# Sint-Truidense V.V.

Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (Dutch pronunciation:), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV (pronounced) or by their nickname De Kanaries (pronounced), is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden in Limburg. Sint-Truiden plays in the Belgian Pro League.
Their best ranking was a second place in 1965–66. They also reached the final of the Belgian Cup twice. The club was founded in 1924. They are matricule number 373. The club colours are yellow and blue, hence their nickname De Kanaries, meaning 'The Canaries'. They have played their home games at the Stayen since 1927.

## 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.

## 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 4 February 2025
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 |
| 2 | DF | JPN | Ryoya Ogawa |
| 4 | DF | ALG | Zineddine Belaïd |
| 5 | DF | JPN | Shogo Taniguchi |
| 6 | MF | JPN | Rihito Yamamoto |
| 7 | MF | ALG | Billal Brahimi (on loan from Nice) |
| 8 | MF | JPN | Joel Chima Fujita |
| 9 | FW | URU | Andrés Ferrari (on loan from Villarreal) |
| 10 | FW | CMR | Didier Lamkel Zé |
| 11 | MF | ARG | Isaías Delpupo |
| 12 | GK | BEL | Jo Coppens |
| 13 | MF | JPN | Ryotaro Ito |
| 14 | MF | BEL | Olivier Dumont |
| 15 | FW | USA | Kahveh Zahiroleslam |
| 16 | GK | JPN | Leo Kokubo |
| 18 | DF | NOR | Simen Juklerød |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | DF | BEL | Louis Patris (on loan from Anderlecht) |
| 20 | DF | BEL | Rein Van Helden |
| 22 | DF | BEL | Wolke Janssens |
| 23 | FW | GHA | Joselpho Barnes |
| 26 | DF | MKD | Visar Musliu |
| 31 | DF | BEL | Bruno Godeau (captain) |
| 34 | DF | BEL | Hugo Lambotte |
| 37 | MF | BEL | Arthur Alexis |
| 41 | FW | JPN | Hiiro Komori (on loan from JEF United Chiba) |
| 51 | GK | BEL | Matt Lendfers |
| 53 | FW | BEL | Adam Nhaili |
| 60 | DF | BEL | Robert-Jan Vanwesemael |
| 91 | FW | BEL | Adriano Bertaccini |
| 94 | MF | MAD | Loïc Lapoussin |

## Coaching and medical staff

* Head coach: Felice Mazzù
* Assistant head coach: Sil Rouvrois, Dries Van Meirhaeghe
* 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)