Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: FC Neerwinden (1965-2005) / Standaard Neerwinden (2005-2024) / Neerwinden FC (2024-)

Sunday, 21 April 2024

BELGIUM: FC Neerwinden (1965-2005) / Standaard Neerwinden (2005-2024) / Neerwinden FC (2024-)

Terrein Schoolstraat, Neerwinden (Standaard Neerwinden, formerly FC Neerwinden)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant = Vlaams Brabant

21 IV 2024 / Standaard Neerwinden - RC Meldert 2-3 / Brabant VFV, Provincial League 4F (= BE level 9)

Timeline

1938 / Foundation of a football club in the village of Neerwinden in Brabant, just on the Flemish side of the language border; the club takes on the name FC Neerwinden and acquires registration number 2705 upon being accepted as new members of the Belgian Football Association. In spite of being part of the province of Brabant, FC Neerwinden chooses to compete in the regional divisions of Limburg, starting its life in Limburg’s Regional League 2C (2e Gewestelijke C). It is unclear where this club’s ground was situated.
1947 / In the club’s best season, FC Neerwinden finishes runners-up in Limburg’s Provincial League 3C.
1954 / Having last fielded a first team in Limburg’s Provincial League 3 in the 1952-53 season, FC Neerwinden folds, with its registration number 2705 being erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists.
1965 / After eleven years of inactivity in terms of football, FC Neerwinden is refounded as a new club – receiving registration number 6813 upon being accepted as new members of the Belgian Football Association. The club settles on a pitch at Kruiskensstraat – with the entrance later being moved to Schoolstraat – on a plot of land put at the club’s disposal by the local beer brewery, Dimbour, which had moved from Lincent (Lijsem) in Liège to settle in Neerwinden one year previously. Strikingly, this new FC Neerwinden does not join the provincial divisions of Brabant or Limburg, instead preferring to start its life in Liège’s Provincial League 4.
1975 / After ten years in Liège’s Provincial League 4, FC Neerwinden makes the step to Brabant's Provincial League 4.
1978 / Clinching the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 4F, FC Neerwinden wins promotion to Provincial League 3 for the first time, holding out at that level for two seasons until dropping back in 1980.
1981 / Runners-up in Brabant’s Provincial League 4F, FC Neerwinden accedes to P3 again – probably due to extra promotion places being available.
1985 / Winning the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 3A, FC Neerwinden accedes to Provincial League 2 for the first time.
1992 / Finishing second-last in P2B, FC Neerwinden drops back into Provincial League 3 after seven seasons.
1993 / Finishing in last place in P3A, FC Neerwinden suffers a second relegation in a row, thus finding itself in Brabant’s Provincial League 4.
1997 / Clinching the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 4F, FC Neerwinden manages a return to Provincial League 3.
2001 / Clinching the title in P3A, FC Neerwinden wins promotion to Provincial League 2, managing a return at that level after an absence of nine seasons. Around this same time, the covered stand alongside the middle of the western side of the main pitch at Terrein Schoolstraat is extended to its northern side, with wooden seats being added in that part of the stand (seats removed in 2004).
2004 / Managing a historic title in P2B, FC Neerwinden wins promotion to Brabant’s Provincial League 1 for the first time in club history. Following the 2003-04 season, however, the club’s chairman and sponsor, a local fish trader called Bams, takes the far-reaching decision to conclude what has officially gone down as a merger with Voorwaarts Oorbeek, a club founded in 1992 (registration number 9263), which had finished in second place in P2B behind… FC Neerwinden. Thus, the newly formed Voorwaarts Oorbeek United (registration number 6813) makes its debut in Provincial League 1 at Sportcomplex August Huon in Oorbeek. Meanwhile, in Neerwinden, a phoenix club is founded, Standaard Neerwinden, under the chairmanship of longtime club man Jean Casters, who takes over the presidency. The new club, which takes over registration number 9304 of Standaard Wange from the neighbouring hamlet of Wange – Standaard Wange, founded in 1996, was actually on the brink of folding – starts its life in Brabant’s Provincial League 4. Standaard Wange’s pitch at Gildestraat is abandoned.
2010 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 4I, 1 point ahead of KSV Drieslinter, Standaard Neerwinden accedes to Provincial League 3 for the first – and only – time in its history.
2011 / Finishing bottom of the table in P3A, Standaard Neerwinden drops back into Provincial League 4 along with FC Incourt.
2023 / Finishing in fourth place in P4F, Standaard Neerwinden qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated in R1 by FC Dworp (0-2).
2024 / In its last season, Standaard Neerwinden finishes in twelfth place in P4F. With chairman Jean Casters withdrawing from the club after twenty years, Standaard Neerwinden folds, ceasing all activities; registration number 9304 is erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists. A successor club is founded straightaway, Neerwinden FC, under the chairmanship of Maarten Swinnen - but the club refrains from fielding a first team in the 2024-25 season.