Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: KFC Eendracht Zelem (1946-2023) / KVE Zelo Halen (2023-2024) / K White Star Linkhout (B) (2024-)

Terrein Lobosveld, Zelem (formerly KFC Eendracht Zelem / KVE Zelo Halen)

Belgium, province: Limburg

July 2024 / no match visited

Timeline

1946 / Foundation of a football club in Zelem, FC Eendracht Zelem, which joins Belgian Football Association with registration number 4514. It is unclear if, yet not improbable that, the club started its life at Terrein Lobosveld.
1947 / FC Eendracht Zelem starts its life as a competitive club in Limburg’s Regional League 3B (3e Gewestelijke B).
1951 / Champions in Limburg’s Regional League 3B, FC Eendracht Zelem wins promotion to Regional League 2 – renamed Provincial League 2 in 1952.
1958 / Finishing last in Provincial League 2A, FC Eendracht Zelem descends into Limburg’s Provincial League 3.
1974 / Champions in Provincial League 3D, FC Eendracht Zelem manages a return to P2 after an absence of sixteen seasons.
1979 / Bottom of the table in Provincial League 2A, FC Eendracht Zelem drops back into P3.
1986 / Finishing in fifteenth place in P3A, FC Eendracht Zelem drops into Limburg’s Provincial League 4 for the first time.
1991 / Champions in Provincial League 4E, FC Eendracht Zelem wins promotion to Provincial League 3.
1996 / Upon the club’s fiftieth anniversary of the club, FC Eendracht Zelem receives permission to adopt the royal epithet, thus becoming Koninklijke Football Club (KFC) Eendracht Zelem.
2001 / Finishing second-last in Limburg’s Provincial League 3B, KFC Eendracht Zelem drops back into P4 after ten years.
2009 / Finishing in fourth place in Limburg’s Provincial League 4C, KFC Eendracht Zelem qualifies for the play-offs, in which the club succeeds in obtaining a promotion ticket to Provincial League 3.
2013 / Finishing joint last in P3C with K Eendracht Stevoort, KFC Eendracht Zelem descends into the abyss of Provincial League 4.
2014 / Finishing in fourth place in P4C, KFC Eendracht Zelem qualifies for the play-offs, in which the club defeats KVV HO Molenbeersel in R1 (1-4 aggr.), but is eliminated in R2 at the hands of VV Statiesport Zolder (2-3 aggr.). Due to extra promotion places being available, the club is seeded in a lucky loser competition, in which it defeats Excelsior Hamont in R1 (4-2 aggr.) and being defeated in R2 (final) K Bolderberg FC in R2 (5-2 aggr.) – this defeat being academic, given that both K Bolderberg FC and KFC Eendracht Zelem earn an extra ticket for Provincial League 3.
2015 / Bottom of the table in P3A, KFC Eendracht Zelem drops back into P4 after just one season, along with VV Statiesport Zolder.
2018 / Finishing in fifth place in P4A, KFC Eendracht Zelem qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by KVV HO Molenbeersel (3-2 aggr.).
2019 / Finishing in third place in Provincial League 4A, KFC Eendracht Zelem – coached by David Beckers – wins promotion without play-offs due to extra places in P3 being available.
2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short by the COVID lockdown in March 2020, KFC Eendracht Zelem finds itself in last place in P3B after 25 of 30 matches – on the basis of which the club is retrograded to Provincial League 4 for the new season.
2022 / Finishing in third place in P4C, KFC Eendracht Zelem qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club eliminates KVV Waterloos-Voorshoven in R1 (2-1 aggr.) before suffering defeat at the hands of K Bocholter VV B in R2 (5-1 aggr.) and thereby missing out on promotion to Provincial League 3.
2023 / In its last season as an independent club, KFC Eendracht Zelem finishes in sixth place in Provincial League 4A. Following the season, the club forms a provisional merger with K Verbroedering Loksbergen, resulting in the foundation of Koninklijke Verbroedering Eendracht (KVE) Zelem-Loksbergen (Zelo) Halen, which retains Loksbergen’s registration number 6531 – but without allowing Zelem’s number 4514 to be erased. In the 2023-24 season, the club fielded two regular teams: KVE Zelo Halen A, playing its football at Terrein Lobosveld in Zelem, is placed in P4B, with KVE Zelo Halen B, playing its football at Terrein Lindestraat in Loksbergen, being placed in P4A.
2024 / After the 2023-24 season, in which KVE Zelo Halen A finishes in fourteenth place in P4B – and the club’s B team in Loksbergen in ninth place in P4A – the provisional merger is disentangled, with K Verbroedering Loksbergen continuing life independently at Terrein Lindestraat and KFC Eendracht Zelem ceasing all activities. Thereupon, the pitches in Zelem were taken over by K White Star Linkhout for training purposes, while recreational team Salamander Zelem continues to make use of the ground's B pitch for their matches as well.