Koninklijke Stade Leuven was a Belgian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club from the city of

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( ; ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also ...

that existed between 1903 and 2002.

History

The club was founded as Stade Louvaniste and wore 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°18. It was admitted to the first season ever of the second division in 1910–11. It left the second division in 1949 to play 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 ...

for one season. The club was eventually relegated to the third division in 1953. It played in the second division again from 1981 to 1983 and from 1988 to 1991. In 2002 K. Stade Leuven as it was named since 1967 merged with F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee (''Zwarte Duivels'' means Black Devils) and Daring Club Leuven to become

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian professional 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 i ...

with the matricule n°6142 of the "Black Devils". Belgium national team player

Dries Mertens Dries "Ciro" Mertens (; born 6 May 1987) is a free agent Belgian professional Association football, footballer who last played as a Forward (association football), forward or Winger (association football), winger for Süper Lig club Galatasaray ...

, who is from Leuven, started his career at Stade Leuven as a boy.

References

Cited sources Further reading
Belgian football clubs history

nbsp;– 1st and 2nd division final tables Defunct football clubs in Belgium Association football clubs established in 1903 Association football clubs disestablished in 2002 1903 establishments in Belgium 2002 disestablishments in Belgium Organisations based in Belgium with royal patronage K. Stade Leuven Belgian Pro League clubs Stade Leuven {{Belgium-footyclub-stub