SK Roeselare: Club once bankrupted by Reading owner Dai Yongge on the comeback trail | OneFootball

In 2020, KSV Roeselare ceased to exist. The club had been owned by the same Chinese owner as Reading FC, Dai Yongge, and went very much the same way that the Royals are currently going. Facing financial difficulty, the club was relegated to the third division and folded completely in 2020. However, as with many Belgian clubs that face such a fate, a merger was eventually found.

In 2021, KSV Roeselare merged with VK Ddizele, a side that were formed in 1975. They created SK Roeselare-Daisel and continued in the sixth tier of Belgian football. In 2023, the name was changed to SK Roeselare and the side won promotion back to the fourth tier of Belgian football.

This season, the side have taken to the fourth division like a duck to water. After a 2-0 win over Oostkamp at the weekend, the side sit top of their section of the fourth tier, with six wins and one defeat from their opening seven games. SK Roeselare are also back at the former home ground of KSV, the Schiervelde Stadion. The stadium is also being used by Club Brugge’s second team Club NXT, who play in the Belgian second tier. The Belgian fourth tier is split into three different sections, with the winner of each section gaining promotion to the third tier.

It may be early days, but should this iteration of Roeselare win promotion, it will be a remarkable return to the tier where the story of KSV came to an end. Reading fans will hope that they do not have to suffer the same fate as the Belgian side, with rumours that there is a party ready to buy the Berkshire club. However, we have heard that story once before already. Until Yongge finally ends his association with the club and hopefully football in general, fans of Reading will remain pessimistic.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson