Belgium, province: Antwerp
5 II 2022 / KFC Houtvenne - SK Pepingen-Halle 1-1 / VFV League 2B (= BE level 4)
Note: Of the side pitches of Stadion 't Kuipje in Westerlo, the 3G shown in the photos below - officially pitch 6 - is immediately east of the main ground. According to a Westerlo club official I spoke to, the pitch must have been put in place around 2009. With Westerlo's reserves usually playing their matches on the grass pitch south of the stadium - in fact situated on the exact location which used to be Westerlo's main ground until the early 1990s -, pitch 6 was in use just for lower team football and training purposes. From mid-2021 onwards, this changed, as Westerlo's 'stiffs' moved from pitch 2 to pitch 6. Strikingly, they were joined by KFC Houtvenne's first team. The floodlights of the ground at Harmoniestraat in Houtvenne proper do not meet the requirements of the Belgian Football Association for a VFV League 2 ground; after the club won promotion to that level in the summer of 2020, they were given one year's dispensation, upon which a cooperation agreement was signed with KVC Westerlo, entailing a close collaboration of both clubs' youth academies... as well as a permission allowing KFC Houtvenne's first team to play at Stadion 't Kuipje's pitch 6. A two-sided covered stand behind one of the goals was added in the 2021-22 winter break, with more ground improvements underway. When Houtvenne received clubs with a large fan following, they moved to Westerlo's main stadium. In 2023, KFC Houtvenne and Westerlo ended their groundsharing agreement, as Houtvenne moved its first team football to Terrein Bovemansstraat in Oosterwijk.
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