Club Brugge dates its official history from 13 November 1891. With this year's anniversary it reaches 135 years, and it is one of the few clubs in Europe to have gone through three names, two languages and a ground where rats were once hunted. Below we follow its journey through its shirts, starting from a café in the city.

Students, Englishmen and a café on 't Zand

Football reached Bruges through students and English pupils in the city. A first club, the Brugsche Football Club, was set up in November 1890 but soon broke up. It was re-established on 13 November 1891 at the café "Ville de Cologne", on today's 't Zand square, and that is the date the club regards as official. Among the founders was William Greenhill. The motto they chose was Latin: "Mens sana in corpore sano".

Two languages, one club

Very quickly the members split. The French speakers left and formed Football Club Brugeois. In 1897 the two sides reunited, but kept the French name, because the lease for the ground was in that name. After the first title, in 1920, King Albert gave the club "royal" status, which is why "KV" is still in its name. The Dutch name Club Brugge was only adopted on 1 July 1972.

From light blue to Blauw-Zwart

At first the team had no official colours. A few years after the founding, the players wore a light blue shirt with a dark blue diagonal band. Later the combination that became tied to the club took hold, blue and black, which also gave the nickname Blauw-Zwart. Vertical blue and black stripes became the classic look. In 1972-73 the first sponsor appeared on the shirt, Carad, a radio and television maker. On the crest, a circle in the team's colours is topped by a royal crown.

Happel and two finals against Liverpool

In January 1974 the Austrian Ernst Happel took over, and Brugge entered its best period. It won three league titles in a row from 1976 to 1978. In 1976 it played the UEFA Cup final against Liverpool: it led 2-0 at Anfield but lost 3-2, and the return leg finished 1-1. Two years later, on 10 May 1978, it met the Reds again in the European Cup final at Wembley and lost 1-0 to a Kenny Dalglish goal. Around 25,000 of its fans travelled to London. It remains the only Belgian team to reach that final, and the 1977-78 Wembley retro shirt keeps that night alive.

Raoul Lambert and Jan Ceulemans

Raoul Lambert is the top scorer in the club's history, with 269 goals in 458 official games between 1962 and 1980. When he retired, the torch passed to Jan Ceulemans, who became the new idol of the 1980s. A young Jean-Pierre Papin also came through Bruges in those years. In 1987-88 the team reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals, knocking out Panathinaikos along the way. The same season it won its seventh league title, as the 1987-88 retro shirt reminds us.

From the rats to the Jan Breydel

The first ground, the Rattenplein, belonged to a fox terrier club that used it for rat hunting. In 1912 the team moved to De Klokke, named after a nearby café. Since 1975 it has played at the Olympic Stadium, renamed Jan Breydel in 1998, which it shares with Cercle Brugge. The trophy cabinet filled up over the following years, reaching 20 league titles and 12 Belgian Cups.

From a café on 't Zand to Wembley, Brugge has stayed loyal to blue and black. Happy birthday to the Blauw-Zwart!

See Club Brugge shirts and merchandise at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Jan Breydel – Chivista, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de.