SK Beveren were born in the summer of 1934 in the town of the same name in East Flanders. The exact day of the founding is not certain, so we celebrate it on 1 July. On 1 July 2027 the club turns 93 and celebrates back in the top flight.

A request in a pub

The story begins in the "De Graanmaat" pub, whose owner received a proposal in July 1934 from a club in neighbouring Temse. The local players eventually chose to form their own team instead, Sportkring Beveren. On 6 September 1935 it became an official member of the Belgian FA, with registration number 2300.

Yellow, blue and a cycling track

From the start the team chose yellow and blue as its colours. The sources we found do not explain where they came from, but the shirt has never abandoned them.

From its early years Beveren has played at the Freethiel. The ground was originally a cycling track, named after Frederik Thielemans, and in the mid-1970s it held about 22,000 spectators.

By 2011 its capacity had dropped to 13,290. Before Sportkring, the town had an older club too, Standaard Beveren, which existed from 1922 to 1931.

The golden era

In the 1970s Beveren built a generation that made history. In 1978 they won their first Belgian Cup, and on 12 May 1979 they were crowned Belgian champions with two matchdays to spare. The same year they reached the Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals, where Barcelona knocked them out with two 1-0 wins.

In goal stood Jean-Marie Pfaff, who won the Belgian Golden Shoe for 1978 and moved to Bayern Munich in 1982. The following year the award went to captain Jean Janssens. The Germans Erwin Albert and Heinz Schönberger also stood out in the team.

In 1983 came a second cup, with a 3-1 final win over Club Brugge, and in 1984 a second league title. Wilfried Van Moer and Filip De Wilde also played for Beveren.

The stars from Ivory Coast

From 2001-02 technical director Jean-Marc Guillou brought young players from the ASEC Mimosas academy to Beveren. The team filled up with Ivorians, and many of them later reached big European clubs.

Among them was Yaya Touré, who won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2009. Emmanuel Eboué, Gervinho, Arthur Boka and Romaric also came through the Freethiel.

Fall, rebirth and return

In 2010 the men's team was withdrawn from competition and Waasland-Beveren moved into the Freethiel. Number 2300 survived thanks to the women's section and a supporters' club. So KSK Beveren restarted from the provincial leagues in 2022-23, as the first Belgian club fully controlled by its supporters.

In the same year Waasland-Beveren was renamed SK Beveren, taking back the historic name. In 2025-26 it won the Challenger Pro League, with the earliest promotion in the division's history. Today it plays in the Pro League, Belgium's top flight.

Under Dutch coach Marink Reedijk, promotion was sealed in February 2026 with a 4-1 win away at Patro Eisden, eight rounds before the end. The team was then unbeaten after 24 rounds, with ten straight wins. It was its first return to the top flight since 2021.

Celebrate with us

From a Flemish pub to a semi-final against Barcelona and the stars of Africa, Beveren's story is far bigger than its town. Happy 93rd birthday to Beveren, and all the best in yellow and blue!

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Beveren against Patro Eisden, October 2025 – Haggis MacHaggis, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC0 1.0.