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LATEST UPDATE - vv GILZE / SPORTPARK VERHOVEN, GILZE (NETHERLANDS)

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

NETHERLANDS: vv Gilze (2011-)

Sportpark Verhoven, Gilze (vv Gilze)

Netherlands, province: North Brabant = Noord-Brabant

7 XII 2025 / vv Gilze - vv De Bataven 2-2 / Combined Sunday & Saturday League 1D (= NL level 6)

Timeline

• ± 1919 / A group of friends from Gilze, a village in North Brabant halfway between Breda and Tilburg, gets together to form a football team, which they give the name Gilsche Voetbalclub, abbreviated as GVC. They find a plot of land to lay out a pitch, Terrein Boskant. Sticking to playing friendly matches against other recreational teams for the moment, GVC does not join any league association.
• 1920 / GVC changes its name to become AVM, standing for Altijd Vol Moed (‘Always Full Of Courage’)
• 1925 / AVM takes on a new name, Roomsch-Katholieke Voetbalvereeniging (RKVV) Gilze.
• 1932 / Moving away from Terrein Boskant, RKVV Gilze settles on a newly laid-out pitch at Lange Wagenstraat – destined to stay at that location for the following 79 years. 
• 1957 / RKVV Gilze changes its name to become Sportvereniging (SV) Gilze in preparation of branches for other sports being incorporated in the womb of the club.
• 1991 / The football branch of SV Gilze breaks away from the omnisport club, continuing its existence as Voetbalvereniging (vv) Gilze.
• 2011 / 79 years after the ground’s inauguration, Sportpark aan de Lange Wagenstraat is abandoned in the summer of 2011, as vv Gilze settles at the newly laid-out Sportpark Verhoven, to the west of the village – although the new park has not been completed yet. In the following years, the old park has to make way for housing. 
• 2012 / Finishing in fifth place in District South I’s Sunday League 3B, vv Gilze qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Knocking out vv Internos in R1 (4-4 aggr. & away goals), the club goes on to suffer defeat in the final at the hands of RSC Alliance (4-2 aggr.), thus missing out on an unprecedented promotion to Sunday League 2. Also in 2012, on September 18th, more than a year after vv Gilze moved into the new park, Sportpark Verhoven is officially inaugurated by Gilze-Rijen’s caretaker mayor Osterloh.
• 2014 / Finishing in second-last place in District South I’s Sunday League 3B with coach Emiel Heefer, vv Gilze drops back into Sunday League 4 along with RKSV RCD, vv SSW, and bottom club BSV Boeimeer. 
• 2015 / Runaway champions in District South I’s Sunday League 4D, 20 (!) points ahead of closest followers VVR, vv Gilze manages an immediate return to Sunday League 3. The successful coach is Emiel Heefer.
• 2019 / Finishing in third place in District South I’s Sunday League 3B, vv Gilze qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by vv Zundert (3-2).
• 2020 / Finding itself in second place in District South I’s Sunday League 3B after 15 of 24 matches played, 2 points behind leaders vv Bavel, vv Gilze narrowly misses out on promotion to Sunday League 2 in the 2019-20 season, cut short by the first COVID lockdown in March 2020.
• 2022 / Runners-up in District South I’s Sunday League 3B, 1 point behind champions vv Trinitas Oisterwijk, vv Gilze qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club qualifies for the final following successive defeats of vv Steen in R1 (7-1) and vv Bavel in R2 (4-1). In the final, the club has the better of RKSV Groen-Wit (3-1), thus achieving a historic promotion to Sunday League 2. The successful coach is Jeremy Buchly. In the summer of 2022, former professional league player Joep van den Ouweland takes over the role of head coach at vv Gilze, staying on in that capacity for the following two seasons.
• 2023 / Finishing in third place in its first season in Sunday League 2D, vv Gilze qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by vv Geldrop (1-0).
• 2025 / Finishing in third place in Sunday League 2C, 11 points behind champions vv Bladella, vv Gilze qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out SV Parkhout in R1 (4-3) and vv TSC in R2 (0-3) to reach the final. In an encounter played at Sportpark Almkerk (Sportlaan), the club edges past vv NIVO Sparta (4-3 A.E.T.), thus achieving an unprecedented promotion to Combined Sunday & Saturday League 1. The successful coach is Jurgen Arnouts. 

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

NETHERLANDS: FC Omniworld (B) (2001-2010) / Almere City FC (B) (2010-)

Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen terr. 4 "Academy-veld", Almere Almere-Stad (B pitch of Almere City FC, formerly B pitch of FC Omniworld)

Netherlands, province: Flevoland

6 XII 2025 / Jong Almere City FC (U23) - Excelsior Maassluis 1-1 / Tweede Divisie (= NL level 3)

Timeline

• 2001 / FC Omniworld, a club hailing from Amsterdam – originally named vv De Zwarte Schapen, but having been renamed AZS, FC De Sloterplas, back to vv De Zwarte Schapen, and Sporting Flevoland – which had settled in Almere in 1995, winning promotion to Zondag Hoofdklasse, the top non-league level, in 1997, moves from Sportpark Bok de Korver at Havendreef to the newly laid-out Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen, where several football pitches are laid out in the early months of 2001. The pitch pictured below is not the main pitch, where a small covered stand is erected, but the pitch directly to its western side – officially pitch 4 – which is used for lower team football and training sessions.
• 2005 / After several botched attempts, FC Omniworld finally realises its ambition to join the professional leagues, being placed in the so-called Eerste Divisie, the second and lowest tier of the league pyramid. In a sponsorship deal, the main pitch of Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen, which is upgraded to a small stadium with a capacity of just under 3,000, is renamed Mitsubishi Forklift-Stadion.
• 2010 / FC Omniworld changes its name to become Almere City FC.
• 2013 / As the sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi is terminated, Almere City FC renames its stadium from Mitsubishi Forklift-Stadion to simply Almere City-Stadion.
• 2015 / Almere City FC concludes a new sponsorship deal, causing its stadium to be officially renamed Yanmar-Stadion.
• 2016 / The U23 team of Almere City FC, mostly referred to as Jong Almere City FC, is allowed into the regular football pyramid, taking its place in Saturday Division 3A, the fourth tier of the national league system. Home matches are played on the (main) pitch of the Yanmar-Stadion.
• 2018 / Finishing in fourth place in Saturday Division 3A, Jong Almere City FC qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out vv UNA in R1 (2-2 aggr. & penalties) and JVC Cuijk in R2 (5-2 aggr.), resulting in the team gaining promotion to National Division 2 (Tweede Divisie), the top non-league level and third tier of the national league pyramid as a whole. Also in 2018, the synthetic surface of the playing field in the stadium is replaced with a natural grass pitch. The old 3G is laid out anew on the first side pitch of the ground, pitch 4, which has been the venue for home matches of Jong Almere City FC since. The club refers to pitch 4 as the ‘Academy-veld’, i.e. Academy Pitch. A small open all-seater (prefab) stand is erected on the eastern touchline of this pitch.
• 2019 / Finishing in third-last place in the Tweede Divisie, Jong Almere City FC descends into National Division 3 (Derde Divisie) along with VVSB, FC Lienden, and bottom club vv Barendrecht.
• 2020 / In spite of finishing in a safe mid-table position in National Division 3A, Jong Almere City FC is taken out of the regular divisions due to a reorganisation of the non-league pyramid, which involves a reduction of the number of academy teams being allowed into the competition. Also in 2020, the main pitch of Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen, i.e. the Yanmar-Stadion, is thoroughly renovated and extended. In that same renovation, the small open stand alongside pitch 4 is equipped with a roof construction.
• 2021 / Coached by former FC Omniworld youth academy player Hedwiges Maduro, a former Netherlands’ international midfielder, Jong Almere City FC wins the nationwide U21 title, seeing off Feyenoord Rotterdam U21 in the final. Subsequently, the team gets to play a promotion-relegation play-off against Tweede Divisie team Jong FC Volendam for one place in the top non-league division. However, suffering a 3-1 (aggr.) defeat, Jong Almere City FC misses out on promotion to the regular non-league level.
• 2023 / Conquering the title in the nationwide U21 competition with coach Anoush Dastgir, Jong Almere City FC is placed in the Tweede Divisie for the 2023-24 season.

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

NETHERLANDS: FC Omniworld (C) (2001-2010) / Almere City FC (C) (2010-2011) / Sporting Almere (2011-)

Sportcomplex Fanny Blankers-Koen terr. 9, Almere Almere-Stad (Sporting Almere, formerly C pitch of FC Omniworld & Almere City FC)

Netherlands, province: Flevoland

6 XII 2025 / Sporting Almere - vv De Posthoorn 3-3 / District West I, Saturday League 5F (= NL level 10)

Timeline

• 2001 / FC Omniworld, a club hailing from Amsterdam – originally named vv De Zwarte Schapen, but having been renamed AZS, FC De Sloterplas, back to vv De Zwarte Schapen, and Sporting Flevoland – which had settled in Almere in 1995, winning promotion to Zondag Hoofdklasse, the top non-league level, in 1997, moves from Sportpark Bok de Korver at Havendreef to the newly laid-out Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen, where several football pitches are laid out in the early months of 2001. The pitch pictured below is not the main pitch, where a small covered stand is erected, but one of the side-pitches – officially pitch 9 – which is used for lower team football and training sessions.
• 2005 / After several botched attempts, FC Omniworld finally realises its ambition to join the professional leagues, being placed in the so-called Eerste Divisie, the second and lowest tier of the league pyramid. In a sponsorship deal, the main pitch of Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen, which is upgraded to a small stadium with a capacity of just under 3,000, is renamed Mitsubishi Forklift-Stadion.
• 2010 / FC Omniworld changes its name to become Almere City FC.
• 2011 / Finishing in eleventh place in Sunday League 1A in its last season, Almere City FC (AV), the non-league branch of Almere City FC, has to cease its activities due to a debt meanwhile exceeding 1 million euro. Straightaway, a phoenix club is founded, independent of Almere City FC: Sporting Almere, which starts its life at the bottom of the non-league pyramid, in District West I’s Saturday League 5. However, instead of hosting its first team matches as groundsharers of Almere City FC in the stadium proper, Sporting Almere moves all its activities to three side-pitches at the southern end of the footballing area of Sportpark Fanny Blankers-Koen, with first team matches being alternated between pitch 3 (natural grass) and pitch 9 (3G), a situation which has continued until the present day. In the early days of the club, some high-profile matches of the new non-league club – e.g. the derby against ASC Waterwijk – were moved to the main stadium.
• 2012 / Choosing to play in the Sunday pyramid rather than on Saturdays, Sporting Almere’s first team is moved from Saturday League 5 to Sunday League 6.
• 2015 / Champions in District West I’s Sunday League 6B, 6 points ahead of closest followers SV Real Sranang, Sporting Almere wins promotion to Sunday League 4 – i.e. two levels due to Sunday League 6 being abolished as the bottom level of the Sunday pyramid in District West I.
• 2018 / In the best season in club history (so far), Sporting Almere manages a sixth place in District West I’s Sunday League 4G.
• 2019 / Without suppressing its Sunday team in Sunday League 4, Sporting Almere enters a new first team in the Saturday pyramid, starting its existence in Saturday League 4.
• 2020 / Following a sixth place finish in District West I’s Sunday League 4F – thereby equalling its best performance in 2018 – Sporting Almere abandons Sunday football, focusing henceforth on regular first team football on Saturdays.
• 2021 / Withdrawing its first team from Saturday League 4, Sporting Almere continues its existence with only lower senior and youth academy teams.
• 2023 / After two years without a first team, Sporting Almere rejoins the regular non-league pyramid in Saturday League 5.
• 2025 / Finishing in third place in District West I’s Saturday League 5D, Sporting Almere qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out vv Cobu Boys in R1 (2-1 A.E.T.), only to be eliminated in the final, played at SV Huizen’s Sportpark De Wolfskamer (Oost), by SV De Meer (za) (3-0).

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