Royal Antwerp F.C.

Royal Antwerp
Full name	Royal Antwerp Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Great Old, The Reds
Founded	Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{". 1880 (Expression error: Unexpected < operator. years ago)
Ground	Bosuilstadion; Antwerp, Belgium; (capacity: 16,144)
Owner	House of Orange-Nassau
Chairman	Piet van Boldwijn
Manager	Mark van Bommel
League	Belgian First Division A
2021–22	Belgian First Division A, 4th
Website	Club home page
	Current season

Royal Antwerp Football Club is a Belgian football club from Antwerp. Founded in 1880 as the Antwerp Cricket Club by English students, the club is regarded as the oldest club in Belgium.^[2] The football division was founded in 1887 and named the Antwerp Football Club.

History

Royal Antwerp has won four Belgian league titles as well as three Belgian Cups. In 1900 most of the players left the club to K. Beerschot V.A.C.. This was the start of a long rivalry between the two clubs.

The club is the last Belgian team to reach a UEFA competition final. In the 1993 European Cup Winners' Cup Final they lost 3–1 against Parma at Wembley Stadium.^[3]

Royal Antwerp had a partnership with the English club Manchester United^[4] An example is Dong Fangzhuo. He was unable to play for United immediately due to work permit problems and was loaned to Antwerp.

Although the club is on Belgium's best-supported they reached no trophies. They have not won a league title since 1957 and also spent several seasons in the second division. They were promoted to the top flight in 2000 and relegated in 2004. They returned to the first division after 13 years in 2017.^[5] In August 2020 they won the first title since 1957. They won the Belgian Cup versus Club Brugge .^[6]

Stadium

Royal Antwerp plays their home matches at the Bosuilstadion since 1923.^[7]

Honours

National

Belgian First Division

Champions: 1928–29, 1930–31, 1943–44, 1956–57

Belgian Second Division

Champions: 1999–2000, 2016–17

Belgian Cup

Winners: 1954–55, 1991–92, 2019–20, 2022/23
Runners-up: 1974–75

Belgian Super Cup

Runners-up: 1992

International

Challenge International du Nord

Winners: 1902, 1906

European Cup Winners' Cup

Runners-up: 1992–93

Players

Current squad

As of 8 August 2022.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Jean Butez
2	DF	Ritchie De Laet
3	DF	Björn Engels
4	MF	Radja Nainggolan
6	MF	Birger Verstraete
7	FW	Viktor Fischer
8	MF	Alhassan Yusuf
10	FW	Michel-Ange Balikwisha
11	FW	Arbnor Muja
16	MF	Pieter Gerkens
18	FW	Vincent Janssen
19	FW	Koji Miyoshi
21	DF	Sam Vines
22	DF	Gastón Ávila
23	DF	Toby Alderweireld
24	MF	Jurgen Ekkelenkamp

No.	Position	Player
25	MF	Alexis De Sart
26	GK	Ortwin De Wolf
30	DF	Abdoulaye Seck
32	MF	Christoper Scott
33	DF	Zeno Van Den Bosch
34	DF	Jelle Bataille
38	MF	Faris Haroun (captain)
48	MF	Arthur Vermeeren
50	DF	Laurit Krasniqi
51	DF	William Pacho
55	FW	Anthony Valencia
61	DF	Dinis Almeida
71	GK	Davor Matijaš
80	MF	Pierre Dwomoh
87	GK	Davino Verhulst
99	FW	Michael Frey

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Manager	Mark van Bommel
Assistant Manager	Andries Ulderink
Assistant Manager	John Stegeman
Assistant Coach	Jürgen Dirkx
Assistant Coach	Egid Kiesouw
Goalkeeping Coach	Brian Vandenbussche
Fitness Coach	Peter Catteeuw
Match Analyst	Jerry Vanacker