K.V. Oostende

KV Oostende
Full name	Koninklijke Voetbalclub; Oostende
Nickname(s)	De Kustboys
Founded	1904; 121 years ago
Ground	Versluys Arena,; Ostend
Capacity	8,400
Owner	Chien Lee; Pacific Media Group; Partners Path Capital; Krishen Sud;
Chairman	Franck Dierckens
Manager	Alexander Blessin
League	Belgian First Division A
2019–20	Belgian First Division A, 15th
Website	https://www.kvo.be
	Current season

Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende (Dutch pronunciation: [kaːˌveː oːˈstɛndə] or [- oːstˈʔɛndə]) or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as VG Oostende and has the matricule No. 31.

History

In 1911, another club was created, AS Oostende, which would soon become the best club of the city, playing regularly in the second division in the 1930s. In the mid 1970s, AS reached the first division while VG was playing at the second level.

The two clubs merged in 1981 to become KV Oostende. The new club played in the third division for eleven years, before finally promoting. In its first season on the second level, Oostende immediately promoted again, to the first division, where it would achieve its best result in the club history: a seventh place, in 1993–94.

From 1995 to 2013, Oostende has been playing in the second division, except in 1998–99 and 2004–05, when it was at the higher level again, and in 2001–02 and 2002–03, when it played in the third division.

In 1982, one year after the merger, VG Oostende had been re-founded at the lowest level of the Belgian football competition. The club first used the Armenonville stadium, which was the original ground of VG. In 2001, the stadium was declared unsafe, so the club had to groundshare with KV Oostende in the Albertparkstadion, until 2010. In 2013, the new VG Oostende also disappeared, after a financial breakdown.

In August 2013, shortly after a new promotion to the highest level, it was announced that chairman and majority shareholder Yves Lejaeghere would be succeeded by a new chairman, businessman Marc Coucke.

In the spring of 2016, the main tribune of the Albertparkstadion was rebuilt and the stadium was renamed the Versluys Arena with the capacity increased to 8,432.

Thanks to its success in the previous campaign, Oostende played in the third qualifying round of the Europa League in the 2017/18 season. The team drew Olympique de Marseille, a club with an important place in the history of French and European football. Oostende was unable to go any further in the competition after losing 4-2 in Marseille on July 17, 2017 and only securing a goalless draw at home on August 3rd, 2017. While Oostende were clear underdogs, the KVO supporters filled the visitor section of the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, proud of the team's qualification after having only been promoted to Belgium's first division a few years ago. Olympique de Marseille would go on to reach the finals in the Europa league that season, falling short to Atlético Madrid.

After a disappointing beginning to the 2017/18 season, manager Yves Vanderhaeghe was set free of his obligations, with the assistant manager, Adnan Čustović, being asked to take over.^[2]^[3]

In December 2017 Marc Coucke announced that he would be leaving, after recently purchasing R.S.C. Anderlecht. It was then announced on 8 February 2018 that Peter Callant would replace Coucke as chairman. Coucke confirmed his continued interest in the club and that he remained a fan and would stay on as a minority shareholder.^[4]

In May 2020 an investment group acquired KV Oostende Football Club and the new investors include Pacific Media Group, Chien Lee, Partners Path Capital and Krishen Sud.^[5]

Honours

Belgian Cup:
- Runners-up: 2016–17
Belgian Second Division:
- Winners (2): 1998, 2013
Belgian Second Division Final Round:
- Winners (2): 1993, 2004

Current squad

As of 24 August 2020^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
4	DF	SCO	Jack Hendry (on loan from Celtic)
5	DF	BEL	Arthur Theate
6	MF	FRA	Maxime D'Arpino
7	FW	SEN	Makhtar Gueye
8	MF	BEL	François Marquet
9	FW	ALB	Sindrit Guri
10	FW	ZAM	Fashion Sakala
11	MF	BEL	Indy Boonen
15	DF	GER	Frederik Jäkel (on loan from RB Leipzig)
17	MF	DEN	Andrew Hjulsager
18	MF	NIR	Cameron McGeehan
19	FW	SEN	Mamadou Thiam
20	DF	FRA	Théo Ndicka


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	FW	AUT	Marko Kvasina
23	DF	ISL	Ari Freyr Skúlason
24	MF	BEL	Evangelos Patoulidis
25	MF	BEL	Jelle Bataille
26	MF	BEL	Kévin Vandendriessche
27	DF	BEL	Brecht Capon
28	GK	BEL	Guillaume Hubert
29	MF	BEL	Robbie D'Haese
33	DF	BEL	Anton Tanghe
34	MF	GER	Nick Bätzner
73	FW	BEL	Jorben Vanhulle
94	GK	BEL	Jordi Schelfhout
99	GK	BEL	Bram Castro