NETHERLANDS: SV Leones (B) (1956-2021) / SV Leones (2021-)

Sportpark Het Zijvond II, Beneden-Leeuwen (SV Leones, formerly B pitch of SV Leones)

Netherlands, province: Guelders = Gelderland

31 V 2026 / SV Leones - vv Krayenhoff 1-2 / District East, Sunday Leagues 2 & 3 - promotion-relegation play-off R1

Timeline

• 1929 / Foundation of a football club in Beneden-Leeuwen, which is given the name Sportvereniging (SV) Leones. The club’s first ground is situated at modern-day Van Heemstraweg, opposite gas station De Fakkel.
• 1934 / SV Leones abandons its first ground, settling at Terrein De Zijveld, situated opposite Café Hent de Kok.
• 1956 / Abandoning Terrein De Zijveld, SV Leones settles on the newly laid-out Sportpark Het Zijvond, with a wooden grandstand being added to the set-up some two years later.
• 2021 / After a thorough renovation of Sportpark Het Zijvond, a new clubhouse and main stand are inaugurated on what had hitherto been one of the side-pitches of the park in September 2021. The main entrance of the ground is moved from Zijveld at the eastern side of the park to De Peel at its southern end.  
• 2022 / While maintaining its Sunday team as the flagship of the club, SV Leones enters a first team in Saturday football for the first time. The club’s debut in Saturday football is not very successful, as SV Leones (za) finishes in last place in District East’s Saturday League 4A in the 2022-23 season, resulting in the team being retrograded to the newly-formed Saturday League 5.
• 2023 / Finishing in tenth place in Sunday League 1D, SV Leones has to play a set of play-offs to stave off relegation – but it is unsuccessful in this mission, being eliminated in R2 (having had a bye in R1) by vv ATC ’65 (3-1). As such, the club drops back into League 2 after five years.
• 2024 / Having served as a side-pitch for 2,5 more years after the inauguration of the new main pitch, the old main pitch of Sportpark Het Zijvond is given up to make way for housing in January 2024. Also in 2024, SV Leones finishes in fourth place in Sunday League 2G, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by vv Unicum (1-0).
• 2025 / Finishing in second-last place in Sunday League 2B, SV Leones descends into Sunday League 3 alongside WV-HEDW (zo) and bottom club SC Woezik.
• 2026 / Finishing in eleventh place in Sunday League 3J, SV Leones fails to hold its own in the promotion-relegation play-offs, suffering defeat in R1 against vv Krayenhoff (1-2, cp. photos below). As such, the club drops back into Sunday League 4, finding itself at this lowly level for the first time in 71 years.

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