K.F.C. Turnhout is 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 municipality of

Turnhout Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...

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 same matriculation. Turnhout managed to advance through the lower leagues, to play twice in the first division: in 1931 and 1936. The second division was their main stay afterwards, until the club was relegated to the third division in 1952. That same year the club was awarded the Royal title ''

Koninklijke (, Dutch language, Dutch for 'royal') is an Title of honor, honorary title given to certain companies and non-profit organisations in the Netherlands and to a lesser extent Belgium, by the monarchs of each country. It was first introduced by Lou ...

'', and was called ''K.F.C. Turnhout'' onwards. In 1963, again promotion to the first division was achieved, as second division club Thor Waterschei that came in second that year was faced with a bribery scandal. However, the next year, Turnhout itself came under suspicion, and the club was relegated from the top flight even though it finished third last in the standings that year. The next seasons, Turnhout played in the second division, until it was relegated in 1977 to the third division, where they would stay until 1990. In 1991, the 25-year top scorer of the club and second division, Luc De Rijck, suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

while visiting the club's physician. It became apparent later that the doctor had applied

blood doping Blood doping is a form of Doping in sport, doping in which the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream is boosted in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentr ...

to the player, but because of a wrongful connection in the machinery, an

air embolism An air embolism, also known as a gas embolism, is a blood vessel blockage caused by one or more bubbles of air or other gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure g ...

developed in the player's body. The doctor later faced a

criminal conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a trial by ...

. During the 1990s, the club came close on several occasions to win promotion again to the first division, but failed each time in the play-offs. After financial problems, the club degraded to the fourth division, and the club's old ground, the ''Villapark'', had to be sold. New management took over the club, and the club was renamed to ''K.V. Turnhout''. In 2007, the club was sold to the Wadi Degla company of Egypt, which also owns Lierse S.K. During the 2009–10 season, both Turnhout and Lierse played in the second division, therefore Wadi Degla suspended sponsorship of Turnhout for a year.

Former players

* Swat Engelen (1921-41) * Tomáš Heřman

Notable coaches

* Fuat Çapa (2001–04) *

René Desaeyere René Desaeyere (born 14 September 1947) is a Belgian former football player and former manager of Muangthong United. Career Desaeyere played for Beerschot, Daring Club Bruxelles, Royal Antwerp, R.W.D. Molenbeek, Berchem Sport and Dess ...

(2006–09) * Luc Beyens (2009–10) * Eric Van Meir (2011) * Daniel Simmes (2011–13) * Jo Christiaens (2020–22)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnhout Association football clubs established in 1912 Football clubs in Belgium 1912 establishments in Belgium Organisations based in Belgium with royal patronage K.V. Turnhout Belgian Pro League clubs