Royal Antwerp F.C.

Royal Antwerp Football Club is a Belgian football club from  Antwerp. Founded in 1880 as the Antwerp Cricket Club by English students, the club is regarded as the oldest club in Belgium. The football division was founded in 1887 and named the Antwerp Football Club.

History
Royal Antwerp has won four Belgian league titles as well as three Belgian Cups.  In 1900 most of the players left the club to K. Beerschot V.A.C.. This was the start of a long rivalry between the two clubs.

The club is the last Belgian team to reach a UEFA competition final. In the 1993 European Cup Winners' Cup Final they lost 3–1 against Parma at Wembley Stadium.

Royal Antwerp had a partnership with the English club Manchester United An example is Dong Fangzhuo. He was unable to play for United immediately due to work permit problems and was loaned to Antwerp.

Although the club is on Belgium's best-supported  they reached no trophies.  They have not won a league title since 1957 and also spent several seasons in the second division.  They were promoted to the top flight in 2000 and relegated in 2004. They returned to the first division after 13 years in 2017. In August 2020 they won the first title since 1957. They won the Belgian Cup versus Club Brugge .

Stadium
Royal Antwerp plays their home matches at the Bosuilstadion since 1923.
Honours

National
Belgian First Division
Champions: 1928–29, 1930–31, 1943–44, 1956–57

Belgian Second Division
Champions: 1999–2000, 2016–17

Belgian Cup
Winners: 1954–55, 1991–92, 2019–20, 2022/23
Runners-up: 1974–75

Belgian Super Cup
Runners-up: 1992

International

Challenge International du Nord
Winners: 1902, 1906

European Cup Winners' Cup
 Runners-up: 1992–93

Players
Current squad

Coaching staff
 Position  Name Manager   Mark van Bommel Assistant Manager   Andries Ulderink Assistant Manager   John Stegeman Assistant Coach   Jürgen Dirkx Assistant Coach   Egid Kiesouw Goalkeeping Coach   Brian Vandenbussche Fitness Coach   Peter Catteeuw Match Analyst   Jerry Vanacker

Manchester United Players loan partnership
This is a list of former players on-loan via Manchester United's partnership with Royal Antwerp from 1998 to 2013.

  Jamie Wood
  Dong Fangzhuo
  Fraizer Campbell
  Luke Chadwick
  John Cofie
  Jimmy Davis
  Sylvan Ebanks-Blake
  Adam Eckersley
  David Fox
  Luke Giverin
  Colin Heath
  Tom Heaton
  Kirk Hilton
  Eddie Johnson
  Ritchie Jones
  Michael Lea
  Lee Martin
  Paul Rachubka
  Ryan Shawcross
  Danny Simpson
  Alan Tate
  Ronnie Wallwork
  Neil Wood
  Arthur Gómez
  Danny Higginbotham
  Darron Gibson
  John O'Shea
  Gyliano van Velzen
  Craig Cathcart
  Jonny Evans
  Phil Bardsley
  David Gray
  Souleymane Mamam

Other websites

References

Category:Belgian football clubs