Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: K Diegem Sport (B) (2000-2023, 2024-) / K Diegem Sport (2023)

Sportcomplex Calenberg - Kosterstraat, Diegem (K Diegem Sport - youth academy ground)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant = Vlaams Brabant

26 XI 2023 / K Diegem Sport - RC Hades Kiewit Hasselt 3-2 / VFV Amateur Division 2B (= BE level 4)

Timeline

1927 / Foundation of a football club in Diegem (or Dieghem in archaic orthography), which takes on the name Dieghem Sportief and joins Belgium’s Football Association under registration number 1001.
1939 / Dieghem Sportief folds, ceasing all activities.
1941 / Two new football clubs see the daylight in Diegem, Diegem Star Voetbalvereniging (VV) and Racing Dieghem Loo, both of which join Belgium’s FA – acquiring registration number 3097 and 3274 respectively. Diegem Star VV’s ground is situated on a location matching modern-day Kosterstraat, while RC Dieghem Loo’s ground could be found at Lostraat.
1943 / After two seasons, the two clubs from Diegem conclude a merger, leading to the foundation of Diegem Sport. Following Belgian FA rules of those days, rather than choosing the registration number of one of the merger clubs, Diegem Sport is accorded a new number, 3887. The newly founded club settles at Racing Dieghem Loo’s ground, Terrein Lostraat.
1956 / Abandoning Terrein Lostraat, Diegem Sport moves into the newly built Gemeentelijk Sportstadion at the crossroads of Woluwelaan and Alfons Decockplein.
2000 / K Diegem Sport’s youth academy ground at Kosterstraat is inaugurated – only a stone’s throw away from the former ground of Diegem Star VV in the years 1941-43 – with two full-size pitches and an additional training pitch.
2005 / 11-year-old youth prodigy Yannick Carrasco leaves the club, making the leap to the youth academy of professional league side KRC Genk. Carrasco goes on to have a career as a professional league player at AS Monaco, Club Atlético de Madrid, Dalian Yifang, and Al-Shabab FC – as well as earning 51 caps for Belgium.
2022 / A thorough renovation of K Diegem Sport’s youth academy at Kosterstraat is carried out, following which the ground disposes of a new clubhouse as well as three synthetic pitches. The renovated ground, which is renamed Sportcomplex Calenberg, is inaugurated in December 2022 in the presence of Machelen-Diegem’s mayor Jean-Pierre De Groef.
2023 / In the summer and fall of 2023, works are carried out at Diegem’s Gemeentelijk Sportstadion, involving the renovation of the clubhouse as well as the dressing rooms. During these months, the club’s first team plays its home matches at Sportcomplex Calenberg.
2024 / In January 2024, K Diegem Sport's first team returns to the Gemeentelijk Sportstadion at Alfons Decockplein.