Soccer-Ghent end 115-year wait for Belgian championship crown

By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS, May 21 (Reuters) - Ghent ended their 115-year wait for the Belgian league title on Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Standard Liege that secured a place in next season's Champions League. The club, nicknamed the Buffalos, reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1992 and have won three Belgian Cups, but never the league. Their title brings to an end 17 years of dominance by the top four -- Anderlecht, Standard Liege, Club Bruges and Racing Genk. "Will Ghent turn Belgian football on its head?" daily De Standaard had asked on Thursday morning, adding that no one had tipped Ghent for the title, even when they qualified as second for the playoffs. Ghent, who have twice finished second in the league, were struggling under debt of more than 20 million euros ($22 million) in the late 1990s. But they managed to cut that to zero by 2012 and a year later moved from a 13,000-seater stadium to the sleek multi-purpose 20,000 capacity Ghelamco Arena, the first new build Belgian soccer stadium in almost 40 years. It was filled to capacity on Thursday, most fans dressed in Ghent's blue and white, some wearing the club's trademark feather headdresses. Midfielder Sven Kums scored his first goal of the season, poking in from close range after a corner in the 17th minute. Ghent withstood Standard pressure before halftime, but their second came shortly after the interval when Standard's Damien Dussaut brought down Ghent's Moses Simon to concede a penalty and Brazilian Renato Neto sent keeper Yohann Thuram the wrong way from the spot. In the battle for second, and with one more playoff round to go, Bruges won to climb above Anderlecht, champions of the past three seasons, who could only draw. Ghent was founded in 1864, starting its football club in 1900. Despite being in Dutch-speaking Flanders, the club was known by its French name La Gantoise until it switched to Gent (Dutch for Ghent) in 1971. The club's logo is a Native American with a blue and white feather headdress. ($1 = 0.8998 euros) (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Justin Palmer; editing by Justin Palmer)