BELGIUM: Mena Okselaar (1940-1965) / Volharding VC Okselaar (1966-2013) / KFC Averbode-Okselaar (B) (2013-2023) / FC Averbode-Testelt-Okselaar (C) (2023-2024) / FC Averbode-Testelt-Okselaar (B) (2024-)

Terrein Pastoor Brissacstraat, Okselaar (youth academy ground of FC Averbode-Testelt-Okselaar = FC ATO, formerly Mena Okselaar / Volharding VC Okselaar / youth academy ground of KFC Averbode-Okselaar)

Belgium, province: Flemish Brabant = Vlaams Brabant

9 III 2025 / FC ATO U21 A - KVC Lille United U21 B 3-2 / Regional U21 League 2-AG (2e Gewestelijke)

Timeline

• 1940 / Foundation of a football club in Okselaar, in the Flemish half of the Province of Brabant. The new club is given the name Mena Okselaar and acquires membership of Belgium’s Football Association with registration number 2902. Apparently, Mena Okselaar was not the first football club to be founded in the village, given that there are sources mentioning the existence of a pre-war club by the name of Eendracht Okselaar. Eendracht Okselaar never joined Belgium’s official FA, though, and there are no data available about this club’s foundation and demise. Moreover, it is unclear where this club’s pitch was situated – and the same is true about epigon club Mena; there is a possibility that this club started its life at Terrein Pastoor Brissacstraat, but no information is available on the matter.
• 1942 / Mena Okselaar starts its life as a competitive club in Brabant’s Provincial League 3C.
• 1950 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 3A, Mena Okselaar wins promotion to Provincial League 2 for the first time.
• 1954 / Finishing in second-last place in Brabant’s Provincial League 2B, Mena Okselaar drops back into Provincial League 3 after four years.
• 1959 / Tying for first place in Brabant’s Provincial League 3C with VZ Glabbeek, Mena Okselaar meets this club in a tie-break match, played in Rillaar – possibly Terrein Diestsesteenweg of Rillaar Sport – in which VZ Glabbeek conquers the title with a 4-1 win. As such, Mena misses out on a return to Provincial League 2.
• 1965 / After finishing in fourteenth place in Brabant’s Provincial League 3A, Mena Okselaar folds, ceasing all activities. Registration number 2902 is erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists.
• 1966 / One year after the demise of Mena Okselaar, a new football club sees the daylight in Okselaar; this successor club is given the name Volharding Voetbalclub (VC) Okselaar and acquires registration number 6874 upon being accepted as new member club of the Belgian FA. Volharding VC Okselaar starts its life in the new bottom division of Brabant’s provincial league pyramid, Provincial League 4.
• 1967 / Champions in Brabant’s Provincial League 4C, Volharding VC Okselaar crowns its first season as a competitive club with promotion to Provincial League 3.
• 1978 / Following eleven seasons in P3, Volharding VC Okselaar now finishes in second-last place in Brabant’s Provincial League 3D, thus dropping back into Provincial League 4.
• 1983 / Runners-up in Provincial League 4G, Volharding VC Okselaar accedes to Provincial League 3.
• 2013 / Following thirty consecutive seasons in P3, Volharding VC Okselaar now conquers the title in Brabant’s Provincial League 3D, 5 points ahead of runners-up KFC Herent. As a result, the club earns itself a historic promotion to Provincial League 2. However, following the 2012-13 season, Volharding VC Okselaar concludes a merger with K Everbeur Sport from nearby Averbode, a Provincial League 1 club founded in 1933. The new merger club is given the name FC Averbode-Okselaar (sometimes referred to as FC AO), retaining Everbeur’s registration number 2030. Henceforth, first team football is played at Averbode’s Terrein Vorststraat, nicknamed ‘Hel op de Hei’, while the new club’s youth academy settles at Terrein Pastoor Brissacstraat in Okselaar.
• 2023 / FC Averbode-Okselaar concludes a merger with HO Testelt (founded in 1950, registration number 5377), resulting in the foundation of FC Averbode-Testelt-Okselaar, usually abbreviatedly referred to as FC ATO. The new club retains FC Averbode-Okselaar’s registration number 2030. In the 2023-24 season, activities are subdivided between three grounds; first team football continues to take place at Terrein Vorststraat in Averbode, while the B team settles at Testelt’s Paul Verdonckstadion. As before, the club’s youth academy is home at Okselaar’s Terrein Pastoor Brissacstraat.
• 2024 / As Testelt’s Paul Verdonckstadion is abandoned, FC ATO’s activities are again centred at two grounds only, Terrein Vorststraat in Averbode (first team football) and Terrein Pastoor Brissacstraat in Okselaar (youth academy).

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