Sint-Truidense VV

STVV
Full name	Koninklijke Sint-Truidense; Voetbalvereniging
Nickname	De Kanaries (The Canaries)
Founded	23 February 1924
Ground	Stayen
Capacity	14,600
Owner	DMM.com
Chairman	David Meekers
Head coach	Frédéric De Meyer
League	Belgian Pro League
2025–26	Belgian Pro League, 3rd of 16
Website	stvv.com
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

Association football club in Belgium

Football club

Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkoːnɪŋkləkə sɪnˈtrœydə(n)sə ˈvudbɑlvərˌeːnəɣɪŋ]), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV (pronounced [ˌɛsteːveːˈveː]) or by their nickname De Kanaries (pronounced [də kaːˈnaːris]), is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden, Limburg that plays in the Belgian Pro League, the highest tier of football in Belgium.

Founded in 1924 with matricule number 373, STVV has played their home games at the Stayen since 1927. The club's best league finish was second in 1965–66. They also reached the final of the Belgian Cup twice.

History

The club was created in 1924 following the merger between FC Union and FC Goldstar, two clubs from Sint-Truiden. The colors of the club were chosen to be yellow and blue, to match the colors of the city, and it was named Sint-Truidense Voetbal Vereeniging. The first game of the team, against Cercle Tongeren, was played in front of only 9 attendees. In the late 1930s, Léopold Appeltans was the leading player of Sint-Truidense. On 21 November 1948 he became the first capped player for Belgium while playing at this club. In the late 1940s it qualified for the second division. It also changed its name to Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging in 1947. Five years later it finished second in the second division and thus promoted to the first division. Successful manager Raymond Goethals arrived at Sint-Truiden in 1959. Under his management, the team finished second of the top division in 1966.

The former Sint-Truidense goalkeeper Jacky Mathijssen became the manager of the club in 2001 and remained at the helm for three seasons after which he left for Charleroi. He was replaced by Marc Wilmots, who was fired shortly after. The team finished the season under the coaching of the trio Guy Mangelschots, Eddy Raymaekers and Peter Voets. At the end of the 2004–05 season the board of directors hired Oostende manager Herman Vermeulen but he was dismissed on 9 February 2006 as the club languished in seventeenth position. In 2008 the women's team of FCL Rapide Wezemaal joined STVV.

On 15 November 2017, Japanese-based electronic commerce and Internet company DMM.com acquired Sint-Truidense, becoming the full owner.^[2] Since the takeover, the club began recruiting and developing Japanese players, such as, Daichi Kamada, Wataru Endo, Daniel Schmidt, Zion Suzuki, Daiki Hashioka and Joel Chima Fujita.^[3]

Honours

Belgian First Division
- Runners-up (1): 1965–66
Belgian Second Division
- Winners (4): 1986–87, 1993–94, 2008–09, 2014–15
Belgian Cup
- Runners-up (2): 1970–71, 2002–03
Belgian League Cup
- Winners (1): 1998–99

European record

As of 5 March 2006:

Competition	APP	P	W	D	L	GF	GA
Intertoto Cup	2	8	5	0	3	15	8

As of 1 July 2026^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
3	DF	JPN	Taiga Hata
4	DF	FRA	Loïc Mbe Soh
5	DF	JPN	Shōgo Taniguchi (captain)
8	MF	FRA	Abdoulaye Sissako
9	FW	URU	Andrés Ferrari
10	FW	MAR	Ilias Sebaoui
11	FW	ARG	Isaías Delpupo
13	MF	JPN	Ryōtarō Itō
14	MF	FRA	Ryan Merlen
16	GK	JPN	Leo Kokubo
19	FW	BEL	Frédéric Soèllé Soèllé
21	GK	BEL	Matt Lendfers


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
22	DF	BEL	Wolke Janssens
23	DF	BEL	Joedrick Pupe
26	DF	MKD	Visar Musliu
31	MF	MAR	Illyès Benachour
32	FW	BEL	Jay-David Mbalanda
33	MF	BEL	Alouis Diriken
34	DF	BEL	Hugo Lambotte
38	MF	JPN	Kaito Matsuzawa
53	MF	BEL	Adam Nhaili
60	DF	BEL	Robert-Jan Vanwesemael
77	FW	SEN	Oumar Diouf
99	MF	JPN	Shion Shinkawa