F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee was founded in 1957, climbing out of the provincial leagues in 1996 and winning the Belgian Fourth Division title during the 1999–2000 season. Promoted to the Belgian Third Division they joined their Leuven neighbours Stade Leuven, founded in 1905, which had played over 30 seasons in the Belgian Second Division and one year in the First in the 1949–50 season. As of 2002[update], F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee was in bad financial shape, moving up and down between third and fourth division since 1991.
In 2002, the city of Leuven decided that both Third division teams, Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee and K. Stade Leuven, would merge also with the third club from Leuven, K. Daring Club Leuven, which was at that time playing at the fifth level of the league. Daring Club Leuven was founded in 1922, had played several seasons in the Belgian Second Division, and after being the leading club from the Leuven region between 1958 and 1964, had dropped down into the provincial leagues in 1979 and stayed there since. The new club took over the registration of Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee, and started playing in the Belgian Third Division under the name Oud-Heverlee Leuven.
At the end of its first season, the club narrowly lost out on promotion, going down on penalty kicks to Eendracht Aalst in the Third division play-off final, after finishing 2nd in the 3rd division B, 5 points behind champions Tubize. After a 3rd place in the same division in season 2003–04, Oud-Heverlee Leuven finished 2nd once again in season 2004–05 and this time they did win the promotion play-off and entered the second division in the 2005–06 season. After two seasons finishing 6th and 5th, OH Leuven finished 3rd in the 2007–08 Belgian Second Division season with 61 points. This allowed them to take part in the promotion playoffs where the team finished as the bottom 4th after losing all six games to Tubize, Antwerp, and Lommel United.
Two seasons with the team finishing 9th and 14th were followed by a second division title on Sunday 24 April 2011, when Oud-Heverlee Leuven secured the 2010–11 2nd division championship and gained promotion to the First division for the season 2011–12, following a 2–2 draw at Antwerp. The team rounded off the season the following Sunday with a 2–0 home win against Lommel United, gathering a total of 73 points from 34 games and finishing 8 points ahead of 2nd placed Lommel United. Their promotion brought First division football to the city of Leuven for the first time since the 1949–50 season, when Stade Leuven had finished bottom of the league and were relegated.
OH Leuven secured its top flight status following a 0–0 draw at home against Lierse on 3 March 2012, marking the first time a team from the city of Leuven managed to remain at the highest level of Belgian football for more than a single season. In the 2013–14 season, OH Leuven was relegated after losing the 2014 promotion/relegation play-offs. Although finishing 6th, the team was promoted next year via the 2015 promotion/relegation play-offs, but it was immediately relegated again after finishing last in the 2015–16 season.
In September 2016, OH Leuven were caught up in a scandal affecting football in England. In relation to allegations made against individuals within English football, OH Leuven chairman Jimmy Houtput was alleged to have offered up the club as a "conduit" to allow third-party companies to gain ownership of football players in England.[2] Houtput claimed he was "merely trying to obtain the identity of the possible investor(s) and would never take part in illegal activities to circumvent the third-party ownership", but subsequently resigned as OH Leuven chairman on 30 September.[3]
In July 2018, OH Leuven reclaimed the registration number that originally belonged to Stade Leuven, to "reclaim the glorious past", thus dropping registration number 6142 (originally belonging to F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee) and reverting to 18.[5]
Upon its foundation in 2002, white was chosen as the club color, with the logo of the new club combining the green of Stade Leuven, the black of Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee and the red of Daring Leuven. Throughout the years, the home shirt has remained white, often decorated with a few red or green stripes or colored sleeves. The away shirt color has alternated mostly between red and green but has been black, yellow and blue as well.
Den Dreef Stadium (before the expansions to the main stand (right) and construction of a same stand on the opposite side (left).)
Their stadium is called Stadion Den Dreef and is situated on Kardinaal Mercierlaan in the south Leuven suburb of Heverlee (not to be confused with 'Oud-Heverlee' in the club name, which is in fact a separate municipality). The entrance for visiting fans is on Tervuursevest.
^Sven Swinnen took his place on the bench as caretaker manager for the match on 4 February 2023.
^Although Benković never played an official match for OH Leuven, he was part of the squad for the second half of the 2020–21 season and is hence counted as former OH Leuven player.
^Although Zimmerman never played an official match for OH Leuven, he was part of the squad for the 2022–23 season and is hence counted as former OH Leuven player.
^Odoi gained A-caps both for Belgium as well as Ghana.
^Although Copa never played an official match for OH Leuven, he was part of the squad for the 2017–18 season and is hence counted as former OH Leuven player.
