Beerschot VAC, formally the Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbal en Athletiek Club, was a historic Belgian sports club based in Antwerp. The club, which played in purple and white, carried the registration number 13 and was declared bankrupt in 1999, ending the original entity’s existence.[1]
Design and History
The club’s visual identity was rooted in a heraldic tradition that began well before the modern era. The original Beerschot Athletic Club, founded in 1899, adopted a coat of arms and motto from the earlier Antwerp Football and Cricket Club.[2] The motto, “Tene Quod Bene” (Hold on to what is good), accompanied the shield.[2]
The first modern crest appeared in 1960, featuring a purple heraldic round shield with the inscription “Royal Beerschot Athletic Club Antwerp” in a white circle, topped by a royal crown reflecting the club’s Koninklijke (Royal) designation.[3] In 1968, the crest was updated to an oval shield bearing the inscription “K. Beerschot V.A.V.” with refined proportions.[3]
In 1991, the club changed its name to Beerschot Voetbal en Athletic Club (Beerschot VAC).[4] That same year, the crest underwent a refinement with subtle adjustments to the shield, typography and crown while preserving the club’s traditional identity.[3] A further redesign followed in 1993.[3]
In 1995, the club added the royal title to its name, becoming Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbal en Athletiek Club (K. Beerschot VAC).[5] The crest was again updated that year, with the shield adopting more stylised lines and the royal crown receiving revised detailing.[3]
Following the bankruptcy of K. Beerschot VAC in 1999, Germinal Ekeren changed its name to Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen, and the original registration number 13 was scrapped.[5] The new club’s crest combined elements of both clubs, retaining Beerschot’s purple while incorporating red and yellow from Germinal Ekeren, with the royal crown remaining above the badge.[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The royal crown on the Beerschot crest symbolised the club’s Koninklijke (Royal) designation.[3] The club’s traditional purple and white colours were a consistent element across all versions of the crest from 1960 onward.[3]
The original coat of arms, adopted from the Antwerp Football and Cricket Club in 1899, included a bear. The club’s own athletics section notes that the name “Beerschot” derives from “Bernescot,” where “berne” or “beer” refers to a male wild boar or pig, not the bear depicted in the logo.[2]
In 2019, when the successor club KFCO Beerschot Wilrijk adopted the name K. Beerschot V.A. and reclaimed registration number 13, it unveiled a new logo described as “a modern version of the original one from 1899. With the ferociously clawing bear and the three historic acorns.”[6][7] The 2019 crest was described as a purple shield with a white roaring bear, the three acorns from the original emblem, and the name Beerschot prominently at the top.[8]
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