishes in a row, the
Purple and Whites secured an easy 18th title in 1984–85, 11 points ahead of
Club Brugge. In 1985–86, Anderlecht won the championship again, but this time after a two-legged play-off against Club Brugge. Anderlecht won their 20th championship on the last matchday of the 1986–87 season. They then lost key players
Franky Vercauteren,
Enzo Scifo (transferred in the summer of 1987) and
Juan Lozano (heavily injured in a game at
KSV Waregem a few months earlier). A weakened team coached by
Raymond Goethals finished only fourth in 1988 behind Club Brugge,
KV Mechelen and
Royal Antwerp, but they nonetheless managed to lift the
Belgian Cup for the sixth time in club history after a 2–0 victory over
Standard Liège, with goals by
Luc Nilis and
Eddie Krnčević. The next year, Anderlecht retained the trophy with goals by
Eddie Krncevic and
Milan Janković (again with a 2–0 win over Standard), but finished second in the championship. After his second cup win, Goethals left for
Bordeaux in the French
Ligue 1. During the 1990s, Anderlecht reached one more European final, the
1990 European Cup Winners' Cup final, which they lost to Italian club
Sampdoria. The club then declined in European competitions, with the
1990–91 and
1996–97 UEFA Cup quarter-finals their best results. In national competition, they won four championship titles and a cup. During the 2000s, Anderlecht secured five more Belgian champion titles, reaching a total of 29 titles in
2007, in addition to one more cup victory. In the
2000–01 UEFA Champions League, they qualified for the first time to the second round, then another group stage, where they finished third in their group behind Real Madrid and
Leeds United. In
2009–10, the
Purple and Whites won their 30th Belgian league title, while in the
2011–12 UEFA Europa League, Anderlecht made history by becoming the first Belgian team to finish the group stage of a European competition with the maximum number of points, dominating group opposition
Lokomotiv Moscow,
Sturm Graz and
AEK Athens. They were also the only team of that year's Europa League to achieve this feat. On 6 May 2012, Anderlecht won their 31st Belgian championship, while on 22 July, they won their tenth
Belgian Super Cup. The seasons
2014–15 and
2015–16 were a disappointment sportively. After the appointiment of young Swiss coach
René Weiler, Anderlecht, with youth players like
Youri Tielemans and
Leander Dendoncker, became champions again in the
2016–17 season. 1/4 final return game in Manchester, April 2017 In the
Europa League they were eliminated in the quarter final by
Manchester United in extra time. After businessman
Marc Coucke took over the club in 2018, structural changes followed, together with regular personnel changes. Sportingly, a low point was reached in
2019–20: despite the return of club icon
Vincent Kompany, the club did not qualify for the
European club competitions the following season, which it had managed for the previous 55 years. After a few disappointing seasons, Anderlecht could again compete for the championship title in the
2023-24 season, finishing 2nd on the regular season of Belgian Pro League. , May 2025 ==Colours and badge==