Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KVV Schelde Serskamp-Schellebelle (2021-) / SK Wichelen matr. 7452 (2021-)

Sunday 19 May 2024

BELGIUM: KVV Schelde Serskamp-Schellebelle (2021-) / SK Wichelen matr. 7452 (2021-)

Sportpark De Cirkel, Schellebelle (SK Wichelen & KVV Schelde Serskamp-Schellebelle)

Belgium, province: East Flanders = Oost-Vlaanderen

19 V 2024 / KVV Schelde Serskamp-Schellebelle - KVV Laarne-Kalken 1-2 / East Flanders, Provincial League 2 - promotion play-off final (= BE level 7)

Timeline

1938 / Foundation of a football club in Schellebelle, which is given the name Eendracht Schellebelle and obtains membership of Belgium’s Football Association under registration number 4022.
1943 / Foundation of a football club in Wichelen, which takes on the name Sportkring (SK) Wichelen, obtaining membership of Belgium’s Football Association under registration number 4020. Also in 1943, after an existence of five years, Eendracht Schellebelle is absorbed into another club, Studenten-Oud-Studenten (SOS) Schellebelle, which was not an FA member until that time, but is accepted as a new affiliate under Eendracht’s registration number 4022.
1959 / Foundation of a football club in the village of Serskamp, which takes on the name Eendracht Serskamp, obtaining registration number 6230 upon being accepted as new Belgian FA member. The club probably settled at Terrein Bruin Kruis already at from the outset in 1959.
1965 / SK Wichelen folds, ceasing all activities. Registration number 4020 is erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists.
± 1966 / Moving away from Terrein Kloosterland, where the club may have started its life in the 1940s, SOS Schellebelle settles at the newly laid-out Terrein Hoekstraat.
1969 / After four years, a new SK Wichelen sees the daylight; this successor club obtains registration number 7452 upon joining Belgium’s FA. This new SK Wichelen starts its life at Terrein Doornweg.
2008 / A merger is concluded between SOS Schellebelle KV and Eendracht Serskamp, resulting in the foundation of Koninklijke Voetbalvereniging (KVV) Schelde Serskamp-Schellebelle, with SOS Schellebelle's registration number 4022 being retained. Henceforth, first team football is played at Terrein Bruin Kruis in Serskamp, with the new club’s youth academy settling at Terrein Hoekstraat in Schellebelle.
2020 / Works get underway at the construction of a new sports park for KVV Schelde Serskamp-Schellebelle as well as SK Wichelen on the location of Terrein Hoekstraat in Schellebelle, which is knocked down to make way for a completely new set of constructions. Archaeological excavations, undertaken before the building works get underway, prove that the site was once a Bronze Age circular grave (2nd millennium B.C.) – giving the ground its future name, Sportpark De Cirkel.
2021 / Abandoning their old grounds, Terrein Doornweg in Wichelen and Terrein Bruin Kruis in Serskamp respectively, SK Wichelen and KVV Schelde Serskamp-Schellebelle settle at the newly built Sportpark De Cirkel in Schellebelle. The old main pitch of SOS Schellebelle's Terrein Hoekstraat is now occupied by Sportpark De Cirkel’s B pitch, which is surrounded by a running track.
2022 / Finishing in fourth place in P4E, SK Wichelen qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it successively defeats SK Vlierzele (3-1) and SVH Waasmunster (2-4) to win promotion to Provincial League 3. Also in 2022, finishing in third place in P3B, KVV Schelde qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club succeeds in defeating KVC Eendracht Deftinge in R1 (5-2) and KSK Zingem in R2 (4-0) to achieve promotion to Provincial League 2. In the summer of 2022, Terrein Bruin Kruis in Serskamp, which had remained in use for training sessions, is abandoned once and for all.
2023 / SK Wichelen’s old ground at Doornweg, abandoned two years previously, is knocked down to make way for housing.
2024 / Finishing in fourth place in P2B, KVV Schelde qualifies for the promotion play-offs for a place in East Flanders’ Provincial League 1. Successively defeating TK Meldert (0-1), VC Nokere-Kruishoutem (0-2), and KSVK Maldegem (2-4), the club reaches the final, in which it is eliminated by KVV Laarne-Kalken (1-2) in front of a home crowd in Schellebelle of some 900 spectators - thus narrowly missing out on an unprecedented promotion to East Flanders' Provincial League 1. Also in 2024, finishing bottom of the table in East Flanders’ Provincial League 3C, SK Wichelen drops back into P4 after two seasons, along with KFC Hoger Op Kalken B.