Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent, often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname De Buffalo’s (English: The Buffalos), is a Belgian football, track and field and field hockey club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. They have been playing in the Belgian Pro League since the 1989–90 season. Their best league result is a second place in 1954–55 and in 2009–10. They have won three Belgian Cups. Gent played their home matches in the Jules Ottenstadion in Gentbrugge from 1920 to 2013, when they moved to the Ghelamco Arena. They play in blue and white .The principal sponsor is the financial institution VDK Holland.
The field hockey and track and field divisions were founded in 1864, making it one of the oldest sporting clubs in Belgium. The club was then known under their French name La Gantoise (and they are still referred to as such by the French-speaking part of Belgium). They changed their name to the present Dutch version in 1971. The football division opened in 1900. The nickname of the club is De Buffalo’s, a term coined after a visit of the original Buffalo Bill and his Wild West circus to the city in the early 20th century. Gent enjoyed a first spell at the highest level in Belgian football between 1913–14 and 1928–29, and a second one from 1936–37 to 1966–67. In the 1970s and 1980s, the club had several promotions and relegations between the first and second divisions, to come back at the highest level in 1989. The club reached the 1991-92 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, which is their best achievement in European competitions.
In 1864 already, an association, called the ‘Société Gymnastique la Gantoise’, which was an association in order to promote gymnastics, was founded. Afterwards, some branches became independent and in 1891 the team merged with the Association Athlétique, which was in itself a merger of younger teams, such as Racing Club, Running Club, Red Star, a.o. The new merger team was called Association Athlétique La Gantoise, and next to gymnastics, the activities were broadened to athletics, boxing, cricket, cycling, fencing, hockey, swimming and tennis. Also the athletics team KAA Gent was founded.
In the last decade of the 19th century, organized football was introduced in Ghent. Different small teams came into existence and some merged into Racing Club Gantois on 1 April 1899, which would become later the biggest challenger of KAA Gent. Only in 1900, a football section was founded by the students of the College of Melle, which is a place close to Ghent. The first president and also leader of the team was doctor Hector Priem. The games were played on the Carpentierplein, which was situated in the middle of the Kortrijksesteenweg, the Clementinalaan, the Oostendestraat and the Astridlaan. The players could change clothes in the pub “La Demi-Lune”. Initially, the colours black and white were chosen, but by 31 October 1900, when the team became an official member, the colours were changed into blue-white. On 15 November 1900, the first regular game was played, against Omnium Sporting Club. In January 1901, the team played against the team Racing Club Gantois, which was at that time larger and had more members. KAA Gent lost the game with 10–0. Nevertheless, already at the end of the 19th century the team was member of the UBSSA (Union Belge des Sociétés de Sports Athlétiques or the Belgian Union of the Athletic Sports Society, and although Racing Club Gantois was an older team in the city, KAA Gent would receive a lower basic number than Racing Club, which would receive 11. From 1901 on, AA La Gantoise played its first games in the lower divisions.
The team played its first years mostly in Belgian Second Division, later on in the First Division. In 1904 the team moved to the Mussenstraat. In 1913, the World Exposition was held at that place, and the team moved to the Albertlaan. Over there, a football pitch, training fields, tennis courts, an athletics court, galleries and other accommodation was being built. At 9. December 1915, during the First World War, the stadium burned completely down. In 1912–13, AA La Gantoise became champion in the First Division. Already in 1914, the team received the royal title and was called Association Royale Athlétique La Gantoise, which was abbreviated to ARA La Gantoise. During the world exposition the team organized several sport activities. The first season in the First League, 1913/14, was nevertheless very difficult for the team and only by means of a test match against Standard Club Liégois, degradation was being avoided.
KAA Gent logo
In 1920, the team moved again, this time to Gentbrugge, where the Jules Ottenstadion was built. at the end of the 1920s. La Gantoise fell back to the Second Division and only in 1936, it could win its series and return to the First Division. In the mid-Fifities, the team has known its strongest period. In 1953–54 it ended third with an equal total of points as KFC Malinois and at only one point of the champion RSC Anderlecht. The next season, La Gantoise was alone on the second spot, this time at three points. In 1964 it took the Belgian Cup (Beker van België), which was the first important price for the team and it became in this way the first Belgian team to participate in the new Cup of Cupwinners. La Gantoise was defeated in the first round by West Ham United. 1967 was sportively spoken a bad year for the team. After three decades it fell back to Second Division. The team was able to win its series the next season and could come back to First Division in 1968.
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