Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KFC Eppegem

Sunday, 2 June 2013

BELGIUM: KFC Eppegem

Frans Vercammenstadion 'Complex Den Dries', Eppegem (KFC Eppegem)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant

2 VI 2013 / KFC Eppegem - FC Pepingen 1-2 / Brabant, Provincial League 1 - promotion play-off (= BE level 5)

Timeline

1936 / Foundation of FC Eppegem, with the club joining the Belgian Football Association under matricule 2442. Proof is lacking that the club played at Complex Den Dries from the foundation onwards - or if the move to the current ground was made later onwards (if you can provide information on this matter, please feel free to contact me!)
1946 / FC Eppegem folds, after having ceased all activities six years previously upon the outbreak of World War II and Germany's occupation of Belgium.
1947 / Refoundation of FC Eppegem under a new matricule, 4759.
1988 / Allegedly, FC Eppegem absorbs a local recreational club FC Borneo (founded in 1977); if this is true, cannot be proved definitely - what is sure, though, is that FC Borneo exists as an independent recreational club today (2022).
1997 / Upon the club's fiftieth anniversary, the royal epithet is obtained, with FC Eppegem thus becoming KFC Eppegem.
2007 / After years of relative obscurity in the lower echelons of Brabant's Provincial League system, KFC Eppegem manages a promotion to Provincial League 1 - a first in the club's history. The stay in P1 does not last longer than one season, though, with relegation following in 2008.
2012 / The club wins promotion to Provincial League 1 for a second time in five years. This time, KFC Eppegem proves better prepared for the higher level, as the promotion play-offs are reached in the first season after promotion (2012-13).
2016 / After four years in P1, KFC Eppegem reaches the national league system for the first time in history.
2018 / A further milestone is reached, as the club wins the play-offs in the Flemish branch (VFV) of National Amateur Division 3, the fifth tier of the Belgian football pyramid - thus acceding to National Amateur Division 2.
2019 / Finishing 1 point short of security, KFC Eppegem suffers relegation into National Amateur Division 3 along with Tempo Overijse and K Olsa Brakel.
2023 / Finishing 15th in VFV Amateur Division 3A, KFC Eppegem drops out of the national leagues after 7 years, taking with it KVE Drongen, KSV Rumbeke, and KSV Anzegem - with the last-mentioned club folding before the end of the season.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-5 = non-matchday visit, August 2022 / pictures 6-24 = match visit, June 2013.