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| Full name | Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | De Kanaries (The Canaries) | ||
| Founded | 23 February 1924 | ||
| Ground | Stayen | ||
| Capacity | 14,6001 | ||
| Owner | DMM.com | ||
| Chairman | David Meekers | ||
| Head coach | Frédéric De Meyer | ||
| League | Belgian Pro League | ||
| 2025–26 | Belgian Pro League, 3rd of 16 | ||
| Website | stvv.com | ||
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Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkoːnɪŋkləkə sɪnˈtrœydə(n)sə ˈvudbɑlvərˌeːnəɣɪŋ]), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV (pronounced [ˌɛsteːveːˈveː]) or by their nickname De Kanaries (pronounced [də kaːˈnaːris]), is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden, Limburg that plays in the Belgian Pro League, the highest tier of football in Belgium.
Founded in 1924 with matricule number 373, STVV has played their home games at the Stayen since 1927. The club's best league finish was second in 1965–66. They also reached the final of the Belgian Cup twice.
History
The club was created in 1924 following the merger between FC Union and FC Goldstar, two clubs from Sint-Truiden. The colors of the club were chosen to be yellow and blue, to match the colors of the city, and it was named Sint-Truidense Voetbal Vereeniging. The first game of the team, against Cercle Tongeren, was played in front of only 9 attendees. In the late 1930s, Léopold Appeltans was the leading player of Sint-Truidense. On 21 November 1948 he became the first capped player for Belgium while playing at this club. In the late 1940s it qualified for the second division. It also changed its name to Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging in 1947. Five years later it finished second in the second division and thus promoted to the first division. Successful manager Raymond Goethals arrived at Sint-Truiden in 1959. Under his management, the team finished second of the top division in 1966.
The former Sint-Truidense goalkeeper Jacky Mathijssen became the manager of the club in 2001 and remained at the helm for three seasons after which he left for Charleroi. He was replaced by Marc Wilmots, who was fired shortly after. The team finished the season under the coaching of the trio Guy Mangelschots, Eddy Raymaekers and Peter Voets. At the end of the 2004–05 season the board of directors hired Oostende manager Herman Vermeulen but he was dismissed on 9 February 2006 as the club languished in seventeenth position. In 2008 the women's team of FCL Rapide Wezemaal joined STVV.
On 15 November 2017, Japanese-based electronic commerce and Internet company DMM.com acquired Sint-Truidense, becoming the full owner.2 Since the takeover, the club began recruiting and developing Japanese players, such as, Daichi Kamada, Wataru Endo, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Daniel Schmidt, Zion Suzuki, Daiki Hashioka and Joel Chima Fujita.3
Honours
- Belgian First Division
- Runners-up (1): 1965–66
- Belgian Second Division
- Winners (4): 1986–87, 1993–94, 2008–09, 2014–15
- Belgian Cup
- Runners-up (2): 1970–71, 2002–03
- Belgian League Cup
- Winners (1): 1998–99
European record
- As of 5 March 2006:
| Competition | APP | P | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intertoto Cup | 2 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 8 |
Current squad
- As of 19 July 20264
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Coaching and medical staff
- Head coach: Frédéric De Meyer
- Assistant head coach:
- Physical coach: Stefan Winters
- Team manager: Peter Delorge
- Goalkeeping coach: Jurgen De Braekeleer
- Team representative: Romain Proesmans
- Kit men: Benny Liebens & Valere Stevens
- Club Doctors: Pieter Bormans & Peter Bollars
- Physiotherapists: Wouter Robijns & Par Vandenborne
- Masseur: Roger Reniers
Managers
Raymond Goethals (1959–66)- Ward Volckaert (1966–69)
- Marcel Vercammen (1971–73)
Gerard Bergholtz (1979–81)- Wilfried Van Moer (1982–84)
- Eric Vanlessen (1984–85)
- Guy Mangelschots (1986–90)
- Walter Meeuws (1990–91)
- Odilon Polleunis (1991–92)
- Rudy Liebens &
Marek Dziuba (1992) - Albert Van Marcke (1992)
- Martin Lippens (1992–93)
- Guy Mangelschots (1992–96)
- Wilfried Sleurs (1996)
- Freddy Smets (1996–97)
- Guy Mangelschots (1997)
- Barry Hulshoff (1997–98)
- Poll Peters (1998–99)
- Willy Reynders (1999–2001)
- Jules Knaepen (2001)
- Jacky Mathijssen (2001–04)
- Marc Wilmots (2004–05)
- Herman Vermeulen (2005–06)
- Eddy Raeymaekers & Peter Voets (2006)
- Thomas Caers (2006)
- Peter Voets (2006)
- Henk Houwaart (2006–07)
- Valère Billen (2007)
- Peter Voets (2007)
- Dennis Van Wijk (2007–08)
- Guido Brepoels (2008–11)
- Franky Van der Elst (2011–12)
- Guido Brepoels (2012–13)
- Yannick Ferrera (2013–15)
Chris O'Loughlin (2015–16)
Ivan Leko (2016–17)
Tintín Márquez (2017)- Jonas De Roeck (2017–18)
- Marc Brys (2018–19)
Miloš Kostić (2020)
Kevin Muscat (2020)- Peter Maes (2020–21)
Bernd Hollerbach (2021–23)- Thorsten Fink (2023–24)
Christian Lattanzio (2024)- Felice Mazzù (2024)
- Frédéric De Meyer (2025) (caretaker)
- Wouter Vrancken (2025–26)
- Frédéric De Meyer (2026–present)
References
References
- Het Stayen stayen.com (last check 30 March 2018)
- "Japanse webshop DMM.com neemt STVV voor 100 procent over" [Japanese webshop DMM.com acquires STVV for 100 percent over]. sporza.be (in Dutch). 15 November 2017. Archived from the original on 16 November 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
- "All-Japan in Belgium: How Sint-Truiden is becoming the launchpad for Japanese talent in Europe". Football Asian. 22 July 2025. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
"Japanese investment powers Sint-Truiden's unlikely rise to the top of Belgium's Pro League". Football Asian. 25 August 2025. Retrieved 16 January 2026. - "Eerste Elftal" (in Dutch).