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

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, Takehiro Tomiyasu, 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

Competition	Pld	W	L	GF	GA
UEFA Europa League	2	1	1	3	4
UEFA Conference League	0	0	0	0	0
UEFA Intertoto Cup	8	5	3	15	8
Total	10	6	4	18	12

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1999–00	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	Spartak Varna	6–0	2–1	8–1
		2R	Ararat Yerevan	3–1	2–0	5–1
		3R	Austria Wien	0–2	2–1	2–3
2003–04	UEFA Intertoto Cup	2R	Tobol	0–2	0–1	0–3
2025–26	UEFA Europa League	PO	Omonia	1–0	2–4	3–4
	UEFA Conference League	LP	Iberia 1999		N/a
			Midtjylland	N/a
			Brann		N/a
			Hajduk Split	N/a
			Ajax		N/a
			Lugano	N/a

Current squad

As of 3 September 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	JPN	Kōta Takai (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)
5	DF	JPN	Shōgo Taniguchi (captain)
7	FW	ALB	Arbnor Muja
8	MF	FRA	Abdoulaye Sissako
9	FW	BIH	Samed Baždar
10	FW	MAR	Ilias Sebaoui
11	FW	COD	Nathanaël Mbuku (on loan from Augsburg)
14	MF	FRA	Ryan Merlen
16	GK	JPN	Leo Kokubo
18	MF	JPN	Nelson Ishiwatari
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
25	GK	KSA	Ahmad Abu Rasen
26	DF	MKD	Visar Musliu
31	MF	MAR	Illyès Benachour
32	FW	BEL	Jay-David Mbalanda
33	MF	BEL	Alouis Diriken
38	FW	JPN	Kaito Matsuzawa
39	DF	BEL	Rune Verheyden
60	DF	BEL	Robert-Jan Vanwesemael
71	MF	JPN	Ryōtarō Araki
77	FW	SEN	Oumar Diouf
99	FW	JPN	Shion Shinkawa

Out on loan

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