Extreme Football Tourism: NETHERLANDS: SV Almen

Terrein Binnenweg, Almen (SV Almen)

Netherlands, province: Guelders = Gelderland

11 IV 2026 / SV Almen - vv Gorssel 1-2 / District East, Saturday League 5C (= NL level 10)

Timeline

1926 / Foundation of a first football club in the village of Almen, hemmed in between Lochem and Zutphen in the Province of Guelders (Gelderland); the new club, which is non-confessional, is given the straightforward name vv Almen – joining the so-called Geldersche Voetbalbond (GVB), the Guelders sub-branch of the Netherlands’ Football Association (NVB, KNVB from 1929 onwards), organising league football in Guelders below the level of (Sunday) League 4. A pitch is laid out for the new club at Jennemeuje’s Gat, a location to the northwest of the village proper. For the 1926-27 season, vv Almen is placed in GVB (Sunday) Division 3, the bottom division of the GVB pyramid.
1929 / After three seasons only, vv Almen withdraws its membership of the GVB.
1933 / After four more languishing years, vv Almen folds, ceasing all activities, when its pitch, Jennemeuje’s Gat, has to make way for the Twentekanaal.
1937 / vv Almen is re-established, with the rejoining the GVB league association (officially renamed Afdeling Gelderland following the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940). The club settles on a pitch, Terrein Onstein, at Asselerweg, just across the railway line leading to Harfsen.
± 1948 / After an existence of little over ten years, vv Almen folds in 1948 or 1949.
1952 / A new football club is founded in Almen, with the name Sportvereniging (SV) Almen being adopted. SV Almen settles on the former pitch of vv Almen, Terrein Onstein, at Asselerweg. The founding fathers of the club are members of the so-called Christelijke Jongemannenvereniging (CJMV), the local protestant (evangelical) men’s club – with the logical result being that SV Almen joins the Saturday division of the GVB rather than the Sunday pyramid, in which its two predecessors had featured. B.A. ten Have becomes the first chairman of SV Almen.
1955 / Abandoning Terrein Onstein at Asselerweg, SV Almen settles on a newly laid-out pitch, Terrein Blauwe Dijk (Blauwedijk) at Van Wassenaerlaan.
1959 / Clinching the title in GVB Saturday Division 1, SV Almen wins promotion to District East’s Saturday League 4 for the first time.
1960 / Finishing bottom of the table in District East’s Saturday League 4C, SV Almen drops back into the ranks of the GVB after just one season.
1962 / Coached by Marten Jochemsen, a former professional league player at BV De Graafschap, SV Almen manages a return to Saturday League 4, winning promotion from GVB Saturday Division 1.
1964 / Works get underway on the construction of a clubhouse for SV Almen on a new location at Binnenweg, on a plot of land purchased from a local smallholder, Teunis Busschloo.
1965 / Moving away from Terrein Blauwe Dijk (Blauwedijk), SV Almen moves to the newly laid-out Terrein Binnenweg in August 1965. A gala match between ZVV AZC and DC&FC UD (4-3) is organised to mark the occasion. The new park consists of two pitches – with a third pitch, the so-called Hogeveld, being added later.
1966 / Coached by Marten Jochemsen, SV Almen finishes bottom of the table in District East’s Saturday League 4C, thus descending into GVB Division 1 after four seasons. Also in 1966, an athletics branch is added to the set-up at SV Almen.
1967 / Still coached by Marten Jochemsen, SV Almen manages an immediate return to Saturday League 4, winning promotion from GVB Saturday Division 1. Also in 1967, coach Jochemsen organises a gala match at Terrein Binnenweg between his former employer BV De Graafschap and a Zutphen XI with players of ZVV AZC and ZVV Be Quick, with all receipts of the match going to the P.W. Janssen Hospital in Deventer. As an extra attraction, former vv Heerenveen, SV De Enschede Boys, and Netherlands international striker Abe Lenstra, 46 years old at the time, is added to the Zutphen XI. Some 2,500 spectators attend the event, which is restaged the following year – with Lenstra being joined by two other former international players, Frans de Munck and Tonny van der Linden, on that occasion.
1968 / Finishing bottom of the table in District East’s Saturday League 4B with coach Marten Jochemsen, SV Almen once again faces relegation to GVB Division 1. Also in 1968, the two-year old athletics branch of SV Almen breaks away from the club by concluding a merger with ASV Eibergen.
1973 / The clubhouse at Terrein Binnenweg is extended in a first renovation.
1975 / SV Almen staves off relegation from GVB Saturday Division 1 to Division 2 by winning a tie-break match against SP Haarlo (3-0) attended by some 1,000 spectators.
1978 / Finishing as joint runners-up in GVB Saturday Division 1 with SV DZC ’68, SV Almen defeats the club from Doetinchem in a tie-break match for an additional promotion ticket (1-0, goal by Jan Poesse). As such, the club manages a return to Saturday League 4 after an absence of ten years. The successful coach is Mr Messink.
1983 / After renovation works which took the best part of two years, an almost completely rebuilt clubhouse is inaugurated at Terrein Binnenweg.
1988 / Finishing bottom of the table in District East’s Saturday League 4C, SV Almen drops back into GVB Saturday Division 1 after ten years, alongside the club in second-last place, CVV Achilles.
1996 / SV Almen wins promotion from GVB Saturday Division 1 – however, due to a Zaterdag Hoofdklasse being created as the new top tier of the Saturday pyramid, the club is placed not in Saturday League 4, but in Saturday League 3 for the first time in club history.
1997 / Finishing bottom of the table in District East’s Saturday League 3D, SV Almen descends into Saturday League 4 alongside the club in second-last place, BZSV De Blauwwitters.
1999 / SV Almen finishes as runner-up in District East’s Saturday League 4E, 3 points behind champions SV Sportlust Glanerbrug.
2007 / Champions in District East’s Saturday League 4F, 1 point ahead of closest rivals SVDW ’75, SV Almen wins promotion to Saturday League 3. The successful coach is Toon Hillebrand.
2008 / In the best season in club history, SV Almen finishes in sixth place in District East’s Saturday League 3D.
2009 / Finishing in second-last place in District East’s Saturday League 3D with coach Herman van Zeijts, SV Almen drops back into Saturday League 4 after two years, alongside bottom club vv Sportclub Eefde.
2012 / Finishing in fourth place in District East’s Saturday League 4D, SV Almen qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by vv Ede-Victoria (6-3 aggr.). Also in 2012, a new set of dressing rooms is inaugurated at Terrein Binnenweg.
2013 / Finishing in fifth place in District East’s Saturday League 4E, SV Almen qualifies for the play-off final, in which the club has to leave the promotion ticket to SVV ’56 (10-4 aggr.).
2023 / Finishing in eleventh place in District East’s Saturday League 4H with coach Wilco Laconi, SV Almen is retrograded to the newly created Saturday League 5, along with vv HSC ’21 (za), vv Terborg, FC Winterswijk (za), and bottom club EGVV.

Note – Important parts of the information provided above have been derived from two publications about club history; First, there is a booklet without a title, written by Ab Reurslag on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of SV Almen in 1992. Ten years later, the club published another booklet, “SV Almen 1952-2002. 50 jaar beweging in beeld”, with historic photographs, detailing fifty years of club history. Thanks to SV Almen’s chairman Bert Wentink for putting copies of these two publications at my disposal.