Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KVC Ardooie

Sportcentrum De Ark, Ardooie (KVC Ardooie)

Belgium, province: West Flanders = West-Vlaanderen

29 X 2023 / KVC Ardooie - KFC Varsenare 1-1 / West Flanders, Provincial League 1 (= BE level 6)

Timeline

1928 / Foundation of a first football club in Ardooie, which takes on the name Voetbalclub (VC) Ardoye Sport, joining the official Belgian Football Association and obtaining registration number 1199 upon being accepted as new members. The first president being the village doctor, Georges Baert, the new club starts its life on a pitch which it rents from a local farmer, Mote Callewaerts.
1934 / In Kruipendaarde, a hamlet situated not far from Ardooie proper, a football club is founded which takes on the name De Veldknappers. This club joins the so-called Vlaamsche Voetbalbond, a Flemish football association which is a rival to the official Belgian FA.
1939 / Winning its second promotion since the foundation of the club, VC Ardoye Sport now finds itself in West Flanders’ Provincial League 2.
± 1943 / Foundation of a third club in Ardooie, Den Eendracht, mainly consisting of refugees temporarily staying in the region. This new club, which plays its home matches at Terrein Remi Cuyle, joins yet another football association, the so-called Katholiek Vlaams Sportverbond (KVS).
1944 / Shortly after the liberation of Belgium of the German yoke, De Veldknappers, as so many clubs in Flanders which were disgusted by the collaborationist stance of the Vlaamse Voetbalbond, leaves that association and joins the official Belgian FA under a new name, Ardos Ardooie – and receives registration number 4142 upon being accepted as new member club.
1945 / A merger is concluded between the three clubs in Ardooie, resulting in the foundation of VC Ardooie – and following the custom of those days, the merger club receives a new registration number (4257) instead of retaining the number of the oldest of the three clubs.
± 1960 / Having played at Terrein Izegemstraat, probably since shortly after World War II, VC Ardooie now moves to the newly laid-out Terrein Eekhoutstraat.
1964 / With the club’s history in the first 25 years after World War II being poorly documented, not many data can be provided concerning this period – but it is clear that VC Ardooie won the title in Provincial League 4 in 1964, thus gaining promotion to Provincial League 3.
1965 / Clinching its second title in a row, VC Ardooie accedes to West Flanders’ Provincial League 2 for the first time. Both promotions were achieved under the leadership of player-manager Joël Hoste. It is unclear how long the club managed to stay up in P2.
1972 / Finishing runners-up in Provincial League 3B, VC Ardooie accedes to Provincial League 2 for a second time.
1974 / Having played in P2 for two seasons, VC Ardooie now drops back into Provincial League 3 after finishing 14th in Provincial League 2A.
1977 / Finishing 14th in Provincial League 3B, VC Ardooie finds itself in Provincial League 4, the bottom division of West Flanders’ provincial league pyramid.
1978 / Fifty years after the foundation of VC Ardoye Sport, VC Ardooie obtains the royal epithet – and adapting its name to become Koninklijke Voetbalclub (KVC) Ardooie.
1979 / Runners-up in Provincial League 4C, KVC Ardooie finds the way back to P3.
1980 / KVC Ardooie’s 15-year-old youth player Marc Degryse moves to the youth academy of Club Brugge KV, experiencing his breakthrough in FC Bruges’ first team three years later. Degryse goes on to have a brilliant career as a striker at FC Bruges (1983-89; league title in 1987), RSC Anderlechtois (1989-93; league titles in 1991 and 1993), RSC Anderlecht (1993-94; league title in 1994), Sheffield Wednesday FC (1995-96), PSV (1996-98; league title in 1997), KAA Gent (1998-99), and Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen (1999-2002). He also won 63 caps for the Belgian national team, scoring 23 goals and being part of the Belgian sides which reached the last 16 in the 1990 and 1994 World Cup tournaments in Italy and the United States.
1982 / Runners-up in Provincial League 3C, KVC Ardooie manages a return to P2, but the stay at that level is short, with relegation following immediately in 1983.
1994 / Having spent the previous eleven seasons in P3, KVC Ardooie now finishes 15th in P3C, thus dropping back into Provincial League 4.
1999 / Runners-up in Provincial League 4C, KVC Ardooie wins promotion to P3.
2000 / Clinching the league title in Provincial League 3C – incidentally the club’s first title in 35 years – KVC Ardooie wins promotion to Provincial League 2. As on the previous occasion, though, the stay at that level is short, with relegation following immediately in 2001.
2006 / Abandoning Terrein Eekhoutstraat, KVC Ardooie now settles at the newly laid-out Sportcentrum De Ark (with the sports hall, which also houses KVC Ardooie’s canteen, being inaugurated in October 2010).
2020 / Having spent the previous nineteen (!) seasons in Provincial League 3, KVC Ardooie wins promotion to P2 after finding itself in second place in P3C after 28 of 32 matches in the 2019-20 season cut short due to the COVID lockdown; as such, the club is placed in P2 for the following season along with KSV Moorsele and VV Emelgem-Kachtem.
2023 / Finishing runners-up in P2B, 8 points behind champions KSV Bredene, KVC Ardooie qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it successively defeats KWS Houthulst (0-2) and VV Koekelare (0-2) – as well as SK Westrozebeke in the final (4-2) which had become superfluous due to both clubs already being assured of promotion due to an extra promotion place being available. As such, KVC Ardooie accedes to West Flanders’ Provincial League 1 for the first time in club history.