Lierse
- Alias
- Lierse Kempenzonen
- Leagues Played
- Belgien - First Division B 205 Belgien - First Amateur Division 43 Belgien - First Division A 41 Belgien - Cup 23 Belgien - UEFA Europa League - Playoff 19 Belgien - First Division B - Playoff 7
- Links
- Wikipedia
- Related Teams
- Lierse Kempenzonen reserver Lierse Kempenzonen U21
Wikipedia - Lierse Kempenzonen
Lierse Kempenzonen is a Belgian association football club located in Lier, in the province of Antwerp. The club, founded in 1943 as Oosterzonen in Oosterwijk, was relocated to Lier following the bankruptcy of Lierse in 2018. They compete in the Belgian First Division B, the second tier of Belgian football.
History
The club was founded in 1943 as FC Oosterzonen from a commune within Westerlo. It started in the Belgian provincial leagues where it hovered between the various levels, most of the times playing at the 6th or 7th level of the Belgian football pyramid. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, the club won the title three seasons in a row to promote for the first time in its history to the national levels of football. In the Belgian Fourth Division, the club avoided relegation for a few seasons, before managing another promotion in the 2012–13 season into the Belgian Third Division. Following the reform of Belgian football in 2016, the team started playing in the Belgian First Amateur Division.
In May 2018, it was announced that the club would relocate to Lier, as it merged with the old board of Lierse (a club which had gone bankrupt just a few weeks before) to form a new club called Lierse Kempenzonen. The new team continued with the old logo of Lierse and started playing in the Herman Vanderpoortenstadion in Lier.
Klubbens största framgångar kom på 1930- och 1940-talen då de vann tre belgiska mästerskap och en belgisk cup. Lierse vann sin första europeiska trofé 1987 när de besegrade Real Mallorca i finalen i Europacupen för cupvinnare. Klubben nådde också semifinal i UEFA-cupen 1985-1986.
På senare år har Lierse haft ekonomiska problem som har lett till att de degraderats från den belgiska första divisionen. Klubben har dock fortfarande en stark ungdomsakademi och har fostrat många talangfulla spelare, inklusive Jan Ceulemans och Marc Wilmots.