KFC Winterslag reached the 5th place in 1981 which allowed them to play UEFA Cup matches, where it defeated Bryne FK from Norway and English Premier league giant Arsenal.

That season Standard Liège won the championship on bribery in a match against the club of Waterschei Thor that would eventually merge with the matricule number 322.

In 1995 the club hired Aimé Anthuenis a coach and Racing finished second and skipped the final round as two first division teams merged (Seraing and Standard Liège).

The season was ended well as Genk won its first Belgian championship in May, with manager Aimé Anthuenis then moving to Anderlecht.

The season was salvaged by winning the Belgian Cup again, this time to Standard, but Genk ended the championship in 9th place.

It finished 11th in the following season and lost in the UEFA Cup second round to Werder Bremen after a win against FC Zürich.

The 2007–08 season was a disaster, as Genk failed to finish in the top half of the division, ending in a disappointing tenth place.

The season ended on a positive note with them winning the Belgian Cup, which gave them a ticket to the fourth Europa League qualifying round.

Genk finished 11th, but Vercauteren led the club to European football by beating derby rival Sint-Truiden in the final of Play-offs II.

On 30 January 2010, KRC Genk announced that coach Franky Vercauteren signed a new contract that ran untl June 2013.

[4] This was KRC Genk's third league win in its history and its supporters celebrated with a pitch invasion straight after the final whistle.

On 11 August, coach Frank Vercauteren confirmed he was leaving Genk and signed with Abu Dhabi club Al-Jazira.

The 2012–13 season started well for Genk by qualifying for the Europa League group stage after beating Aktobe and FC Luzern.

Genk won the 2018–19 Belgian First Division A for the fourth time in their history, hence they qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League after an eight-year absence.

[8] Genk started their 2019–20 UEFA Champions League campaign with a poor 6–2 loss against Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg.

Some examples are Yannick Carrasco, Jelle Vossen, Dennis Praet, Steven Defour, Christian Benteke, Thibaut Courtois, Divock Origi, Timothy Castagne, Leandro Trossard and Kevin De Bruyne.

Players such as Kalidou Koulibaly, Wilfred Ndidi, Leon Bailey, Sergej Milinković-Savić, Daniel Munoz and Sander Berge all played for Genk.

[1] Ranking in season 2021/22: Source: [2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.