K Beerschot VA 2012/2013 Home Shirt

K BEERSCHOT VA - HOME SHIRT 2012/2013

K Beerschot VA are a Belgian football club from Antwerp who carry on the legacy of Beerschot, a name that traces back to a club founded in 1899 in the city's distinctive purple and white. The famous Beerschot of old were winners of seven Belgian league titles between 1922 and 1939 and called the Olympisch Stadion - better known as 't Kiel - home, a ground built for the 1920 Summer Olympics hosted by Antwerp. The fanbase is still known as De Kielse Ratten ("The Kiel Rats").

The 2012/2013 campaign, in which this striking home shirt was worn, is one of the most poignant in Belgian football. Playing as Beerschot AC, the club finished 16th in the Belgian Pro League regular season, dropping into a relegation playoff against Cercle Brugge. After initially building a six-point lead, Beerschot were overhauled by three consecutive Cercle wins, and a 2-1 defeat on 20 April 2013 sent them down to the Second Division.

The story did not stop with relegation. Within weeks, Beerschot were refused a professional licence due to severe financial difficulties, and on 21 May 2013 - just one week after the season had ended - the club were officially declared bankrupt and dissolved. It brought to a close a top-flight stay that had run unbroken since 1989, and silenced the Antwerp derby with Royal Antwerp, one of the fiercest rivalries in Belgian football.

The identity, colours and stadium were taken up shortly afterwards by KFCO Wilrijk, who rebranded as FCO Beerschot Wilrijk and eventually emerged as the K Beerschot VA we know today. That makes this shirt one of the last ever worn by the original Beerschot lineage in Belgium's top flight - a small piece of the city's purple-and-white heritage from the season the curtain came down.

Follow the club on X: @kbeerschotva