© Well
Volley Haasrode Leuven prided itself on being the only volleyball team that had a team in the Lotto Volley League (first national) for both men and women. But that is coming to an end now. The club has announced that it will stop the League Women’s team and will only have a men’s team at the highest level.
Michael Van Damme, Ruben Valgaerts
Today at 2:31 PM
Haasrode Leuven suddenly pulls the plug on the women’s team in the Lotto Volley League during the season. A look at the rankings shows that the women’s team fell short at the highest level. Haasrode lost all eleven games this season and is a red lantern with zero points. The team could only win one set, compared to 33 lost sets. However, Haasrode could not be relegated due to Genk’s forfeit, but the club is now throwing in the towel.
“Given the poorer results in the previous and current season and the difficulty in putting together a fully-fledged team, the board of Volley Haasrode Leuven has decided not to participate in the Women’s League during the 2024-2025 season. This decision is solely based on sporting considerations,” a press release said.
The intention is to take a step back with the ladies and from there try to grow again to become the first national.
“The board has made the choice to build a women’s team that can reach the top in the 1st national level step by step. The basis for this is the talented team that, after a great promotion in the 2022-2023 season, is now competing in the 2nd national team and mainly consists of our own youth. The club will strengthen this team in a targeted manner to realize this ambition. Koen Aerts will lead this project.”
Haasrode Leuven was proud that they competed in the first national competition with the same club for both men and women, although chairman Jan Goedhuys indicated on the website that that was not easy. “The two biggest challenges are the organizational and the financial aspects. We play a top match at the highest level every week and cannot invest all the resources in one team,” said Goedhuys.
In that text of January 10, there was no mention of the possibility of withdrawing the women’s team from the first national team. “It is good to know that after this season we cannot fail because of Genk’s forfeit,” he said at the time. “That gives you a little more peace of mind. Next year we want to do a little better sportingly than this year. We are already working on that.”