At KRC Genk they presented a particularly noble initiative today. The Limburgers are responsible for a unique project in Belgium. The club announced the following through official channels.
“For the very first time in its existence, football club KRC Genk held a subdued memorial moment in a completely empty Cegeka Arena. 200 family members came to the stadium on a weekday evening to share warm stories about their deceased loved ones, all KRC Genk supporters. The football club and funeral specialist DELA are responding to the changing culture of mourning in our country with the warm initiative ‘Forever a Genkie’,” Genk said.
“A stadium without a football match and without tens of thousands of frenzied supporters. Just an intimate atmosphere and a captivating light show, which illuminates the places of deceased supporters one last time. That is the setting of Forever A Genkie, a new mourning ritual that football club KRC Genk is launching together with funeral specialist DELA. During this memorial moment, the Genk football family will from now on every year reflect on the supporters who have left them in the past year.
Erik Gerits, Head of Community of KRC Genk, provided more explanation. “In complete serenity, away from the hustle and bustle on match days. This is how we want our supporters to honor their deceased loved ones. And that in a connected atmosphere in a place that is familiar to them. The moment of connection offers families the time and space to commemorate their loved ones where so many memories were shared: our Cegeka Arena.”
Forever A Genkie 💙
In the stadium where so many memories live, we paid a warm tribute to our deceased supporters. A captivating light show illuminated the places of 50 deceased Genkies one more time, as a tribute to those who once belonged there. At the… pic.twitter.com/56EP2eHOMD
— KRC Genk (@KRCGenkofficial) December 19, 2025
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Changing culture of mourning
KRC Genk has had a memorial wall inside the stadium in collaboration with DELA for several years. With the Forever a Genkie initiative, the club and the funeral specialist go one step further to help supporters deal with grief over a deceased loved one. Coming together and reminiscing in the subdued setting of an almost empty, but intimately lit stadium, is completely in line with the changing culture of mourning in Belgium.
Sylvie Maes, spokeswoman for DELA, also had her say. “Almost half of Belgians (47%) rarely visit a cemetery. About four in ten go to the grave of a deceased loved one a few times a year, usually on special days. This does not mean that we forget our loved ones, but the threshold for visiting a cemetery is too high for some people in our society today. This mourning ritual does not replace a visit to the cemetery, but, like the memorial wall in the stadium – where supporters come to say goodbye to a loved one before the match – it offers football supporters an additional alternative to to remember the loved ones they miss.”
200 warm supporter stories The Forever a Genkie event takes place both inside the memorial wall of the Cegeka Arena and outside in the stands. For the first edition, more than 200 family members at both locations reflected on the loved ones they miss in their lives. They each carry a warm story with them.
