Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: FC Heikant Zele (B) (1989-1994) / KFC Heikant Zele (1994-)

Campus Ter Heide, Heikant-Zele (KFC Heikant Zele)

Belgium, province: East Flanders

4 XII 2022 / KFC Heikant Zele - KVV Sint-Denijs Sport 1-2 / East Flanders, Provincial League 1 (= BE level 6)

Timeline

1940 / Shortly after Germany's occupation of the Low Countries in the spring months of 1940, a recreational football team is founded in the hamlet of Heikant, just to the west of Zele. The team, named Zonnekloppers, which is organised as a subsection of FC Scela Zele, one of two clubs in Zele proper, plays its football on various pastures in and around Heikant, including Terrein Hector D'heer and Terrein Kouterbossen.
1944 / Incredible events unfolding in Heikant, as, on September 1st, during a home match of Zonnekloppers at Terrein Kouterbossen, a multitude of bicycles parked at the entrance of the ground is stolen by German soldiers fleeing before the onset of the Allied troops in Flanders - and merely 11 days later, Zonnekloppers entertains a team of English soldiers in a friendly at Kouterbossen, celebrating the end of the war. In the wake of liberation, the decision is taken to join the Belgian Football Association as an independent club - and in December, the club's first board, led by chairman Gustaaf Van Cauteren, files a request to FA authorities to be admitted under a new name, FC Heikant Zele. The club, which obtains matricule 4174 upon being accepted as new FA member, settles at a newly laid-out pitch at 't Lokerstraatje.
1948 / After difficult first years, FC Heikant Zele registers its first success, as it wins the title in East Flanders' Regional League 3D - which would have entailed promotion, were it not for the fact that the club forfeited its right to climb to a higher level due to not having fielded a first team the previous season.
1952 / In a reform of the provincial league pyramid, involving the abolition of the regional divisions, FC Heikant Zele is placed in Provincial League 2.
1953 / Finding it difficult to adapt to the level of play in Provincial League 2, FC Heikant Zele finishes second-last in P2B. The club is given an opportunity to save its skin in two relegation play-off matches, resulting in emphatic defeats of Verbroedering Denderhoutem (2-8) and Azalea Sport Oude Bareel Sint-Amandsberg (9-2) - but, nonetheless, due to an additional club from East Flanders, KFAC Meulestede, suffering relegation from the national divisions, several clubs were moved back one extra division - Heikant being one of the victims. In the following years, FC Heikant Zele has to content itself with playing a minor role in Provincial League 3, the lowest provincial level at that time.
1963 / Although having another anonymous season in Provincial League 3, FC Heikant Zele registers its most comprehensive ever win in a league match, defeating FC Hoger Op Kalken 16-1.
1969 / In a new reorganisation of East Flanders' league pyramid, with a Provincial League 4 being added as lowest step of the ladder, FC Heikant Zele is retrograded to this level after finishing dead-last in P3H.
1970 / In Zele proper, a merger is concluded between the town's three football clubs, KSK Zele, KFC Scela Zele, and FC De Zeven Zele, resulting in the foundation of KFC Eendracht Zele; FC Heikant Zele, however, stays out of the merger process, preferring to continue as an independent club.
1971 / The street at which Heikant's pitch is located, 't Lokerstraatje, is renamed Sportstraat.
1972 / Foundation of FC Heikant Zele's youth academy, with the club's first junior teams taking part in regular Belgian FA matches in the 1973-74 season.
1975 / A major renovation of the club's premises at Sportstraat is carried out, with the changing rooms being enlarged and a new clubhouse, nicknamed "'t Peebosken", being inaugurated.
1980 / Having its best season in decades, FC Heikant Zele finishes third in Provincial League 4I behind champions FC Red Star Waasland and FC Gerda Sint-Niklaas.
1982 / After thirteen consecutive seasons in P4, FC Heikant Zele - with head coach André Van Driessche - clinches the title in Provincial League 4C after winning the away match at nearest rivals, FC SK Overmere (1-2), in an encounter attended by a baffling 1,300 spectators.
1983 / André Van Driessche leads his team to back-to-back promotions, with FC Heikant Zele winning the title in Provincial League 3D with an advantage of 6 points over FC Stekene Sportief, which finishes in second place. For the first time in 30 years, the club finds itself in Provincial League 2.
1984 / With the club eager to move to a ground disposing of more than just one pitch, the first plans are made to move to a new-to-be-built park at Rechte Heistraat. In spite Zele's municipal authorities promising the club financial support, it remains unclear if, and when, the project will come to fruition.
1987 / Suffering relegation along with FC Sporting Sint-Gillis-Waas and Lokerse SV, FC Heikant Zele drops out of Provincial League 2 after a spell of four seasons at that level.
1988 / Following a second relegation in a row, Heikant is back at the bottom of the league ladder for the first time since 1980.
1989 / Bouncing right back, Heikant Zele wins the title in Provincial League 4H to reclaim its place in P3. That year, two pitches are laid out at Campus Ter Heide (Rechte Heistraat), which are taken in use for training sessions. However, with no further facilities being available, the club cannot move to the new ground yet.
1990 / François Pfaff, brother of Belgian international star goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff, takes over the managership at FC Heikant Zele, staying at the helm of the club for a season-and-a-half.
1991 / To the dismay of Heikant Zele's board, Zele's municipal authorities halt the works at Grote Heistraat until further notice, giving preference to a project of enhancing the facilities at Gemeentelijk Sportpark Ter Elst in Zele proper.
1992 / Finishing second in P3C behind champions FC Oordegem, FC Heikant Zele qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Being defeated by Sparta Wortegem (1-3) in a match played at KFC Merelbeke's Kloosterstraat, the club is given a second chance in a lucky loser final against FC Verbroedering Hofstade. In this encounter, played at Varingstraat, Tenstar Melle's ground, Heikant Zele proves itself the stronger side, winning the match 2-1 - thus acceding to Provincial League 2 after an absence of five years. That same year, 11-year-old youth player Kristof Imschoot is taken over by KSC Lokeren's youth academy; making his professional league debut as a player of KSK Beveren in 1998, Imschoot went on to have a long career, successively playing at K Lierse SK, Willem II (NL), YR KV Mechelen, FCV Dender EH, Enosis Neon Paralimni (CYP), R Cappellen FC, and K Standaard Wetteren.
1993 / After just one season in P2C, FC Heikant Zele, along with FC Sint-Joris Sleidinge and JV Kruibeke, drops back into Provincial League 3.
1994 / In an eventful year, FC Heikant Zele finally moves into the newly built Campus Ter Heide at Rechte Heistraat, which had been in use for training purposes for the past five years already. The club's previous ground at Sportstraat remains in use for recreational football for at least 15 more years, with Real Heibos taking over the pitch. Meanwhile, celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, FC Heikant Zele files an application at the Royal Palace to become a Société Royale - and, all formalities being successfully completed, the club name is duly adapted to become Koninklijke Football Club (KFC) Heikant Zele. Sadly, in December 1994, club secretary Cesar Van Lysebettens, who had been the driving force behind the club's ambition to move to the new ground at Rechte Heistraat, passes away suddenly at the age of 66. Van Lysebettens, a founding member of the club, had been FC Heikant's secretary for an impressive 38 consecutive years.
1996 / With KFC Heikant Zele and FC Herleving Sint-Pauwels finishing in a joint 13th place in P3F, the two clubs take on each other in a play-off match at SK Lokeren's ground (Heilige Geestmolenstraat) for one spot in P3 - and as Sint-Pauwels wins the encounter with the narrowest of margins (1-0), Heikant involuntarily takes a step back to the bottom of the league ladder.
2000 / The canteen at Campus Ter Heide is extended in a first renovation of the ground. Due to extra promotion places being available that year, a third place in the final ranking in Provincial League 4D is sufficient to bring the club back to P3 level.
2002 / Under the leadership of successful head coach Marc Cooreman, KFC Heikant Zele's first team manages a second promotion in three seasons; finishing second in P3F, the club again has the fortune of winning an automatic extra promotion spot due to two mergers in higher divisions (RRC Gent-Zeehaven absorbing KFC Oostakker & Sporting Lebeke and SK Aalst becoming SK Lebeke-Aalst). Due to Eendracht Zele having suffered relegation from Provincial League 1 two years previously, KFC Eendracht and KFC Heikant find themselves placed in the same division for the first time. At the first derby encounter between the two clubs in P2C, played at Eendracht's Gemeentelijk Sportpark Ter Elst, Heikant manages a sensational 2-0 win witnessed by no fewer than 2,000 spectators.
2003 / The second encounter with Eendracht, played at Campus Ter Heide, draws a crowd of some 1,500, with KFC Heikant again taking the points (2-0). In the end, the club finishes 12th in P2C, while Eendracht narrowly stays up with a meagre 14th place. On October 19th, 2003, in the first derby game in the new season, taking place at Rechte Heistraat, a new covered terrace - with a capacity of 250 - is inaugurated, replacing a smaller bit of cover at the southern side of the main pitch. With the number of spectators again easily exceeding the 1,000 mark, KFC Heikant manages a third win in a row over Eendracht (2-1).
2004 / In a reversal of fortunes, which sees Eendracht defeating KFC Heikant 4-1 at Ter Elst in February 2004, KFC Eendracht Zele wins the title in P2C as well as a much longed for promotion to East Flanders' Provincial League 1, while KFC Heikant narrowly saves its skin with a 13th place.
2005 / Finishing rock-bottom in P2C with just two wins in the entire season, KFC Heikant Zele returns to Provincial League 3 after a three-year spell at P2 level. In the following years, the club is a regular force in P3.
2012 / At Campus Ter Heide, a third pitch is laid out.
2014 / After managing a second place in P3E, just one point behind champions FC Herleving Sinaai, KFC Heikant qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Defeating VSV Gent in an away game after extra time (0-1), the club obtains its ticket for Provincial League 2 with a 4-1 home win against KFC Edeboys in front of some 700 spectators.
2016 / Construction works on a new set of changing rooms, situated at the northern side of the main pitch, are completed, replacing the old, far more basic, changing rooms, situated between the clubhouse and the covered stand.
2017 / Going from strength to strength, KFC Heikant Zele finishes fifth in Provincial League 2C, the best result in club history. In the promotion play-offs, the club is defeated by KFCE Meetjesland.
2022 / KFC Heikant Zele finishes third in P2C (57 points) behind KSK Beveren matr. 9577 (65 points) and HRS Haasdonk (58 points). Despite an unsuccessful play-off final, a home tie against the aforementioned HRS Haasdonk (2-3), KFC Heikant is admitted to Provincial League 1 for the first time in club history due to an additional P1 side from East Flanders, KVE Drongen, managing promotion to the national leagues in the interprovincial play-offs.
2023 / KFC Heikant Zele finishes 13th in P1, not enough to stay up at that level - dropping back into P2 along with SK Grembergen, SKN Sint-Niklaas, and KSC Excelsior Mariakerke, which had dropped out of the league season several weeks before the end.

Note: The main source of the information given above is a fantastic and wonderfully detailed club history released on the occasion of KFC Heikant Zele's 75th anniversary in 2020: Eric Van den Broeck, "75 jaar KFC Heikant Zele. Oorlogskind uit het onbezet gebied", ed Eric Van den Broeck & Marnix Boeykens: Zele 2020 (released as one hard-cover with Marnix Boeykens' "KFC Eendracht Zele. Fusieclub met ups & downs").