BELGIUM: Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk (2018-)

Campus Tesseskouter, Opwijk (Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk "EMO")

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant

12 III 2023 / Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk - VC Bertem-Leefdaal 0-0 / Brabant, VFV Provincial League 1 (= BE level 6)

Timeline

• 1959 / Foundation of Voetbalclub (VC) Eendracht Mazenzele, which is accepted as new Belgian FA member that same year under matricule 6353. Most probably, the club played at Terrein Vossestraat from the outset.
• 1960 / VCE Mazenzele takes part with a first team in Brabant's provincial leagues for the first time. In the 1960-61 season, the club finishes 16th and dead-last in Provincial League 3H.
• 1966 / After six years in P3, VCE Mazenzele drops back to the newly formed Provincial League 4 due to a 14th place finish in P3F.
• 1982 / Having played in the anonymity of Provincial League 4 for 16 years, VC Eendracht Mazenzele clinches the first title in club history, finishing in first place in Provincial League 4D. The adventure at P3 level lasts for one season though, with relegation following in 1983. In the following 16 years, the club alternates spells in P4 (1983-86, 1989-94) and P3 (1986-89, 1994-99).
• 1999 / Winning the title in P3F, VCE Mazenzele accedes to Provincial League 2 for the first time in club history. In the 1999-2000 season, the club manages a respectable 6th place in P2C - the best result in club history.
• 2007 / Following back-to-back relegations - finishing last in P2C and P3F successively -, VC Eendracht Mazenzele suddenly finds itself in Provincial League 4.
• 2008 / After two disastrous seasons, the club gets its act together in an admirable way, winning the title in Brabant's Provincial League 4F with a six-point gap over its closest rival, VK Sint-Agatha-Berchem - thus returning to P3 after just one year.
• 2009 / Strikingly, in the year of VCE Mazenzele's 50th anniversary, no royal epithet is added to the club name - and this has not happened in subsequent years either.
• 2014 / In its last season under the name VC Eendracht Mazenzele, the club finishes in second place in P3F, ten points behind the unstoppable FC Borght. Qualifying for the promotion play-offs, the club finishes last in a small competition, far behind the two clubs who obtain the promotion tickets, SK Leeuw and FC Saint-Michel. Meanwhile, in Opwijk, not far from Mazenzele, former national league side KSK Sint-Paulus Opwijk (matricule 4013) finds itself in financial trouble - deciding to put a stop to all its activities for a full season. As a temporary arrangement, this club's youth academy is transferred as a whole to VCE Mazenzele, which changes its name to become Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk (often abbreviated "EMO"). 
• 2015 / The plans of KSK Sint-Paulus Opwijk's board to pay off all its debts in the course of the 2014-15 season having come to naught, this club folds; matricule 4013 is erased from the Belgian FA's official lists. Not long after, the historic ground at Ringlaan in Opwijk is demolished. In order to facilitate Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk's large youth academy, Opwijk's municipal authorities finance the creation of two synthetic pitches, the first being put in place in the fall of 2015 next to the pitch of recreational club VK De Sjoeters (Steenweg op Vilvoorde, Opwijk). Upon completion, this pitch, Terrein Molenkouter, is taken in use by EMO's youth academy as well as by VK De Sjoeters - especially by this club's ladies' branch, which joined Belgium's FA in 2014 under the name VK Sjoeters Opwijk (matricule 9621).
• 2017 / Ladies' football club VK Sjoeters Opwijk is absorbed into Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk. Around that same time, EMO's second synthetic pitch is inaugurated at Klaarstraat in Opwijk - also in this case, the 3G is laid out next to the pitch of a recreational football club, in this case VK Eeksken. 
• 2018 / A third pitch is added to the sports park at Klaarstraat in Opwijk for the benefit of Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk's first team football. In addition to that, a new clubhouse is built on the location as well, the premises being inaugurated in August 2018. As VK Eeksken makes use of the facilities as well, that club's canteen is knocked down. The new park, now consisting of three pitches, is given the name Campus Tesseskouter.
• 2019 / Having played in the upper reaches of Provincial League 3 for the past seasons, Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk wins promotion to P2 by virtue of a second-place finish in P3C - with extra promotion places in Flemish Brabant's provincial leagues being awarded without play-offs, but based on results in the regular league.
• 2022 / In an impressive season in Provincial League 2B, Eendracht Mazenzele Opwijk wins the title hand-down with a total of 79 points, having an advantage of 17 (!) points over its closest follower K Euro 90 Kraainem FC. Thus, EMO accedes to Provincial League 1 for the first time in club history - and eight years after KSK Sint-Paulus Opwijk played its last match at that same level.

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