Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: vv Unicum

Sportpark aan de Schouw, Lelystad (vv Unicum)

Netherlands, province: Flevoland

25 X 2025 / vv Unicum - CSV Apeldoorn 0-6 / Combined Sunday & Saturday League 1F (= NL level 6)

Timeline

1970 / Foundation of a new football club in Lelystad - capital of the land reclamation project named Flevoland -, which takes on the name Sportvereniging (SV) Unicum. Apart from football, there are branches for chess, draughts, table tennis, badminton, and basketball. The club was formed by a group of young employees who had moved with tools factory Uniemetaal BV from Heemstede to Lelystad. The founding fathers of the club are Ron Gelkopf (first chairman of the football branch, with Hans Bronkhorst being the chairman of the umbrella club SV Unicum), André van de Staay, and Jaap Kroon. vv Unicum starts its activities on a makeshift pitch in Lelystad-Haven. In the early years of its existence, vv Unicum plays its football in the Saturday divisions of Afdeling Zwolle, one of the sub-branches of the Netherlands' Football Association (KNVB).
1971 / Moving away from their pitch in Lelystad-Haven after one year, SV Unicum is allowed to settle at Sportpark Jagersveld (at Beginweg) in the summer of that year – a facility which had previously hosted the newly founded SV Lelystad ’67 prior to their move to Sportpark Langezand in 1970.
1975 / vv Unicum records the first tangible success in club history, as the first team wins promotion from Afdeling Zwolle Saturday Division 4 to Division 3. Following the 1974-75 season, as the football branch breaks away from the umbrella club, it adapts its name from SV Unicum to Voetbalvereniging (vv) Unicum.
1976 / Lelystad's municipal authorities lay out a new sports park with five football pitches and a clubhouse, Sportpark aan de Schouw, for the benefit of vv Unicum, but the club is not given the green light yet to move into the new facility.
1977 / Moving away from Sportpark Jagersveld, vv Unicum is finally allowed to settle at Sportpark aan de Schouw, which has been the club’s home ever since – with the current main pitch having served in that capacity from the outset. In its initial form, the park consists of five pitches. Meanwhile, the pitches of Sportpark Jagersveld at Beginweg are transferred to the so-called Rijksdienst voor de IJsselmeerpolders, a government service overseeing the development of the new polders in Flevoland. The clubhouse at the old location is taken in use by the local carrier-pigeon club.
1979 / Replacing the original construction erected by Lelystad's municipal authorities, a new, larger clubhouse, constructed at the behest of vv Unicum's presidency, is inaugurated after over a year of building works.
1985 / Former vv Unicum youth academy player Edwin van Ankeren, who had left for local rivals SV Lelystad ’67 at an early stage, makes his professional league debut at PEC Zwolle ’82. The striker goes on to have spells at KSK Beveren, RWDM, PSV, KSC Eendracht Aalst, KFC Germinal Ekeren, EA Guingamp, AS Viterbese Calcio, ODD Grenland, and Tollnes BK, ultimately hanging up his boots at FC Omniworld in 2006.
1991 / Clinching the title in Afdeling Zwolle Saturday Division 3, vv Unicum wins promotion to Division 2 of the said league association.
1994 / vv Unicum wins promotion to Afdeling Zwolle Saturday Division 1 following a successful set of promotion play-offs.
1996 / As all KNVB sub-branches are abolished, including Afdeling Zwolle, vv Unicum is placed in the (short-lived) Central District’s Saturday League 5.
1998 or 1999 / With exact information lacking, vv Unicum must have suffered relegation from the Central District’s League 5, descending into League 6, in the 1997-98 or 1998-99 season.
2000 / Finishing in fourth place in the Central District’s Saturday League 6A, vv Unicum wins promotion to Saturday League 5 following a successful round of play-offs. The successful coach is Ronald Bekkers.
2001 / As the Central District is abolished, vv Unicum is transferred from ‘Central’ Saturday League 5 to District East’s Saturday League 4 – the lowest Saturday division in that district.
± 2004 / As vv Unicum gives up Pitch / Veld 2, at the southwestern end of Sportpark aan de Schouw, as well as its clubhouse in the same corner, to make way for new housing as well as a parking lot, a new clubhouse is erected to the north of the main pitch – a two-storey building with twelve dressing rooms and a panoramic canteen. Simultaneously, the main pitch of the park is laid out anew with a synthetic surface.
2006 / vv Unicum finishes as runners-up in District East’s Saturday League 4B, 1 point behind champions vv Oene.
2007 / Finishing in fourth place in District East’s Saturday League 4C, vv Unicum goes on to win an unprecedented promotion to Saturday League 3 via the play-offs. The successful coach is Jan Kenbeek, who is succeeded in the summer of 2007 by Edwin van Ankeren, the former vv Unicum youth prodigy who had finished a 21-year-long professional league career one year previously. Van Ankeren would stay at the helm of vv Unicum’s first team for three seasons.
2011 / Champions in District East’s Saturday League 3B, 3 points ahead of closest rivals VVOP, vv Unicum wins promotion to Saturday League 2 for the first time. The successful coach is Ronald Bekkers. In mid-2011, Bekkers is succeeded as vv Unicum’s trainer by Michel van Oostrum, former professional league striker at AFC Ajax, Telstar, PEC Zwolle ’82, BSC Old Boys, BVO Emmen, Cambuur-Leeuwarden, and BV De Graafschap (1985-2002). Van Oostrum would stay on for one season only at vv Unicum.
2013 / Edwin van Ankeren rejoins vv Unicum as trainer/coach in the summer of 2013.
2014 / Uniquely, after one year of taking responsibility on his own, Edwin van Ankeren shares his position of head coach of vv Unicum’s first team with his former PEC Zwolle ’82 teammate Michel van Oostrum from the summer of 2014 onwards.
2017 / Finishing in eleventh place in Saturday League 2G, vv Unicum goes on to suffer defeat in R1 of the promotion-relegation play-offs against vv Keizerstad (5-3 aggr.). As a result, the team of Edwin van Ankeren and Michel van Oostrum tumbles back into Saturday League 3 after six years, along with vv VRC, CSV VIOS Vaassen, and bottom club vv Dieren.
2018 / Champions in District East’s Saturday League 3B, 7 points ahead of closest followers vv Terschuurse Boys, vv Unicum manages an immediate return to Saturday League 2. The promotion is the last feat of the coaching duo Edwin van Ankeren / Michel van Oostrum, who leave the club after five and four seasons respectively.
2019 / Joint runners-up in Saturday League 2G, with an equal number of points as vv AVW ’66, 7 points behind champions vv Woudenberg, vv Unicum qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out vv WVF in R1 (2-1), only to be eliminated in R2 by local rivals SV Lelystad ’67 (1-1 A.E.T. & penalty shoot-out).
2020 / Former vv Unicum youth academy defender Devyne Rensch, who had made the move to AFC Ajax’s academy at the age of 13 in 2016, makes his professional league debut at the Amsterdam club. Following a five-year spell at AFC Ajax, Rensch moves to AS Roma in the summer of 2025; in 2021, the defender had won his first cap for the Netherlands’ national team.
2022 / Finishing in fourth place in Saturday League 2G, vv Unicum qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out CVV Be Quick ’28 in R1 (1-2), only to be eliminated by vv Hulzense Boys in R2 (4-1).
2023 / Finishing in third place in Saturday League 2I, vv Unicum qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club has the better of vv Noordscheschut in R1 (1-3), but is knocked out in R2 by vv Hierden (1-0).
2024 / Runners-up in Saturday League 2H, 6 points behind champions vv Hierden, vv Unicum qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Edging past SV Leones in R1 (1-0), the club is eliminated in R2 for the third year running, this time by vv DOS Kampen (0-1).
2025 / Champions in Saturday League 2A, 2 points ahead of runners-up SV De Foresters, vv Unicum wins promotion to Saturday League 1 for the first time in club history. The successful coach is Michel van Oostrum, who had joined the club from local rivals SV Batavia ’90 for a third spell in the summer of 2024.