KVC WesterloKVC Westerlo represent the smallest municipality ever to field a top-flight club in Belgium - the name itself covers seven villages united under one banner. Organised football in Westerlo dates back to 1917, when local students played matches on the town's main square, the Grote Markt, with the First World War still raging nearby. The club was formally founded, as Sportkring De Bist Westerlo, only on 5 September 1933.
After decades in the lower leagues, the club made history in 1997, winning a play-off against KSV Waregem to reach the Belgian top flight for the first time - eighty years after those students first played on the town square. The real breakthrough, however, came in the 2000/01 season. Led by Belgian football legend Jan Ceulemans, De Kemphanen reached the final of the Belgian Cup, where on 27 May 2001 at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels they defeated Lommel SK to win the first, and to date only, major trophy in the club's history. A few months later, on 4 August 2001, Westerlo hosted league champions Anderlecht at Het Kuipje in the Belgian Super Cup. In 2011, still under Ceulemans, the club reached another Belgian Cup final, this time losing to Standard Liège, though the run earned them a place in the Europa League.
The club's history has also included harder times - after fifteen unbroken years in the top flight, Westerlo were relegated in 2012, returning to the elite two years later. The yellow-and-blues play their home matches at the compact Het Kuipje, one of the smallest grounds in Belgium's top division, underlining the remarkable journey the club from a small town in Antwerp province has made to the summit of Belgian football.