Anderlecht is the most famous club side in Belgium, winning the League title last season for a record 27th time, all their Championship titles being achieved post-war.
Founded in 1908 the club joined the national federation a year later and moved in 1919 to the Parc Astrid their current home. It took them another 16 years to qualify for the top division by which time they had been honoured by royal decree with the right to describe themselves as a Societe Royale, allowing them to incorporate a crown in their club badge.
In 1947 Anderlecht, coached by a former Blackburn Rovers
goalkeeper, Englishman Bill Gormlie, won the Championship for the
first time. During
this period and into the early 1950¹s Anderlecht owed
much of their success
to their powerful centre-forward Jef Mermans.
Later it was the subtle skills of the bespectacled midfield
general, Jef Jurion, and the great Van Himst up front which
provided the decisive star
quality.
In the 1960¹s Anderlecht won the Belgian League title five years in a row under French coach Pierre Sinibaldi, operating a greatly effective zone defence system which relied heavily on the offside trap which not surprisingly did not endear them to their rivals.
Anderlecht also boast a proud record in European competition and in 1970 became the first Belgian club to reach a European final, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Arsenal in the Fairs Cup.
Their European adventures includes two victories in the European Cup Winners¹ Cup in 1976, when they beat West Ham United, of course, and after losing the final to Hamburg in 1977 they competed in their third consecutive Cup Winners¹ Cup final in 1978 when they thrashed FK Austria 4-0.
The star attraction now was the Dutch winger Rob Rensenbrink,
who scored twice against the Hammers and in 1983 another golden
chapter was written
when the Belgian giants defeated Benfica in the final of the UEFA
Cup in 1983.
They reached the final again the following season, losing to
Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in a penalty shoot-out, and on
two occasions have
won the European Super Cup.
Hugo Broos, a former Belgian international centre-half is the current manager and their best player by far in this latest Championship success has been Aruna Dindane, a 23-year-old Ivory Coast striker and good friend of Arsenal¹s Kono Toure.
Aruna was not only voted Belgium's Player of the Year but also Foreign Player of the Year.
Yet with only 26 goals conceded in 34 Belgian League fixtures, the defence has again played a major role and OSporting¹s¹ young brigade at the back have been coveted by all the top clubs in Europe.
Amongst the most exciting is 18-year-old right-back Vincent Kompany, now recognised as one of Europe¹s outstanding defenders.
The star in midfield is Belgian international Walter Baseggio.
RSC Anderlecht come to Upton Park as they warm-up not only to defend their domestic title but in preparation for their quest in the Champions League.
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