Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: Atlas Linter

Saturday 12 August 2023

BELGIUM: Atlas Linter

Kosterstadion, Linter Drieslinter (Atlas Linter)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant = Vlaams Brabant

12 VIII 2023 / Atlas Linter - VK Eendracht Eizer 3-2 / Brabant, VFV Provincial Cup - group stage, group 4

Timeline

1979 / One of SV Drieslinter’s youth teams wins the title, but are not allowed by the club’s board to organise an evening celebrating the success in the clubhouse, unless a rent is paid for the use of the premises. Subsequently, the decision is taken to hold the evening in a local discotheque, Dancing Napoli.
1980 / Still disaffected about what had happened the previous year, Michel Herinckx, the father of one of the players of the successful SVD academy team, forms a recreational football club, Atlas Linter. Acquiring a plot of land from the church council, the club settles at the newly laid-out Terrein Pelsstraat, just a stone’s throw away from SV Drieslinter’s Terrein Molenweg. Atlas Linter, colloquially referred to simply as ‘Den Atlas’, joins Brabant’s branch of recreational football league RKLVB (Rooms-Katholieke Liefhebbersvoetbalbond).
1989 / Atlas Linter wins the title in Brabant’s KBLVB Division 2B.
1994 / Atlas Linter wins the title in Brabant’s KBLVB Division 1A.
2000 / Atlas Linter wins the title in Flemish Brabant’s KBLVB Division 2A. Following the 1999-2000 season, abandoning the ranks of KBLVB after 20 years, the club applies for membership of Belgium’s official Football Association, being admitted as new members under registration number 9377. Michel Herinckx takes over the presidency, with his son Raymond becoming the club’s official correspondent. With KSV Drieslinter and Sporting Heide Linter, there are now three FA member clubs in a radius of 1,5 km. For the new season, the club is placed in Brabant’s Provincial League 4F. Also around this time, Terrein Pelsstraat is renamed Kosterstadion to honour Michel Herinckx’s continued commitment to the club – Herinckx had once been the verger (‘koster’ in Dutch) of the church in Stok, a hamlet of Linter.
2006 / Finishing runners-up in Provincial League 4F, trailing champions FC Meensel-Kiezegem by 8 points, Atlas Linter wins the subsequent round of promotion play-offs, thus acceding to Provincial League 3 for the first time.
2008 / In the best season in club history, Atlas Linter finishes in 5th place in Provincial League 3A.
2010 / Having played in P3 for 4 seasons, Atlas Linter now finishes 3rd-last in P3A, thus tumbling back into the bottom division of Brabant’s provincial league pyramid along with Toekomst Bunsbeek and K Arsenaal Goetsenhoven.
2013 / Winning the title in Provincial League 4I with an advantage of just 1 point over closest rivals Rummen-Geetbets SK, Atlas Linter manages a return to P3.
2015 / Finishing 15th in Provincial League 3A, Atlas Linter descends back into P4.
2019 / Former professional league player at SC Eindhoven, SBV Eindhoven, KV Mechelen, FC Brussels, and Oud-Heverlee Leuven, Sammy Greven, takes over the role as head coach at Atlas Linter, staying on for one season.
2024 / Champions in P4F, a staggering 14 points ahead of closest followers Sporting Budingen, Atlas Linter wins promotion to Provincial League 3.