K.F.C. Denderleeuw Eendracht Hekelgem is a Belgian former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Denderleeuw Denderleeuw () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek. The municipality comprises the towns of Denderleeuw proper, and . In 2021, Denderleeuw had a total populati ...

. They used to play their home games at the

Florent Beeckmanstadion The Dender Football Complex is a stadium in Denderleeuw, Belgium. It is mainly used for football (soccer), football and is the home stadium of F.C.V. Dender E.H., Dender EH. Built in 1997, it has a capacity of 6,429. In 2008, Dender EH decided to ...

. Their home colours were striped blue-black shirts and black shorts. Their highest league finish was a 4th place in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1997–98. Their best

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

result was a qualification for the round of 16 by beating

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

in 1998–99. They lost to

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

in the next round. FC Denderleeuw was founded in 1952 and registered to 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, th ...

in 1953. In 1973, they first reached the third division, where they remained only two seasons before going down to the lower levels of football. They were back at this level though in 1993 and then they first qualified for the second division in 1996. The club qualified for the

final round A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

the next season but they failed to promote 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 ...

, finishing at the third place. The next season they also qualified for the final round, by finishing 4th in the second division, their highest ranking in the Belgian leagues ever. However, they ended second in the final round, 3 points behind

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

, and missed the promotion to the

again. At the end of the 2000–01 season, FC Denderleeuw merged with neighbour FC Eendracht Hekelgem to form FC Denderleeuw EH. In 2002–03, Denderleeuw reached again the second final round, but finished 4th. At the end of the next season, Denderleeuw was relegated to the third division. After one season at that level, Denderleeuw merged with Verbroedering Denderhoutem to form FC Verbroedering Dender EH.

References

1952 establishments in Belgium 2005 disestablishments in Belgium Association football clubs established in 1952 Association football clubs disestablished in 2005 Sport in East Flanders Denderleeuw {{Belgium-footyclub-stub