Lommel SK is a Belgian association football club based in the city of

Lommel Lommel () is a municipality and a city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral district and the judicial district Lommel Neerpelt. Besides residential town of Lommel also ha ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

, that competes in the

Challenger Pro League The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 201 ...

History

The roots of the club date back to the 1920s when the club Vlug & Vrij Overpelt-Usines (Fast & Free Overpelt-Factories) was founded, registering as an official club with the

Royal 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 ...

in 1927 to receive matricule 1064. The club dissolved in 1933 only to be re-established in 1937 as Vlug & Vrij Overpelt (Fast & Free Overpelt) with matricule 2554 and played at stadium ''De Leukens'' in

Overpelt Overpelt (, literally ''Upper Pelt'') is a town in the municipality of Pelt and a former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. In 2018, the municipality of Overpelt had a total population of 15,478. The municipality consisted ...

. It was commonly known as ''Overpelt Fabriek'' (Overpelt Factory), named after the Overpelt district in which the

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

factory was situated and was a club for the local factory workers. In 1954 the club reached the national football levels, that time at the fourth level of the Belgian football pyramid, and continued to the

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division ( nl, Derde klasse, french: Division III) was the third highest level in Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each ( A and B) at the same level. This competition, originally known as the Belgian Promotion ...

in 1957. Near the end of the 1950s, the name was changed again, now to Vlug en Vrij Overpelt-Fabriek (Fast and Free Overpelt-Factory). In 1982 the club was promoted to the Belgian Second Division where it remained for three seasons before being relegated again and starting an up and down movement between the second and fourth divisions. In 1987 the club obtained the royal designation, thus changing the name in 1988 to Koninklijke Vlug en Vrij Overpelt-Fabriek (Royal Fast and Free Overpelt-Factory). Midway the 1990s the club played three more seasons in the second division but promotion to the highest level would never be obtained. In 2003 neighbours

K.F.C. Lommel S.K. Koninklijke Football Club Lommelse Sportkring was a Belgian football club that existed between 1932 and 2003. It played two spells at the highest level in the Belgian football league system: from 1992 to 2000 and from 2001 to 2003. Its best ...

dissolved following bankruptcy. Lommel had been founded in 1932 and its biggest achievements included playing the 2001 Belgian Cup Final and playing in both the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and

1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Valencia, Werder Bremen, and Bologna. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. The 1998 tournament saw Spanish clubs debut in the competition and also the return of English clubs, since the controve ...

. Overpelt-Fabriek and Lommel merged into ''K.V.S.K. United Overpelt-Lommel'', often referred to as KVSK United, with KVSK an abbreviation standing for ''Koninklijke Voetbalvereniging en Sportkring'' (Royal Footballassociation and Sportscircle). It continued with the matricule 2554 of Overpelt-Fabriek but moved from De Leukens to the Soevereinstadion in

. The club colours became a combination of those of Lommel (green & white) and Overpelt-Fabriek (red & blue). The new club started the 2003–04 season in the third division and only narrowly missed out on promotion. The following season the team became champions undefeated throughout the whole season (30 matches) and was promoted to the second division. During the 2005–06 season the team came close to promotion to the highest level as it led the table before the last match but lost away to

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

and saw the title and promotion move to Mons. The following

promotion playoffs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or ...

were lost to Lierse. In 2010 the club merged with third division team KFC Racing Mol-Wezel and changed its name to ''Lommel United'' and started two very successful seasons, ending second in both 2009–10 and

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

. This however was a turning point, as almost all starting players decided to leave the club after those two seasons, forcing Lommel United to rebuild the team with many youngsters. A highlight was the 2014–15 season in which Lommel United again finished second. After that, the team only narrowly managed to obtain a place in the new second-level league called Belgian First Division B, but during the 2016–17 season the team started with only 3 wins out of 28 matches and despite a strong finish, the team was relegated to the

Belgian First Amateur Division The Belgian National Division 1, commonly referred to as simply Eerste Nationale (in Dutch) or Nationale 1 (in French) is a semi-professional and the third-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First ...

, thereby losing its professional status. Following that season, the team changed its name to Lommel SK. In May 2020 it was announced that

City Football Group City Football Group Limited (CFG) is a holding company that administers association football clubs. The group is owned by three organisations; of which 81% is majority owned by Newton Investment and Development LLC, 18% by the American firm Si ...

, the parent company of Manchester City, had purchased Lommel SK, making it the ninth club to join their stable.

Current Squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

Coaching staff

References

External links

Official websiteLommel S.K.
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lommel United Football clubs in Belgium Association football clubs established in 1932 1932 establishments in Belgium Lommel Sport in Limburg (Belgium)