 | ||||
| Full name | Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Essevee,De Boeren | |||
| Founded | 1 July 2001; 24 years ago (2001-07-01) | |||
| Ground | Regenboogstadion | |||
| Capacity | 12,250[1] | |||
| Chairman | Lode Hullebusch | |||
| Head coach | Sven Vandenbroeck | |||
| League | Belgian Pro League | |||
| 2024–25 | Challenger Pro League, 1st of 16 (promoted) | |||
| Website | essevee.be | |||
 Current season | ||||
Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈspɔrtfəˌreːnəɣɪŋˈzʏltəˈʋaːrəɣɛm]), commonly known asZulte Waregem or by their nicknameEssevee (Dutch pronunciation:[ɛsəˈveː]), is a Belgian professionalfootball club based inWaregem,West Flanders. The club set to play inBelgian Pro League from 2025–26 after promotion fromChallenger Pro League in 2024–25. Their highest finish at the highest level was second place in2012–13. They have won twoBelgian Cups. They qualified for the2006–07 UEFA Cup, losing in the round of 32 toNewcastle United. Also in the seasons 2013–14 and 2017–18 they managed to play in the Europa League group stages. On both occasions the club ended third in their group.
The club is a product of a partnership in 2001 between Zultse VV andKSV Waregem, a former first division regular. No merger was applied. Zulte Waregem first reached the highest level in Belgian football by winning the2004–05second division. The club uniforms are red and green. They play their home matches at theRegenboogstadion, the former stadium of KSV Waregem.
Zulte Sportief was founded in 1950 and directly became a member of thenational association (matricule n° 5381). The clubZultse V.V. (with the same matricule) was started after the 1976 merger between Zulte Sportief and S.K. Zulte. In 2001, the team merged withKSV Waregem, who had played in the first division for many years. No team fromZulte ever achieved promotion to the second division beforeSV Zulte Waregem in 2002. Zultse V.V., though, gained access to thethird division in 1995. The club finished 14th out of 16 for two seasons and was relegated the second time after the playoff.
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In 1999, the season in which it came back, Zultse finished fourth in this division. Two years later, the new club became champion of the3rd division A. The registered office of Zulte Waregem lies in Zulte, but the club is based in the stadium of KSV Waregem inWaregem and the red and white colours of KSV Waregem prevail.
The club got a chance to shine on the European stage during the2006–07 UEFA Cup, reaching the round of 32, playing against English clubNewcastle United, although they lost 4–1 on aggregate. Their second European appearance was in the 2013–14 season, as Zulte Waregem finished second in2012–13 Belgian Pro League and qualified for thethird qualifying stage of the2013–14 UEFA Champions League, where they lost toPSV (5–0 on aggregate). Zulte Waregem dropped to the2013–14 UEFA Europa League play-off round, where they defeatedAPOEL, drawing 1–1 at home and winning 1–2 inNicosia thanks to a late goal fromJens Naessens. At thegroup stage, they were drawn alongsideRubin Kazan,Wigan Athletic andMaribor. Zulte Waregem started with a draw against Wigan. After, they lost to Rubin (4–0) and Maribor (1–3), but later managed to defeat Maribor atLjudski vrt (0–1) and Wigan atDW Stadium (1–2). Finally, a loss against Rubin at home and Maribor's win over Wigan eliminated Zulte Waregem from the European competition. In the 2016–17 season, Zulte Waregem drew an average home attendance of 9,578.[2]
After a series of disappointing seasons in which the threat of relegation was narrowly avoided each time, things took a turn for the worse for head coach and club legendFrancky Dury in the fall of 2021. The relationship between him and a portion of the supporters also became increasingly strained, ultimately leading to his dismissal in January 2022.[3] The2021–22 season was managed by assistantsTimmy Simons andDavy De fauw, but they too failed to achieve results. As a result, the team narrowly avoided the relegation playoffs. In June 2022, former club top goalscorerMbaye Leye was appointed as the new head coach.[4]
In 2022–23 season, Zulte Waregem fell victim to the new league restructuring, which meant that there would be as many as three relegations that season. Zulte, being the club with the statistically worst defence, ended up suffering relegation after 18 successive seasons in the top tier.[5]
On 18 April 2025, Zulte-Waregem secure champions ofChallenger Pro League and promotion toBelgian Pro League from next season after defeatRWD Molenbeek 2-1 in final matchweek with goal Tobias Hedl andJelle Vossen in 39th and 86th minute, respectively, return to top tier after two years absence and ended two years stint in second tier.
Zulte Waregem plays its home matches at theRegenboogstadion, meaning "Rainbow Stadium" inDutch. The stadium used to be the home of K.S.V. Waregem until the withdrawal of the club. It has a capacity of 12.250 and has been renovated lately to host European games.[6] The Regenboogstadion meets UEFA's requirements for hosting European games (Category 4 stadium), so Zulte Waregem's home matches can be played in their own stadium, which they did in de 2017-2018 Europa League competition. Zulte Waregem has an average attendance of 9.500 people at home games.
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006–07 | UEFA Cup | 1R |  Lokomotiv Moscow | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 |
| Grp F |  Austria Wien | — | 4–1 | 3rd | ||
 Sparta Prague | 3–1 | — | ||||
 Espanyol | — | 2–6 | ||||
 Ajax | 0–3 | — | ||||
| R32 |  Newcastle United | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–4 | ||
| 2013–14 | UEFA Champions League | 3Q | PSV | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–5 |
| 2013–14 | UEFA Europa League | PO |  APOEL | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 |
| Grp D |  Maribor | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3rd | ||
| Rubin Kazan | 0–2 | 0–4 | ||||
| Wigan Athletic | 0–0 | 2–1 | ||||
| 2014–15 | UEFA Europa League | 2Q |  Zawisza Bydgoszcz | 2–1 | 3–1 | 5–2 |
| 3Q |  Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 2–5 | 2–2 | 4–7 | ||
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | Grp |  Nice | 1–5 | 1–3 | 3rd |
 Lazio | 3–2 | 0–2 | ||||
| Vitesse Arnhem | 1–1 | 2–0 |
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach |  Sven Vandenbroeck |
| Assistant coach | Dwight WaeytensMark Luijpers |
| Goalkeeper coach | Reggie De Neve |
| Fitness coach | Yohwen Guihard |
| Video analyst | Jeroen Burns |
| Doctor | Lode Dalewyn Lauren Pringels Jonas Demeester |
| Physiotherapist | Siebe Vercaempst Simon Cottens Johan Vanderheeren Casper Dewitte |
| Equipment manager | Roger Putman |
| Team manager | Giel Eggermont |
Eddy van den Berge (1 July 1962 – 30 June 1963)Francky Dury (1 July 2001 – 30 June 2010)Bart De Roover (1 July 2010 – 24 October 2010)Hugo Broos (27 October 2010 – 23 May 2011)
Darije Kalezić (1 July 2011 – 27 December 2011)Francky Dury (30 December 2011 – 16 December 2021)Timmy Simons (17 December 2021 - 30 June 2022)Mbaye Leye (17 May 2022 - 15 March 2023)Frederik Dhollander (15 March 2023 - 5 September 2023)Vincent Euvrard (5 September 2023 - 1 July 2024)Sven Vandenbroeck (1 July 2024 - present)
