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LATEST UPDATE - SC CAMBUUR / STADION 058, LEEUWARDEN (NETHERLANDS)

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

NETHERLANDS: SC Cambuur (2024-)

Stadion 058, Leeuwarden = Ljouwert (SC Cambuur)

Netherlands, province: Frisia = Friesland

28 II 2025 / SC Cambuur - VVV-Venlo 5-0 / Eerste Divisie (= NL level 2)

Timeline

• 1917 / Foundation of a football club in Leeuwarden, which is given the name vv Leeuwarden. Initially, football is played at Terrein Bleekerstraat, a pasture used as an ice-skating rink in the winter months.
• 1920 / vv Leeuwarden concludes a groundsharing agreement with LVV Friesland, settling on that club’s ground, Terrein Nieuwlandsweg, for the time being.
• 1923 / After three years of groundsharing with LVV Friesland, vv Leeuwarden moves into a newly ground of its own, Terrein Schenkenschans, situated at Sneekertrekweg. 
• 1936 / Along with another club from Leeuwarden, LAC Frisia 1883, vv Leeuwarden moves into the newly built Gemeentelijk Sportpark Cambuur. LAC Frisia 1883 remain at the stadium as vv Leeuwarden’s groundsharers until 1959 – with the club moving away to its own, purpose-built ground, Sportpark De Magere Weide, in 1968, after a spell of nine years of first team football on the first side-pitch of Sportpark Cambuur.
• 1954 / As professional football is introduced in the Netherlands, vv Leeuwarden decides to take the leap to the professional league pyramid. In the following decade, the club has spells in the second and third tier of the national league pyramid.
• 1964 / With vv Leeuwarden having run into grave financial problems, the club sees no other option but to withdraw from the professional divisions. To avoid professional league football from disappearing from Frisia’s capital altogether, socialist politician Anne Vondeling becomes the driving force behind the foundation of a new professional league club, Sportclub (SC) Cambuur, named after the stadium, which takes over vv Leeuwarden’s league license. Continuing life as a non-league club, vv Leeuwarden changes its name to become Sportclub (SC) Leeuwarden.
• 1989 / In an amendment of both clubs’ articles of association, professional league side SC Cambuur and non-league club SC Leeuwarden conclude a merger, resulting in the foundation of Cambuur-Leeuwarden. 
• 1992 / Cambuur-Leeuwarden wins promotion to the top flight of the Netherlands’ national league pyramid, the Eredivisie, for the first time. In the following decades, the club alternates short periods in the top division with longer spells in the second tier, the Eerste Divisie.
• 2009 / After twenty years of being called Cambuur-Leeuwarden, the club reverts to its old denomination SC Cambuur. That same year, SC Cambuur presents plans to the municipality of Leeuwarden for the construction of a new stadium on the west side of Leeuwarden, at the back of the WTC Expo Halls. This stadium has a projected capacity of 12,000 spectators. The intention was to have the new stadium inaugurated by 2013, but the plans ultimately came to naught.
• 2013 / SC Cambuur’s mother club, vv Leeuwarden, concludes a merger with vv Rood Geel, resulting in the foundation of SC Leovardia. Later that same year, in November 2013, SC Cambuur presents new plans for the construction of a stadium at the back of the WTC Expo Hall. This new stadium has a projected capacity of 15,000.
• 2017 / After nearly four years of standstill, Leeuwarden’s municipal authorities give the green light for the construction of a new stadium for SC Cambuur at the back of the WTC Expo Hall. The projected inauguration date is April 2022.
• 2020 / Due to project developer Wyckerveste withdrawing from the project, the projected inauguration date of the new stadium has to be put considerably further in the future.
• 2021 / After several delays, SC Cambuur presents the final design of the new stadium, done by Van Widdershoven Architects, to Leeuwarden’s town council. Meanwhile, a new project developer has been found, Van Wijnen, with this firm expecting to have the stadium ready by September 2023 at the latest. 
• 2022 / In June 2022, construction works on the new stadium at WTC Expo Hall finally get underway. 
• 2023 / In spite of the construction works progressing steadily, the planned inauguration in September 2023 is announced as having been too ambitious, with the new goal being to have the construction ready by the summer of 2024. 
• 2024 / In the summer of 2024, SC Cambuur abandons the Cambuurstadion, settling at the newly built Stadion 058, officially called Stadion De Kooi following a sponsorship deal. The capacity of the ground is 15,000 (14,504 seated). Although not all seats have been put in place yet, SC Cambuur decides to hold its opening match of the 2024-25 season, the Eerste Divisie encounter with Helmond Sport (August 18th, 2024), at the new ground. The match ends in disappointment, as the guests walk away with a 1-0 win, with a converted penalty by Helmond Sport’s Latvian striker Dario Šits going down as the first-ever goal in the new stadium. Generally, SC Cambuur has a horrible start of the season, with the first Cambuur goal in the new stadium not being scored until the fourth home match of the season, a 1-2 defeat at the hands of FC Emmen (Cambuur goal by Benjamin Pauwels). It is not until the Cambuur’s sixth home match, on October 21st, 2024, that the club records its first home win, a 2-0 defeat of FC Eindhoven.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

NETHERLANDS: RKHSVV (1936-1947) / RKVV Excelsior (1947) / RKVV Holthees-Smakt (1947-2015) / vv Holthees-Smakt (2015-)

Sportpark De Halt, Holthees (vv Holthees-Smakt, formerly RKHSVV / RKVV Excelsior / RKVV Holthees-Smakt)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

23 II 2025 / vv Holthees-Smakt - SV Oostrum 3-3 / District South II, Sunday League 5F (= NL level 10)

Timeline

• 1935 / Foundation of a football club in Holthees and Smakt, two hamlets situated to the north of Venray – Holthees on the North Brabant side of the provincial border, Smakt just across it in Limburg. The new club, which is given the name RKHSVV (Rooms-Katholieke Holthees-Smakt Voetbalvereniging), joins the so-called Rooms-Katholieke Limburgse Voetbalbond (RKLVB), a sub-branch of the Rooms-Katholieke Federatie (RKF), the Netherlands’ Roman Catholic Football Association, being placed in RKLVB Division 3 for the 1935-36 season. The first pitch of the club, little more than a sandy plain, is situated in Smakt and inaugurated on August 11th, 1935, by Fr Rector. The first clubhouse is a pub nearby, Café Jos Nellen, which also offers the players the opportunity to change clothes.
• 1936 / Moving away from the pitch in Smakt after the club’s first season, RKHSVV settles on a plot of land situated at Loonseweg in Holthees – in fact, the location still in use today – at the back of the new clubhouse, Café W. Loonen, in the summer of 1936.
• 1937 / A newspaper article in the Nieuwe Venlosche Courant mentions a tie-break match for the title in RKLVB Division 3 between RKHSVV and RKVV Excelsior ’18 Reserves (from Broekhuizenvorst) being scheduled at RKVV Wansum’s ground, but no documentation is available about the result.
• 1940 / Having spent the first five years of its existence in Division 3 of the RKLVB (RKF), RKHSVV is now constrained to make the step to the official Netherlands’ FA (KNVB, renamed NVB following the German oppression of the Netherlands in May 1940, with the royal epithet ‘koninklijk’ being withdrawn for obvious reasons) as all other football associations are abolished by German occupation authorities. For the 1940-41 season, the club is placed in one of the lower divisions of the so-called LVB (Limburgse Voetbalbond), the NVB sub-branch organising league football in the Province of Limburg below the level of (K)NVB Sunday League 4.
• 1947 / Following the war years, in which club activities had ground to a halt, the club is revived by a group of enthusiasts, who decide to change the name to become RKVV (Rooms-Katholieke Voetbalvereniging) Excelsior – and applying for membership of the NBVB (Noord-Brabantse Voetbalbond), the North Brabant KNVB sub-branch, instead of the LVB. Due to the name Excelsior already being in use by several other clubs, the club is officially registered as RKVV Holthees-Smakt, with local media usually referring to the club as ‘RKVV Holthees’ or simply ‘Holthees’. Locally, though, ‘Excelsior’ remains the officious club name for at least two more decades. 
• 1948 / In the first season following the refoundation of the club, RKVV Holthees-Smakt wins the title in NBVB Sunday Division 3, acceding to Division 2 for the new season.
• 1949 / Clinching the title in NBVB Sunday Division 2, RKVV Holthees-Smakt manages its second promotion in a row, acceding to NBVB Sunday Division 1.
• 1950 / RKVV Holthees-Smakt goes on to conquer its third title in a row, finishing in first place in NBVB Sunday Division 1, but the club fails to win promotion to Sunday League 4 in the subsequent round of championship play-offs.
• 1955 / RKVV Holthees-Smakt is retrograded from NBVB Sunday Division 1 to Division 2.
• 1958 / Due to the pitch at Terrein Loonseweg being laid out anew, RKVV Holthees-Smakt groundshares with RKSV Geijsteren at Terrein Oostrumseweg for the 1958-59 season.
• 1959 / Obtaining the title in NBVB Sunday Division 2 following a win over RKVV Volharding Reserves, RKVV Holthees-Smakt goes on to win a set of championship play-offs, resulting in the club returning to NBVB Sunday Division 1 after four years. Also in 1959, the club returns to Terrein Loonseweg after one year of groundsharing at RKSV Geijsteren.
• 1965 / Abandoning its membership of the NBVB (KNVB Afdeling Noord-Brabant), RKVV Holthees-Smakt joins the Limburg sub-branch of the KNVB, the LVB (Limburgse Voetbalbond).
• 1966 / A first set of wooden dressing rooms are inaugurated at Terrein Loonseweg.
• 1967 / Floodlights are added to the set-up at Terrein Loonseweg, enabling midweek training sessions during the winter months.
• 1971 / As extensive building works are undertaken at Terrein Loonseweg, involving the laying out of two new pitches, RKVV Holthees-Smakt concludes a groundsharing agreement with RKVV Overloon, with all football temporarily moving to that club’s Sportpark De Raaij.
• 1973 / Upon completion of the works at Terrein Loonseweg, RKVV Holthees-Smakt moves back to its home ground after two seasons. At the inauguration ceremony, the new facilities are blessed by the village priest, Fr Ludovicus.
• 1977 / Winning the title in LVB Sunday Division 1, RKVV Holthees-Smakt wins promotion to KNVB District South II’s Sunday League 4 for the first time in club history.
• 1978 / In the best season in club history, RKVV Holthees-Smakt manages a third place in District South II’s Sunday League 4H. Also in 1978, Terrein Loonseweg, home of the club since 1936, is officially renamed Sportpark De Halt.
• 1983 / Following a fire, in which the dressing rooms erected seventeen years previously were consumed, new stone changing facilities – as well as a renovated clubhouse – are inaugurated at Sportpark De Halt in November 1983. During the building works in the summer and fall of 1983, RKVV Holthees-Smakt temporarily groundshared with RKVV Volharding at Sportpark Soetendaal in Vierlingsbeek.
• 1986 / Finishing in joint last place in District South II’s Sunday League 4H with three (!) other clubs – SV Lottum, RKVV Hegelsom, and RKSV Meterik – RKVV Holthees-Smakt has to take part in a tie-break competition to avoid the drop. Drawing its match against RKVV Hegelsom (1-1), but suffering defeat in the two other encounters (1-0 against RKSV Meterik & 0-1 against SV Lottum), RKVV Holthees-Smakt finishes in last place, thus descending into LVB Sunday Division 1 after nine years.
• 1996 / Following the abolition of all KNVB sub-branches, including the LVB, RKVV Holthees-Smakt is placed in District South II’s Sunday League 6. 
• 2001 / Having played 25 consecutive seasons in RKVV Holthees-Smakt’s first team, ultimate clubman Sjaak Janssen now hangs up his boots following a anniversary match. Janssen continues to serve the club in various other capacities in subsequent years.
• 2006 / RKVV Holthees-Smakt finishes as runners-up in District South II’s Sunday League 6E, 5 points behind champions SV Oostrum.
• 2008 / Champions in District South II’s Sunday League 6E, 3 points ahead of closest rivals RKSV Griendtsveen, RKVV Holthees-Smakt wins promotion to Sunday League 5. The successful coach is German-born Hans Winkelhag.
• 2011 / Coached by Twan Bloemen, RKVV Holthees-Smakt finishes bottom of the table in District South II’s Sunday League 5E, thus dropping back into Sunday League 5 after three seasons. Also in 2011, abandoning a partnership deal with nearby RKVV Volharding, which had taken over vv Holthees’ youth players, RKVV Holthees-Smakt henceforth allows its academy players to be integrated into RKVV SSS '18’s youth academy. 
• 2012 / Finishing in fourth place in District South II’s Sunday League 6E, RKVV Holthees-Smakt qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is drawn in a group with SV Merselo and SC Sint Hubert. Following a 0-5 home defeat at the hands of Merselo and a 2-3 away win in Sint Hubert, RKVV Holthees-Smakt has to leave first place and promotion to SV Merselo.
• 2015 / Finishing in sixth place in District South II’s Sunday League 6C, RKVV Holthees-Smakt wins automatic promotion to Sunday League 5 due to Sunday League 6 being abolished for the new season. Also in 2015, the club officially drops the reference to its Roman Catholic origins, being known henceforth as vv Holthees-Smakt instead of RKVV Holthees-Smakt.
• 2016 / Finishing in fourth place in District South II’s Sunday League 5G, vv Holthees-Smakt qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated by SV Stiphout Vooruit (7-1 aggr.).

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author

BELGIUM: AC Vaux-sous-Chèvremont (1925-1951) / RAC Chèvremontois (1951-1999) / REV Chaudfontaine (1999-2004) / RFC Chaudfontaine (B) (2004-2008) / RC Vaux (2008-2018) / RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine (2018-)

Terrain de la Rue de la Vesdre, Vaux-sous-Chèvremont (RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine, formerly AC Vaux-sous-Chèvremont / RAC Chèvremontois / REV Chaudfontaine / B ground of RFC Chaudfontaine)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

16 II 2025 / RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine - CFC Pontisse Herstal 1-1 / Liège, Provincial League 3B (= BE level 8)

Timeline

• 1925 / Foundation of a football club in Vaux-sous-Chèvremont, a village situated halfway between Liège and Chaudfontaine, on the boards of the River Vesdre. The new club, which is given the name Albert Club (AC) Vaux-sous-Chèvremont, successfully applies for membership of Belgium’s Football Association (URBSFA). Playing its football on the pitch situated at Rue de la Vesdre from the outset, AC Vaux-sous-Chèvremont is a force to be reckoned with in Liège’s provincial divisions in the following decades.
• 1926 / In December 1926, when the Belgian Football Association introduces its list of registration numbers, AC Vaux-sous-Chèvremont acquires number 529.
• 1951 / Acquiring the royal epithet one year after the club’s 25th anniversary, AC Vaux-sous-Chèvremont chooses to take on a new name, henceforth being called officially Royal Albert Club (RAC) Chèvremontois.
• 1953 / Along with R Ans FC, RAC Chèvremontois wins promotion from Liège’s Provincial League 1 to National Division 4 – thus commencing its first and only spell as a national league club.
• 1954 / In National Division 4B, dominated by reputed Flemish clubs such as K Wezel Sport FC, KVV Looi Sport Tessenderlo, R Excelsior FC Hasselt, and FC Lommelse SK, RAC Chèvremontois manages to hold its own by finishing in eleventh place and thus avoiding the drop.
• 1955 / Finishing in fourteenth place in National Division 4D, just 1 point behind R Fléron FC, RCS Andennais, and FC Melen-Micheroux, who all stay up, RAC Chèvremontois descends back into Provincial League 1 after two seasons, along with CS Libramontois and bottom club Entente Bertrigeoise. RAC Chèvremontois would never regain its place in the national leagues in the following decades.
• ± 1980 / The wooden stand which had graced the western touchline of RAC Chèvremontois’ pitch at Rue de la Vesdre is knocked down to make way for a successor constructed in stone – a construction which has been in place until the present day.
• 1997 / Winning the title in Liège’s Provincial League 2, RAC Chèvremontois accedes to Liège’s Provincial League 1.
• 1999 / Having played in Liège’s Provincial League 1 for two seasons, RAC Chèvremontois now drops back into Provincial League 2. Following the 1998-99 season, the club concludes a merger deal with FC Embourg, a club founded in 1948 (registration number 4976). The new club, which retains RAC Chèvremontois’ registration number 529, takes on the name Royal-Embourg-Vaux (REV) Chèvremont. First team football is played at Vaux’s ground at Rue de la Vesdre, while Embourg’s Terrain sur les Greux is retained for lower team football and training sessions. In one of the following three seasons, REV Chèvremont manages to regain its place in Liège’s provincial elite.
• 2004 / Coached by Alex Vardakas and Alain Duys, REV Chèvremont finishes in a relegation place in Liège’s Provincial League 1, thus dropping back into Provincial League 2 for the new season. In mid-2004, the club concludes a merger deal with Cercle Royal Sportif (CRS) Chaudfontaine, a club founded in 1927 (registration number 947), resulting in the foundation of Royal Football Club (RFC) Chaudfontaine, which retains Chèvremont’s number 529. The new club has the luxury of three different grounds; henceforth, first team football is played at CRS Chaudfontaine’s Stade de la Rochette, while the grounds at Rue de la Vesdre (in Vaux) and Rue sur les Greux (in Embourg) are retained for lower team football and training sessions.
• 2008 / As RFC Chaudfontaine abandons the pitch at Rue de la Vesdre in Vaux-sous-Chèvremont, which had become all but redundant due to the club’s youth academy mainly having its place on the three pitches at Rue sur les Greux in Embourg, the initiative is taken to form a breakaway club in Vaux-sous-Chèvremont. The new club, which is given the name Racing Club (RC) Vaux (registration number 9522), becomes the new user of the Terrain de la Rue de la Vesdre, starting its life in Liège’s Provincial League 4E in 2008-09 and managing respectable fourth and third places the first two seasons following its foundation.
• 2012 / Following two relegations in a row, RFC Chaudfontaine finds itself in Provincial League 4, the same division as RC Vaux, for the first time. The two first derby games both end in a draw.  
• 2013 / With RFC Chaudfontaine and RC Vaux finishing in third and fifth places in Liège’s Provincial League 4C, both clubs qualify for the promotion play-offs, with RC Vaux being eliminated in R1 by R Seraing Athlétique FC (5-3). RFC Chaudfontaine reaches the third round, but ultimately also misses out on promotion.
• 2014 / While RFC Chaudfontaine storms to the P4C title and thus winning promotion to Provincial League 3, RC Vaux has a disappointing season, finishing eleven places below their derby rivals.
• 2015 / Runners-up in Liège’s Provincial League 4C, 17 points behind runaway champions CFC Pontisse, RC Vaux qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out RUSJ Wandruzienne in R1 (2-0), only to be eliminated in R2 by RCS Polonia Retinne (2-0). Meanwhile, in spite of managing a safe seventh place in Provincial League 3C, RFC Chaudfontaine finds itself in such grave financial difficulties, that the club sees no other option but to cease all activities. With registration number 529 being erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists, the former club’s two grounds are taken over by other sports clubs. The Stade de la Rochette in Chaudfontaine becomes the new home of R Standard Chaudfontaine Rugby Club, while Embourg Hockey Club moves into the youth academy ground at Rue sur les Greux in Embourg.
• 2018 / Clinching the title in Liège’s Provincial League 4C, 2 points ahead of runners-up RCS Sart-Tilman, RC Vaux manages to win the first promotion in its ten-year history. Following the 2017-18 season, the club adapts its name, being known henceforth as Racing Club (RC) Vaux-Chaudfontaine.
• 2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short in March 2020 due to the first COVID lockdown, RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine finds itself in first place in Liège’s Provincial League 3B, 8 points ahead of closest followers RFC Croatia Wandre. On that basis, the club is placed in Provincial League 2 for the new season. RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine also has its first taste of the nationwide Belgian Cup, being eliminated in R1 by KSC Wielsbeke (1-4).
• 2021 / In July 2021, with devastating floodings ravishing large parts of the Province of Liège, Vaux-sous-Chèvremont is one of the communities hit hardest by the disaster. RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine's pitch at Rue de la Vesdre, situated only yards away from the River Vesdre, is washed away, as well as the clubhouse on the western touchline. Although the covered stand, which houses the dressing rooms, is saved, there is no question that football can be played at the ground for the foreseeable future. The club finds a home for its first team at RSC Beaufays’ former ground, the Terrain du Château d’Eau, while the youth academy is received hospitably by RJS Chêneenne at its Site du Sart-Moray.
• 2022 / While still in its exile at Beaufays, RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine finishes in second-last place in Liège’s Provincial League 2B, thus dropping back into Provincial League 3 along with bottom club AS Houtain-Milanello. Finally, in November 2022, after a year and a half away from its home soil, RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine returns to the Terrain de la Rue de la Vesdre. The pitch has been brought in order, but no replacement clubhouse has been put in place. For the time being, the club has to make do with mobile canteen facilities.
• 2023 / Finishing in fifth place in Liège’s Provincial League 3C, RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by R Standard FC Andrimont (3-0).
• 2024 / Finishing in fourth place in Liège’s Provincial League 3C, RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by R Harzé FC (2-1).

Note – Essential parts of the information above were provided by longtime RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine board member André Detré. Many thanks to him as well as to the club for the warm welcome on my matchday visit.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author