Until last season was [team 660] a traditional club of the highest Belgian [league 208], from which it dropped last year. The team struggles even in the [league 211] and was on the way to drop even lower. Out of the 14 matches managed the team to win only 1 and with 7 points the was Lokeren heading direction to football Armageddon.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it was quite clear that the related economical crisis will lead some teams to existential problems. According to the latest news, we already know that after the bankruptcy of Slovakian MŠK Žilina club due to coronavirus will Lokeren be the second one to disappear from the football map.
The management of the Belgian football club KSC Lokeren announced on Monday that in these difficult times they could not find a new investor who would avert the economic decline of the club. And since the deadline for rescuing expired at the beginning of the week, in practice this means bankruptcy.
“I am very sorry to say that, despite all our efforts, we have not been able to find investors and we can not within the deadline apply for a license to ensure the continuity of our club,” said Lokeren boss Louis de Vries.
According to local media, the two-time winner of the [league 214] already had debts up till 8 million euros in the period before the coronation crisis. The virus only finished what was inevitable.
Just a trick to kill the debts?
“De Tricolores” officials also found a way to continue the city’s for almost a century tradition of football.
On Wednesday, they announced merging with the quarter-league amateur team KSV Temse, which will create KSC Lokeren-Temse. The specific details of the fusion are not yet known, but it is certain that the new club will start in the fourth highest Belgian competition, will play its home matches at the current Lokeren stadium, which is owned by the city, and – as before black, white and yellow.
