Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Belgian clubs to have played in the UEFA Champions League group stage, the other being Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Genk, Standard Liège and KAA Gent. The club was founded in 1906 and they first promoted to the first division in 1927–28. Lierse was successful in the first division until the end of World War II, winning two titles and finishing only four times outside the top five. At the end of the 1947–48 season, they were relegated to the second division. Lierse enjoyed two more spells at the highest level, each time with a championship win (between 1953–54 and 1985–86 and between 1988–89 and 2006–07). Lierse spent five more years in first division between 2010–11 and 2014–15, but since then played in the second division. Lierse played their home matches at the Herman Vanderpoortenstadion in Lier, which is also known as Het Lisp, because the stadium is located in a neighbourhood named Lisp. They had yellow and black colours. The club was bought by Egyptian businessman Maged Samy, who also owns KV Turnhout and Wadi Degla in Egypt. The most capped player at the club is Bernard Voorhoof with 61 caps for Belgium, all when he was at Lierse. With 30 goals, he was the topscorer of the Belgium national football team together with Paul Van Himst, until Romelu Lukaku (who played in Lierse's youth squads) surpassed this record. On May 9, 2018, the team announced that it requested bankruptcy. After the bankruptcy of the team, negotiations started with Lyra and Oosterzonen. Eventually two teams with the name Lierse were formed: K. Lyra-Lierse and K. Lierse Kempenzonen. K. Lierse Kempenzonen will play with the old Lierse S.K. logo at the Herman Vanderpoortenstadion. History The early years In 1904, Gustaaf Van Den Roye learned about the game of football in Antwerp and got fascinated about it. He bought an authentic ball to play the game in his hometown of Lier. The first games were played on a terrain owned by the local graf Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde. Local farmers were not pleased and the police had to intervene, who prohibited any further games. The graf was informed of what happened and he asked