Extreme Football Tourism: August 2008

Sportcomplex Fanny Blankers-Koen terr. 1 "Yanmar-Stadion", Almere Almere-Stad (Almere City FC, formerly FC Omniworld)

Netherlands, province: Flevoland

8 VIII 2008 / FC Omniworld - RBC Roosendaal 1-2 / Eerste Divisie (= NL level 2)
13 VIII 2010 / Almere City FC - RBC Roosendaal 3-1 / Eerste Divisie (= NL level 2)

Timeline

1959 / Foundation of a football club in Amsterdam, which takes on the striking name vv De Zwarte Schapen, literally translated in English: The Black Sheep. It was founded by the supporters’ club of Amsterdam’s first professional league side, BVC Amsterdam, which had merged with AFC DWS to form DWS/A in 1958. BVC Amsterdam had been nicknamed ‘De Zwarte Schapen’ due to their status as the city’s sole professional leaguers. At its foundation, vv De Zwarte Schapen is placed in the bottom Sunday division, i.e. Sunday Division 3, of Afdeling Amsterdam (usually referred to by its pre-war name AVB, Amsterdamse Voetbalbond), the Amsterdam sub-branch of the Netherlands’ Football Association (KNVB). It is unclear where the original pitch of vv De Zwarte Schapen was situated, with the club moving to Sportpark Spieringhorn probably sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s.
1960 / vv De Zwarte Schapen wins promotion from Afdeling Amsterdam Sunday Division 3 to Division 2 of the said league system.
1961 / vv De Zwarte Schapen wins back-to-back promotions, gaining promotion from Afdeling Amsterdam Sunday Division 2 to Division 1 of the said league system.
1962 / Gaining its third promotion in a row, this time from Afdeling Amsterdam Sunday Division 1, vv De Zwarte Schapen accedes to District West I’s Sunday League 4.
1963 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4E, 8 points ahead of closest followers AVV ZSGO, vv De Zwarte Schapen wins its fourth promotion in a row, acceding to Sunday League 3.
1964 / Champions in District West’s Sunday League 3B, 6 points ahead of closest rivals WSV ’30, vv De Zwarte Schapen wins its fifth promotion in a row, acceding to Sunday League 2.
1965 / After five promotions in a row, vv De Zwarte Schapen now misses out on a new success, finishing as runners-up in District West I’s Sunday League 2A, 3 points behind ZVV Zilvermeeuwen.
1966 / Finishing in second-last place in District West I’s Sunday League 2B, vv De Zwarte Schapen drops back into Sunday League 3 along with bottom club SC Ultrajectum.
1973 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 3C, vv De Zwarte Schapen descends into Sunday League 4 along with the club in second-last place, ASVA Meerboys.
1978 / vv De Zwarte Schapen concludes a merger with city-rivals AVV Argonaut, a club formed in 1932, resulting in the foundation of AZS, i.e. Argonaut-Zwarte Schapen.
1979 / Finishing bottom of the table in District West I’s Sunday League 4D, AZS descends into the ranks of Afdeling Amsterdam, with the other drop-out being RCZ.
1981 / Champions in Afdeling Amsterdam Sunday Division 1, AZS wins promotion to the top division of Afdeling Amsterdam, the so-called Afdeling Amsterdam Zondag Hoofdklasse.
1982 / Champions in Afdeling Amsterdam Zondag Hoofdklasse, AZS manages a return to Sunday League 4 after three years. The successful coach is Henk Wisman, former professional league player at FC Amsterdam and SC Amersfoort (1975-80).
1983 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 4E, 2 points ahead of closest rivals ASV DJK, AZS wins promotion to Sunday League 3. The successful coach is Henk Wisman.
1984 / Finishing in joint first place in District West I’s Sunday League 3C with RKSV Pancratius, AZS meets the club from Badhoevedorp in a tie-break match. Going on to win the encounter, the club accedes to Sunday League 2, 18 years after vv De Zwarte Schapen had last featured at that level. The successful coach is Henk Wisman.
1985 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 2B, 1 point ahead of runners-up RKAVIC, AZS gains promotion to Sunday League 1 for the first time. The successful coach still is Henk Wisman.
1986 / AZS wins the Netherlands’ Cup for non-league clubs.
1988 / Finishing bottom of the table in Sunday League 1A, AZS drops back into Sunday League 2 after three years, along with the club in second-last place, ZFC. In the summer of 1988, the club takes on a new name, FC De Sloterplas.
1989 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 2B, 4 points ahead of closest rivals RKSV HBC, FC De Sloterplas manages an immediate return to Sunday League 1.
1990 / Richard Smith, an Amsterdam physiotherapist with a considerable reputation among footballers, takes over the chairmanship of FC De Sloterplas, explicitly stating the ambition to take the club to the professional divisions – a complicated business, given that the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie are a ‘closed shop’, with no opportunity for non-league clubs to accede on merit. Also in 1990, in Almere, a town in the newly created Province of Flevoland, not far from Amsterdam, a new sports park is laid out, named after one of the Netherlands’ most successful athletes of all time: Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen. Baseball club Almere ’82 – taking on the new name Almere ’90 to mark the new start – is one of the first sports clubs to move into the new park, abandoning their old Sportpark Kleine Brandt.
1992 / Having been temporarily expelled from the Netherlands’ FA due to misconduct of some sort, FC De Sloterplas takes on the original club name, vv De Zwarte Schapen.
1994 / vv De Zwarte Schapen finishes as runners-up in Sunday League 1A, 7 points behind champions RKSV AFC ’34. In the summer of 1994, Johnny Rep is signed as the club’s new head coach. Rep is a former professional league striker of AFC Ajax, Valencia CF, SEC Bastia, AS Saint-Etienne, PEC Zwolle ’82, Feyenoord Rotterdam, and HFC Haarlem (1971-87). He also won 42 caps for his country between 1973 and 1981, featuring in the 1974 and 1978 Netherlands’ squads which reached the World Cup finals.
1995 / Champions in Sunday League 1A, 1 point ahead of closest rivals HRC, vv De Zwarte Schapen wins promotion to Zondag Hoofdklasse – the top level of the Sunday pyramid – for the first time. The successful coach is Johnny Rep. In the summer of 1995, the club abandons Sportpark Spieringhorn in Amsterdam, settling at Sportpark Bok de Korver at Havendreef in Almere. The striking move from Amsterdam to Almere is the result of a partnership deal concluded by Richard Smith, chairman of vv De Zwarte Schapen, and Almere’s alderman for sports affairs, Cees van Bemmel, who has a burning ambition to create a professional league club within the borders of his municipality.
1996 / Coached by Johnny Rep, vv De Zwarte Schapen finishes in second-last place in Zondag Hoofdklasse A, thus dropping back into Sunday League 1 after just one season, along with vv ADO ’20 and bottom club HSV ADO.
1997 / Champions in Sunday League 1A along with SV Argon, vv De Zwarte Schapen manages a return to Zondag Hoofdklasse along with the club from Mijdrecht. The successful coach is Johnny Rep. Also in 1997, chairman Richard Smith relinquishes his position at the helm of the club after seven years without his ambition of taking it to the professional divisions having been realised. In the summer of 1997, in an attempt to broaden its appeal across the province, vv De Zwarte Schapen takes on the name Sporting Flevoland.
2000 / A first application by Sporting Flevoland to be admitted to the professional divisions is rejected by the Netherlands’ FA on the grounds of the club’s facilities at Sportpark Bok de Korver not meeting its minimum regulations for professional league football. That summer, the club takes on a new name, FC Omniworld, as it is transformed into an omnisport club by Almere’s municipal authorities, with branches for volleyball, indoor football, handball, and basketball.
2001 / After seven years, Johnny Rep relinquishes his post as head coach of FC Omniworld. In an attempt to create a ground eligible for league football, local authorities move the club to Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen, where several football pitches are laid out at its northwestern end in the course of the early months of 2001. The main pitch is adorned with a small covered stand at the west-side touchline, with a two-tiered clubhouse being added at the southern end. The abandoned Sportpark Bok de Korver would be occupied by a newly created club, Forza Almere, in 2006, with the facilities being given the new name Sportcomplex Annapark.
2002 / In January 2002, FC Omniworld player Ab Plugboer steps in as the club’s coach. Plugboer, who hangs up his boots to dedicate himself fully to his new role, is a former professional league midfielder at FC Volendam, SVV, and FC Utrecht (1984-98). Later that year, following elections which saw the old municipal council swept from power, funding from authorities for the FC Omniworld project is completely cut, resulting in the club’s ambition to join the professional leagues being seriously hampered.
2003 / In the club’s best season prior to moving to the professional leagues, FC Omniworld, still coached by Ab Plugboer, finishes in third place in Zondag Hoofdklasse A behind FC Türkiyemspor and vv Baronie.
2004 / FC Omniworld’s second application to be admitted to the professional leagues is rejected by the Netherlands’ FA. That summer, Ab Plugboer leaves his position as head coach, being replaced in that capacity by Jeffrey Kooistra, former professional league midfielder at FC Volendam, HFC Haarlem, SC Heerenveen, NEC, FC Groningen, Helmond Sport, and RBC Roosendaal (1990-2002).
2005 / In its last season as a non-league club, FC Omniworld finishes in fifth place in Zondag Hoofdklasse A. Meanwhile, its third application to join the professional divisions finally having met with the Netherlands’ FA’s approval, the club builds itself a small stadium in the spring months of 2005, with the only stand at Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen being stripped of its seat to create a covered terrace with an estimated capacity of 660; subsequently, two prefab stands are erected at the northern and eastern side of the pitch, offering a seat to 2,200 more spectators – raising total capacity of the ground to just under 3,000. At the southern end, next to the clubhouse, a utility building is constructed, with dressing rooms and a VIP room. In a sponsorship deal, the new stadium is given the official name Mitsubishi Forklift-Stadion. Meanwhile, the pitch is laid out anew with a synthetic surface. With Jeffrey Kooistra taking on the new role of technical manager, FC Omniworld makes its professional league debut in August 2005 with former SC Heerenveen winger Jan Schulting as its head coach. In a tragicomical turn of events, the club’s first match of the season, an Eerste Divisie (= professional league level 2) home encounter against BV Veendam, is called off due to heavy rainfall causing the synthetic pitch to float on its concrete foundation. Eventually, its first home match as a professional league club sees FC Omniworld suffering a 2-3 defeat against FC Den Bosch on August 22nd, 2005 (att. 2,146). While the professional league side spends its first seasons in the lower reaches of the Eerste Divisie, it shares its main pitch with its amateur branch, FC Omniworld (AV, Amateurvereniging), which continues its spell at the top non-league level, Zondag Hoofdklasse.
2007 / FC Omniworld signs Peter Boeve as its head coach. Boeve is a former professional league wingback, who had spells at AVC Vitesse, AFC Ajax, and Beerschot VAC (1975-88) with 16 caps for the Netherlands (1982-86) to his credit.
2009 / After two years in charge, Peter Boeve is succeeded as FC Omniworld’s head coach by Henk Wisman, who had enjoyed success as the coach of predecessor club AZS in the first half of the 1980s. Wisman would stay with the club for two seasons.
2010 / The amateur team of FC Omniworld, FC Omniworld (AV) finishes bottom of the table in Zondag Hoofdklasse A with its head coach Lodewijk de Kruif, a former professional league player of FC Wageningen, TOP Oss, and Beerschot VAC in the 1980s and 1990s. As such, it drops back into Sunday League 1 after thirteen years, along with the club in second-last place, VSV TONEGIDO. Meanwhile, the decision is taken to change the name of the club from FC Omniworld to Almere City FC – the original idea AFC (Almeerse Football Club) Almere City having been rejected to avoid confusion with various Amsterdam clubs using the same abbreviation (AFC Ajax, to begin with). Saying goodbye to the name ‘Omniworld’ also implies giving up the original ideal of creating an omnisport organisation with various branches, as Almere City FC now focuses fully on football, with all other sports being ejected from the club.
2011 / Finishing in eleventh place in Sunday League 1A in its last season, Almere City FC (AV), the non-league branch of Almere City FC, has to cease its activities due to a debt meanwhile exceeding 1 million euro. Straightaway, a successor club is founded, independent of Almere City FC: Sporting Almere, which starts its life at the bottom of the non-league pyramid. However, instead of hosting its first team matches as groundsharers of Almere City FC in the stadium proper, Sporting Almere moves all its activities to three side-pitches at the southern end of the footballing area of Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen, with first team matches being alternated between pitch 3 (natural grass) and pitch 9 (3G), a situation which has continued until the present day. In the early days of the club, some high-profile matches of the new non-league club – e.g. the derby against ASC Waterwijk – were moved to the stadium proper.
2013 / As the sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi is terminated, Almere City FC renames its stadium from Mitsubishi Forklift-Stadion to simply Almere City-Stadion.
2015 / In the best season at professional league level, Almere City FC finishes in tenth place in the Eerste Divisie, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by BV De Graafschap (3-2 aggr.). Also in 2015, the club concludes a new sponsorship deal, causing the stadium to be officially renamed Yanmar-Stadion.
2016 / Finishing in eighth place in the Eerste Divisie, Almere City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out FC Emmen in R1 (8-2 aggr.) before suffering elimination at the hands of Willem II in R2 (semi, 6-3 aggr.). Also in 2016, Almere City FC’s U23 side, colloquially referred to as Jong Almere City FC, is allowed into the regular football pyramid, taking its place in Saturday Division 3A, the fourth tier of the national league system. Home matches are played on the (main) pitch of the Yanmar-Stadion.
2017 / Finishing in eighth place in the Eerste Divisie, Almere City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club bows out in R1 following a 6-2 aggregate defeat at the hands of Helmond Sport.
2018 / Finishing in ninth place in the Eerste Divisie, Almere City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club eliminates MVV Maastricht in R1 (6-3 aggr.) and Roda JC Kerkrade in R2 (2-1 aggr.) to reach the final, in which the club is only narrowly defeated by BV De Graafschap (3-2 aggr.). Also in 2018, the synthetic surface of the playing field in the stadium is replaced with a natural grass pitch. The old 3G is laid out anew on the first side pitch of the ground, situated directly to its west. From now on, this pitch – officially pitch 4 of Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen – becomes the venue for the matches of Jong Almere City FC, the club’s U23 side, which had just won promotion from Saturday Division 3A, in which it had managed a fourth place, to National Division 2 (Tweede Divisie), the third tier of the national league pyramid, following play-off wins over vv UNA (2-2 aggr. & penalties) and JVC Cuijk (5-2 aggr.).
2019 / Finishing in seventh place in the Eerste Divisie, Almere City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by SC Cambuur (4-3 aggr.).
2020 / In a thorough renovation of the stadium, the main feature of which being the replacement of the small west-side terrace for a prefab all-seater, an almost exact copy of the stand on the opposite touchline, total capacity of the ground is raised to 4,501.
2021 / Finishing in a respectable fourth place in the Eerste Divisie, Almere City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by NEC (0-4).
2023 / Having had a disastrous 2021-22 campaign, which saw the club finishing in fourteenth place, Almere City FC now manages an unprecedented third place. In the promotion play-offs, the club manages wins over FC Eindhoven in R1 (3-2 aggr.) and VVV-Venlo in R2 (2-2 aggr. & penalties) to reach the final, in which FC Emmen is overpowered (4-1 aggr., 2 goals by Lance Duijvestijn, 1 each by Rajiv van la Parra & Jorrit Smeets). As such, the club manages a historic promotion to the Eredivisie, the top flight of the Netherlands’ football pyramid. The successful coach is Alex Pastoor, former professional league midfielder of FC Volendam, SC Heerenveen, KRC Harelbeke, SC Austria Lustenau, and SC Rheindorf Altach (1989-2001).
2024 / In its first-ever taste of top flight football, Almere City FC manages to stay up, finishing in thirteenth place in the Eredivisie. Coach Alex Pastoor leaves the club at the end of the season.
2025 / Coached by Jeroen Rijsdijk, who had replaced Hedwiges Maduro in the course of the season, Almere City FC finishes bottom of the Eredivisie table, thus suffering relegation to the Eerste Divisie along with RKC Waalwijk and Willem II.

Note – Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: pictures 1-2, 5 & 8 = match visit, August 2008 / pictures 3-4, 6-7, 9 & 11 = match visit, August 2010 / pictures 12-20 = non-matchday visit, December 2025.