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About us

It started
in a café

A table full of miners and one question: what would our sons do after school? That question gave rise to KFC Anadol.

Team photo of FC Anadol’s first players in red-and-white striped shirts, with board members in winter coats beside them on a snow-covered pitch

1963

First, the mine

From 1963 onwards, Turkish migrant workers came to Limburg’s coal-mining region. They worked underground at the Zolder mine and lived in the Lindeman neighbourhood, within walking distance of the pit. The mine management had a mosque built for them there: the Selimiye Camii on Valentinusstraat.

Beside the mosque was a patch of ground. After their shifts, they played football there. No league, no referee — just being outside together and getting to know the neighbourhood.

1967 → 1968

Then came the club

In late 1967, they gathered at Hasan Amca’s café on the Koolmijnlaan, known to everyone as Lange Hasan. They talked about the younger generation: they needed sport and a place to come together. That was where the decision was made to start a football club.

They called it Anadol, after the car Koç Holding had just begun building in Turkey and, through its name, after Anatolia, the land they had left behind. A tribute to home, planted in the neighbourhood where their children would grow up.

The pioneers

  • Nusret Demirkan
  • Fehmi Taşdemir
  • Nihat Dönmez
  • Şakir Abi
  • Ahmet Pere
  • İsmail Urbut
  • Nurettin Baştürk
  • Mehmet Pal

Many others later joined them as founding members.

Read the full story
The deer

Anadol, the car

The logo of the Turkish Anadol car, featuring the deer
The logo of the Turkish Anadol car, featuring the deer
The logo of the Turkish Anadol car, featuring the deer
KFC Anadol club crest

In the same years the first Turkish guest workers were coming to Limburg, Koç Holding began producing its own car in Turkey. It was called Anadol. Its emblem featured a deer.

For our founders, it felt just right: something Turkish, built with their own hands, with a name that pointed back to Anatolia. They brought the deer into the club crest, with one thought in the back of their minds: perhaps the Koç family might sponsor the club one day.

Years later, that letter really was sent. Koç Holding replied positively and gave the club twenty tracksuits as a one-off gift — one of the first contributions from a company in our history. Few people know the story, but the deer is still on our shirts every match.

  • Anatolia
  • Koç Holding
  • Twenty tracksuits

The first team

Our first footballers

These were the first footballers to wear the FC Anadol shirt in the club’s early years.

Team photo of FC Anadol’s first players in red-and-white striped shirts, with board members in winter coats beside them on a snow-covered pitch
The first players of FC Anadol

Standing, left to right

  1. Mehmet Urbut
  2. Durmuş
  3. Nusret Demirkan
  4. Yılmaz Pal
  5. Ahmet Yalçınkaya
  6. Ferdi Öneren
  7. Aydın Zevne
  8. Hasan Göstek

Seated, left to right

  1. Atila
  2. Nevzat Zevne
  3. Nurettin Baştürk
  4. Nizamettin Tamparlak
  5. Bahattin (Trakyalı)

These men were among the first football pioneers of the Turkish community in Belgium. Through enormous commitment and sacrifice, they helped make sure the club is still here today.

Honours

Titles and promotions

  • 2026

    Champions, Second Provincial B

    One point ahead of KSK Meeuwen, promoted to First Provincial

  • 2020

    Champions, Third Provincial B

    Title awarded after the season was cut short by coronavirus

  • 2016

    Champions, Third Provincial A

    Ten points clear, first promotion to Second Provincial

  • 2015

    Champions, Fourth Provincial A

    Five points ahead of FC Halveweg Zonhoven

  • 1983–84

    Champions, Fourth Provincial D

    First promotion to Third Provincial

Grounds

Where we played

  • Ground north of the mosque

    1968 → 83–84

    Ground north of the mosque

    Our first pitch, right beside the Selimiye Camii. This is where it all began.

  • Valentinusstraat 59

    83–84 → present

    Valentinusstraat 59

    Our current home ground. We moved here after winning the title in the 1983–1984 season.

  • Sint-Annastraat, Zolder

    ± 2021 → present

    Sint-Annastraat, Zolder

    Former home of K Vrijheid Zolder. All training sessions and matches take place here except those of the first teams. Made possible thanks to then alderman Engin Özdemir.

Timeline

1963 → 2026

  1. 1963

    The first migrant workers

    Turkish miners arrive in Limburg’s coal-mining region and go underground at the Zolder mine. They settle in the Lindeman neighbourhood.

  2. 1968

    Anadol is founded

    Founded

    After the meeting in Lange Hasan’s café in late 1967, FC Anadol is founded as a recreational club for the younger generation. Its pitch is right beside the Selimiye Camii on Valentinusstraat, built by the mine management for its workers.

  3. 1973

    Joining the Belgian FA

    Club number 8026

    After five years of recreational football, FC Anadol registers with the Belgian FA and receives club number 8026. The rules require a Belgian secretary, so Jef Aerts from the municipality’s planning department is appointed.

  4. 1974

    First team in competition

    Anadol enters Fourth Provincial A in Limburg with a full first team.

  5. 1983

    Champions and a new ground

    Title

    Champions of Fourth Provincial D. The club moves to the new ground at Valentinusstraat 59, where we still play today.

  6. 1993

    Second in 3D

    The club’s best season before the turn of the century.

  7. 2010

    Back to Fourth Provincial

    After 25 consecutive seasons in Third Provincial, Anadol finishes bottom of 3A and is relegated.

  8. 2015

    Champions of 4A

    Title

    Five points clear of FC Halveweg Zonhoven. After five years, Anadol returns to Third Provincial.

  9. 2016

    Champions of 3A

    Title

    In the first season back at that level, Anadol finishes ten points clear of sister club Turkse FC from Beringen. For the first time in club history: Second Provincial.

  10. 2018

    Fifty years and Royal status

    KFC

    At its golden jubilee, the club is granted the Royal title: Koninklijke Football Club Anadol.

  11. 2019

    Relegation from 2A

    After two seasons of fighting for survival, the result finally goes the wrong way.

  12. 2020

    Champions of 3B

    Title

    The season is halted in March because of coronavirus. With 25 of 30 matches played, Anadol is three points clear of K Hechtel FC and is declared champion.

  13. ± 2021

    Sint-Annastraat

    All training sessions and matches outside the first teams move to the former K Vrijheid Zolder ground. A major step forward, made possible thanks to then alderman Engin Özdemir, for which we remain grateful.

  14. 2022

    Play-offs

    Fourth in 2A and into the play-offs, where K HIH Hoepertingen proves too strong (1–0). The following season, 46-year-old Hakan Bayraktar, formerly of Lommel and Fenerbahçe, strengthens the squad.

  15. 2024

    Fourth again

    Fourth in 2B and back in the play-offs, but once again eliminated in the first round, this time by KRC Peer (1–3). Most of the lower teams move to the Sint-Annastraat ground.

  16. 2025

    Runners-up in 2B

    Thirteen points behind champions Kadijk SK, but still through to the play-offs. K Standaard Elen wins a wild match 6–4.

  17. 2026

    Champions — up to First Provincial

    Historic

    Champions of 2B, one point ahead of KSK Meeuwen. The highest level in the club’s history.