BELGIUM: KFC Malderen (1939-2022) / Londerzeel United (B) (2022-)

Steenhuffelstraat, Malderen (KFC Malderen)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant

18 XII 2021 / KFC Malderen - Infinity FC Vilvoorde 0-0 / Brabant, VFV Provincial League 3C (= BE level 8)

Timeline

• 1937 / Foundation of FC Malderen. The club joins the so-called Vlaamse Voetbalbond, a Roman Catholic football association which competed with the Royal Belgian Football Association in the inter-war period. Later that same year, another club is founded, SK (Sportkring) Malderen, which affiliates with the official Belgian FA, receiving matricule 2571; this SK Malderen takes part in Brabant's provincial leagues for one season only (1938-39) before withdrawing its team; the club's matricule is eventually erased in January 1941.
• 1939 / Cyriel Vercauteren, owner of the local brewery, allows FC Malderen to settle down on a site rext next to his factory. This is the ground at Steenhuffelstraat shown in the photos below.
• 1943 / FC Malderen joins the Belgian Football Association, receiving matricule 3794 upon obtaining membership.
• 1951 / FC Malderen wins its first title, topping Brabant's Provincial League 3F and thus winning promotion to P2. It is the start of an uninterrupted spell of 27 seasons in Provincial League 2, ending with relegation in 1978.
• 1985 / After seven years in P3, FC Malderen wins Provincial League 3E and accedes to P2 for a second time.
• 1992 / The club acquires the royal epithet, thus becoming Koninklijke Football Club (KFC) Malderen. 
• 1994 / KFC Malderen is condemned to relegation to Provincial League 3. The club never manages a return to P2 in the following decades.
• 2001 / The nadir in KFC Malderen's history, as the club suffers relegation to P4, the lowest provincial division. It takes the club 12 years to make its way back to Provincial League 3.
• 2022 / Conclusion of a merger between KFC Malderen and FC Sint-Jozef Londerzeel (founded in 1937, matricule 3959), resulting in the foundation of Londerzeel United under Malderen's matricule 3794. First team football moves to Sint-Jozef's Complex Stuikberg, while KFC Malderen's pitches remain in use for part of the youth academy.

All photo's: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author