K.F.C. Verbroedering Geel was a Belgian association football club from the city of

Geel Geel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Furthe ...

Antwerp (province) Antwerp Province (; ; ; ), between 1815 and 1830 known as Central Brabant ( , , ), is the northernmost province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the North Brabant province of the Netherlands to the ...

History

The club was born in 1921 as a merger of Flandria and Geel Sport, becoming Flandria Geel Sport, and registered in 1924 to the

Belgian Football Association The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, the ...

receiving the

matricule Association football is the most popular sport in Belgium, which has been played since the end of the 19th century. The national association was founded in 1895 with the intention of bringing some order and organization to the sport. The fir ...

n° 395 after changing its name to FC Verbroedering Geel. It played for the first time in the second division in 1985–86. In 1999–2000 it appeared shortly in the

first division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

as it won the second division final round. At this time the club merged with neighbours from K.F.C. Herentals leaving both name and matricule of the latter club. On 30 November 2005 Verbroedering Geel is judged by the Control Commission of the FA for having falsified the 2004–05 second division final round and is subsequently downgraded to the third division. The judgement was confirmed on 1 March 2006 after which chairman Vic Keersmaekers resigned. Eventually on 13 April 2006 the Evocation Commission cancelled the decision of the Control Commission. Though on 3 May 2006 it was confirmed by the Appeal Commission of the FA that the club would be relegated. It thus seized the Evocation Commission. The executive committee of the FA decided on 8 May 2006 to let Geel play the 2005–06 second division final round although the rules of the competition state that a relegated club cannot take part in the final round. On 15 June 2006 the Evocation Commission rejected the plaint of Geel and the club was then officially relegated to the third division, permitting K.M. S.K. Deinze to avoid relegation. The club was suffering serious financial trouble. Conversations were started with the

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian group Wadi Degla Investment to take over the club. Eventually they chose to take over Lierse and

KFC Turnhout K.F.C. Turnhout is a Belgian football club, from the municipality of Turnhout. History K.F.C. Turnhout was founded as ''Turnhout Sport'' in 1912 with matricule n°148. After World War I, the club was refounded as ''F.C. Turnhout'' with the sam ...

. On 30 June 2008, the club filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

and ultimately ceased to exist. A different local team Verbroedering Meerhout, playing in

Belgian Promotion The Belgian Fourth Division was the lowest nationwide division in Belgian football. The division was split into four separate leagues, A, B, C and D. The team with the most points in the four leagues together was declared the overall winner ...

, chose to move to the stadium of Verbroedering Geel due to better facilities. They changed their name to

Verbroedering Geel-Meerhout AS Verbroedering Geel is a Belgian association football club based in Geel, province of Antwerp. Currently, they play in the Belgian Provincial Leagues. History Founded in 1926 as Meerhout Sport, the club received the matricule number 893. In ...

, a symbolic merger.

Honours

Belgian Second Division final round The Belgian Second Division play-offs were a series of playoff matches to decide promotion to the Belgian Pro League, organised between 1974 and 2015. Following a large reform of the Belgian football league system at the end of the 2015–16 seaso ...

: **Winners (1): 1998–99 *

Belgian Third Division B The Belgian Third Division B was one of the two leagues at the third level of the Belgian football league system, the other one being the Belgian Third Division A. This division existed from the 1952–53 until 2015–16 seasons and was played e ...

: **Winners (1): 1984–85 * Belgian Third Division final round: **Winners (1): 2006–07

References

Official website of Verbroedering Geel-Meerhout
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verbroedering Geel Association football clubs established in 1921 Association football clubs disestablished in 2008 1921 establishments in Belgium 2008 disestablishments in Belgium K.F.C. Verbroedering Geel Belgian Pro League clubs Defunct football clubs in Belgium