Oud-Heverlee Leuven

History

F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee was founded in 1957, climbing out of the provincial leagues in 1996 and winning the Belgian Fourth Division title during the 1999–2000 season. Promoted to the Belgian Third Division they joined their Leuven neighbours Stade Leuven, founded in 1905, which had played over 30 seasons in the Belgian Second Division and one year in the First in the 1949–50 season. , F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee was in bad financial shape, moving up and down between third and fourth division since 1991.

In 2002, the city of Leuven decided that both Third division teams, Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee and K. Stade Leuven, would merge also with the third club from Leuven, K. Daring Club Leuven, which was at that time playing at the fifth level of the league. Daring Club Leuven was founded in 1922, had played several seasons in the Belgian Second Division, and after being the leading club from the Leuven region between 1958 and 1964, had dropped down into the provincial leagues in 1979 and stayed there since. The new club took over the registration of Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee, and started playing in the Belgian Third Division under the name Oud-Heverlee Leuven.

ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:10 right:20 top:10 bottom:30 AlignBars = justify Period = from:1900 till:2026 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1900 AlignBars = justify TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal

Colors = id:OHL value:white id:Stade value:green id:Daring value:red id:Duivels value:black id:canvas value:gray(0.97)

BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas

BarData= Bar:Stade Bar:Duivels Bar:OHL Bar:HogerOp Bar:Daring Bar:Victoria

PlotData= fontsize:S align:center width:18 mark:(line,black) bar:Stade color:Stade from:1903 till:2002 text:"Stade Leuven" bar:Duivels color:Duivels from:1957 till:2002 text:"Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee" textcolor:white bar:OHL mark:(line,white) color:OHL from:2002 till:end text:"OH Leuven" bar:Hogerop color:OHL from:1924 till:1949 text:"Hooger Op FC Leuven" bar:Daring color:Daring from:1922 till:2002 text:"Daring Club Leuven" bar:Victoria color:OHL from:1920 till:1945 text:"Victoria FC Louvain"

LineData= at:1945 color:black frompos:30 tillpos:68 at:1949 color:black frompos:51 tillpos:90 at:2002 color:black frompos:51 tillpos:158

At the end of its first season, the club narrowly lost out on promotion, going down on penalty kicks to Eendracht Aalst in the Third division play-off final, after finishing 2nd in the 3rd division B, 5 points behind champions Tubize. After a 3rd place in the same division in season 2003–04, Oud-Heverlee Leuven finished 2nd once again in season 2004–05 and this time they did win the promotion play-off and entered the second division in the 2005–06 season. After two seasons finishing 6th and 5th, OH Leuven finished 3rd in the 2007–08 Belgian Second Division season with 61 points. This allowed them to take part in the promotion playoffs where the team finished as the bottom 4th after losing all six games to Tubize, Antwerp, and Lommel United.

Two seasons with the team finishing 9th and 14th were followed by a second division title on Sunday 24 April 2011, when Oud-Heverlee Leuven secured the 2010–11 2nd division championship and gained promotion to the First division for the season 2011–12, following a 2–2 draw at Antwerp. The team rounded off the season the following Sunday with a 2–0 home win against Lommel United, gathering a total of 73 points from 34 games and finishing 8 points ahead of 2nd placed Lommel United. Their promotion brought First division football to the city of Leuven for the first time since the 1949–50 season, when Stade Leuven had finished bottom of the league and were relegated.

OH Leuven secured its top flight status following a 0–0 draw at home against Lierse on 3 March 2012, marking the first time a team from the city of Leuven managed to remain at the highest level of Belgian football for more than a single season. In the 2013–14 season, OH Leuven was relegated after losing the 2014 promotion/relegation play-offs. Although finishing 6th, the team was promoted next year via the 2015 promotion/relegation play-offs, but it was immediately relegated again after finishing last in the 2015–16 season.

In September 2016, OH Leuven were caught up in a scandal affecting football in England. In relation to allegations made against individuals within English football, OH Leuven chairman Jimmy Houtput was alleged to have offered up the club as a "conduit" to allow third-party companies to gain ownership of football players in England. Houtput claimed he was "merely trying to obtain the identity of the possible investor(s) and would never take part in illegal activities to circumvent the third-party ownership", but subsequently resigned as OH Leuven chairman on 30 September.

Later that season, with the club struggling financially, OH Leuven was taken over by the Thai duty-free retailer King Power, led by chairman and CEO Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who already owned Leicester City.

In July 2018, OH Leuven reclaimed the registration number that originally belonged to K. Stade Leuven, to "reclaim the glorious past", thus dropping registration number 6142 (originally belonging to F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee) and reverting to 18.

On 27 October 2018, the club's chairman, Vichai, died in a helicopter crash following Leicester City's home match against West Ham United.

Evolution throughout the league

ImageSize = width:650 height:50 PlotArea = left:10 right:50 bottom:20 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2002 till:2026 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:2003 Colors = id:1d value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5) id:2d value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.3) id:3d value:rgb(1,0.3,0.3)

PlotData= bar:Position width:15 color:white align:center from:01/07/2002 till:30/06/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/2003 till:30/06/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2004 till:30/06/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/2005 till:30/06/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/2006 till:30/06/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/2007 till:30/06/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2008 till:30/06/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/07/2009 till:30/06/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/07/2010 till:30/06/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2011 till:30/06/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/07/2012 till:30/06/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2013 till:30/06/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/07/2014 till:30/06/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/2015 till:30/06/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/07/2016 till:30/06/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/2017 till:30/06/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/2018 till:30/06/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/2019 till:30/06/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2020 till:30/06/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2021 till:30/06/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2022 till:30/06/2023 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2023 till:30/06/2024 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2024 till:30/06/2025 shift:(0,-4) text:12

from:01/07/2002 till:30/06/2005 color:3d shift:(0,13) from:01/07/2005 till:30/06/2011 color:2d shift:(0,13) from:01/07/2011 till:30/06/2014 color:1d shift:(0,13) from:01/07/2014 till:30/06/2015 color:2d shift:(0,13) from:01/07/2015 till:30/06/2016 color:1d shift:(0,13) from:01/07/2016 till:30/06/2020 color:2d shift:(0,13) from:01/07/2020 till:30/06/2026 color:1d shift:(0,13)

Green denotes the highest level of football in Belgium; yellow the second highest; red the third highest.

Honours

• Belgian Second Division
  • Winners (1): 2010–11
• Belgian Second Division play-offs
  • Winners (1): 2015

Kit and colours

Upon its foundation in 2002, white was chosen as the club color, with the logo of the new club combining the green of Stade Leuven, the black of Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee and the red of Daring Leuven. Throughout the years, the home shirt has remained white, often decorated with a few red or green stripes or colored sleeves. The away shirt color has alternated mostly between red and green but has been black, yellow and blue as well.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Stadium

Main article: Den Dreef

Their stadium is called Stadion Den Dreef and is situated on Kardinaal Mercierlaan in the south Leuven suburb of Heverlee (not to be confused with 'Oud-Heverlee' in the club name, which is in fact a separate municipality). The entrance for visiting fans is on Tervuursevest.

Players

First-team squad

Out on loan

Under-23 squad

Club staff

Managers

• Belgium Jean-Pierre Vande Velde (2002–2004)
• Belgium Guido Brepoels (2004–2007)
• Belgium Rudi Cossey (2007 – 27 August 2008)
• Belgium Marc Wuyts (27 August 2008 – 3 March 2009)
• Belgium Jean-Pierre Vande Velde (4 March 2009 – 2010)
• Belgium Ronny Van Geneugden (2010 – 21 January 2014)
• Belgium Herman Vermeulen (21 January 2014 – 25 February 2014)
• Croatia Ivan Leko (25 February 2014 – 28 November 2014)
• Belgium Hans Vander Elst (caretaker) (28 November 2014 – 26 December 2014)
• Belgium Jacky Mathijssen (26 December 2014 – 24 November 2015)
• Belgium Emilio Ferrera (26 November 2015 – 15 January 2017)
• Netherlands Dennis van Wijk (19 January 2017 – 22 September 2017)
• England Nigel Pearson (22 September 2017 – 3 February 2019)
• Belgium Vincent Euvrard (8 February 2019 – 9 June 2020)
• Belgium Marc Brys (16 June 2020 – 13 October 2023) Belgium Sven Swinnen took his place on the bench as caretaker manager for the match on 4 February 2023.
• Belgium Eddy Vanhemel (caretaker) (13 October 2023 – 5 November 2023)
• Spain Óscar García (5 November 2023 – 22 November 2024)
• Belgium Hans Somers (caretaker) (22 November 2024 – 1 December 2024)
• Wales Chris Coleman (2 December 2024 – 11 June 2025) Due to a delay in receiving a work permit, Somers also still took charge of the cup match on 4 December 2024, though de-facto Coleman was the manager already.

Former players

For details on former players, see :Category:Oud-Heverlee Leuven players.

Top goal scorers

The following list the top scorers for OH Leuven per season, counting only goals scored during official matches: league, cup and playoffs.

Internationals

The list below consists of current and former players of OH Leuven who have gained caps for their national team. :Flags indicate national teams they played for. :Only players obtaining first team caps are included, U21 or unofficial matches are not.

• ALG Ahmed Touba
• AUT Raphael Holzhauser
• BEL Logan Bailly
• BEL Toni Brogno
• BEL Mark De Man
• BEL Karel Geraerts
• BEL David Hubert
• BEL Thomas Kaminski
• BEL Mandela Keita
• BEL Marvin Ogunjimi
• BEL Kevin Roelandts
• BEL Jeroen Simaeys
• BEL François Sterchele
• BEL Leandro Trossard
• BEL Derrick Tshimanga
• BEL Birger Verstraete
• BEN Yannick Aguemon
• BIH Muhamed Subašić
• BUL Ivan Bandalovski
• BUL Kristiyan Malinov
• BFA Dylan Ouédraogo
• CMR Serge Tabekou
• CAN Tristan Borges
• CRO Filip BenkovićAlthough Benković never played an official match for OH Leuven, he was part of the squad for the second half of the 2020–21 season and is hence counted as a former OH Leuven player.
• CUW Romero Regales
• CUW Joshua ZimmermanAlthough Zimmerman never played an official match for OH Leuven, he was part of the squad for the 2022–23 season and is hence counted as a former OH Leuven player.
• CZE Václav Jemelka
• DRC William Balikwisha
• DRC Ibrahim Somé
• FIN Casper Terho
• GAM Ibou
• GEO Levan Shengelia
• GHA BEL Denis OdoiOdoi gained A-caps both for Belgium as well as Ghana.
• GHA Kamal Sowah
• GUI Sory Kaba
• GUI Abdoul Karim Traoré
• HUN Barnabás Bese
• ISL Stefán Gíslason
• ISL Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson
• ISL Jón Dagur Þorsteinsson
• IRN Kaveh Rezaei
• ISR Raz Shlomo
• CIV Mamadou Bagayoko
• CIV CopaAlthough Copa never played an official match for OH Leuven, he was part of the squad for the 2017–18 season and is hence counted as a former OH Leuven player.
• JPN Kento Misao
• JPN Takuma Ominami
• JOR Musa Al-Taamari
• MAD Scotty SadzouteAlthough Sadzoute never played an official match for OH Leuven, he was part of the squad for the first half of the 2021–22 season and is hence counted as a former OH Leuven player.
• MAS Dion Cools
• MTQ Mickaël Biron
• MAR Sofian Chakla
• MAR Hamza Mendyl
• NGA Cyriel Dessers
• NGA Azubuike Oliseh
• MKD Jovan Kostovski
• POL Bartosz Kapustka
• SCO George Hirst
• SCO Tony Watt
• SRB Stefan Mitrović
• SRB Slobodan Urošević
• RSA Darren Keet
• ESP Óscar Gil
• THA Suphanat Mueanta
• THA Kawin Thamsatchanan
• TOG Samuel Asamoah
• TUN Hamdi Harbaoui
• TUR Cenk Özkacar
• UKR Oleksandr Iakovenko
• URU Federico Ricca
• VEN Rafael Romo
• WAL Andy King
• ZIM Ovidy Karuru

Internationals by Confederation

Member associations are listed in order of most to least amount of current and former OH Leuven players represented Internationally

Footnotes

References

References

1. [http://stadiumdb.com/stadiums/bel/stadion_den_dreef King Power at Den Dreef Stadion] {{Webarchive. link. (7 November 2017 (as of 30/03/2018))
2. (29 September 2016). "Belgium football club offered itself as a conduit to help a fictitious investment firm get around third party ownership – against FA and Fifa rules". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
3. (30 September 2016). "Belgian football club chairman resigns after offering club as conduit for banned third party ownership scheme". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
4. (April 2020). "OH Leuven komt in Thaise handen: "Zo snel mogelijk weer naar 1e klasse A"". [[Sporza]].
5. (18 July 2018). "OHL draagt voortaan stamnummer 18". [[Radio 2 (Belgium).
6. (29 October 2018). "Leicester City owner among five dead in helicopter crash". [[BBC Sport]].
7. "Team". OH Leuven.
8. "U23 Kern - Spelers".
9. "A-Kern". OH Leuven.
10. "Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha wordt voorzitter Oud-Heverlee Leuven". OH Leuven.