BELGIUM: FC Nieuwkerken (1993-2003) / FCN Sint-Niklaas (2003-2010) / SK Sint-Niklaas (2010-2018) / SKN Sint-Niklaas (2018-2026) / Excelsior Nieuwkerken (2026-)

Stedelijk Sportcentrum Meesterstraat, Nieuwkerken-Waas (Excelsior Nieuwkerken, formerly FC Nieuwkerken / FCN Sint-Niklaas / SK Sint-Niklaas / SKN Sint-Niklaas)

Belgium, province: East Flanders

22 V 2011 / SK Sint-Niklaas - KV Turnhout 3-3 A.E.T. / National Divisions 2 & 3 - promotion-relegation play-off (= BE levels 2 & 3)

Timeline

• 1993 / Foundation of FC Nieuwkerken. The club joins the Belgian Football Association, receiving matricule 9264 upon obtaining membership. Right from the outset, FC Nieuwkerken played its football at Stedelijk Sportcentrum Meesterstraat, which underwent several extensions and upgrades over the years. One of the founders of the club, Guido Van Lijsebetten, is FC Nieuwkerken's first president.
• 1996 / After an historic three league titles in its three first years as a competitive club, FC Nieuwkerken manages to accede to East Flanders' Provincial League 1.
• 2001 / Following five stable years in P1, FC Nieuwkerken clinches the title, thus opening the door to national league football for the first time in the club's young history.
• 2002 / Defeating K Standaard Wetteren and Racing Jet Wavre in the promotion play-offs, FC Nieuwkerken finds itself in National Division 3 - a level at which the club is due to remain for the following nine seasons.
• 2003 / The club changes its name to become FC Nieuwkerken Sint-Niklaas, commonly abbreviated to FCN Sint-Niklaas.
• 2010 / Mere days after KV Red Star Waasland concluded its officious merger with KSK Beveren to form KV Red Star Waasland-SK Beveren, FCN Sint-Niklaas filed a name change, becoming Sportkring (SK) Sint-Niklaas - as a reference to the former K Sint-Niklase SK, which had been absorbed in a merger by KSC Lokeren in 2000.
• 2011 / Finding itself in the National Division 3 promotion play-offs, SK Sint-Niklaas fends off KV Woluwe-Zaventem, KV Turnhout (cp. match photos below), and K Hoogstraten VV, thus managing a sensational promotion to National Division 2.
• 2012 / The best result in club history, SK Sint-Niklaas finishes 15th in D2, thus narrowly staying up.
• 2013 / After two difficult seasons in a division mainly made up of professional league sides, SK Sint-Niklaas suffers relegation to National Division 3 - the first relegation since the foundation of the club.
• 2014 / Following a second relegation in a row, SK Sint-Niklaas finds itself in National Division 4A.
• 2015 / Getting the better of RES Acrenoise, OMS Ingelmunster, and KOSC Wijgmaal, SK Sint-Niklaas manages a return to National Division 3.
• 2016 / In a reorganisation of Belgium's league pyramid, SK Sint-Niklaas is placed in VFV Amateur Division 2, the fourth and second-lowest tier of the national league system.
• 2018 / SK Sint-Niklaas changes its name to become Sportkring Nieuwkerken (SKN) Sint-Niklaas. That same year, after a presidency of 25 years, Guido Van Lijsebetten steps down as chairman, leaving the club to an investor from Brussels, Gylles Peemans. 
• 2020 / In the 2019-20 season, cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SKN Sint-Niklaas finds itself in a 15th position in Amateur Division 2 - resulting in the club dropping into VFV's Amateur Division 3.
• 2022 / With the club meanwhile being in grave financial difficulties due to the lack of investments after the departure of Guido Van Lijsebetten, SKN Sint-Niklaas is unable to stay up in Amateur Division 3; thus, the club returns to East Flanders' Provincial League 1 after an uninterrupted spell of 21 seasons of national league football.
• 2026 / SKN Sint-Niklaas goes bankrupt in February 2026, with all teams being withdrawn from their respective leagues midway through the season. In April 2026, a new club takes over Stedelijk Sportcentrum Meesterstraat, Excelsior Nieuwkerken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

NETHERLANDS: vv Hulsterloo

Terrein Cuwaertstraat, Nieuw-Namen (vv Hulsterloo)

Netherlands, province: Zealand = Zeeland

22 V 2011 / vv Hulsterloo - FC Moerstraten 4-0 / Zondag 5e klasse Zuid I - promotion play-off (= NL level 9)

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

LUXEMBOURG: CS Hollerich (1913-2001)

Rue de l'Abattoir, Luxembourg-Hollerich (RFCU Luxembourg youths, formerly CS Hollerich)

Luxembourg, canton: Luxembourg

21 V 2011 / RFCU Luxembourg (Scolaires) - CS Oberkorn (Scolaires) 1-3 / Scolaires, Division 5 Série 4

LUXEMBOURG: FC Jeunesse Hautcharage (1919-1935, 1947-1997) / UN Käerjéng 97 (1997-2011)

Stade Um Bëchel, Hautcharage (formerly FC Jeunesse Hautcharage / UN Käerjeng 97)

Luxembourg, canton: Capellen

21 V 2011 / UN Käerjéng 97 - RM Hamm-Benfica 1-0 / National Division (= LUX level 1)

Note: FC Jeunesse Hautcharage, founded in 1919, was dissolved in 1935; twelve years later, the club was refounded under the same name. In 1997, a merger was conclued with US Bascharage, resulting in UN Käerjéng 97. In the first fourteen years after this merger, first team football was played in Hautcharage, upon which all activities were moved to the newly built Käerjenger Dribbel in Bascharage. Subsequently, Stade Um Bëchel was knocked down to make way for housing.

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

BELGIUM: R Entente Marche FC (1992-2012) / Olympic Marche FC (2012-2015)

Centre Sportif Local de la Ville de Marche - terrain 1, Marche-en-Famenne (formerly R Entente Marche FC & Olympic Marche FC)

Belgium, province: Luxembourg

May 2011 & July 2022 / no match visited

Timeline

• 1925 / Two football clubs see the daylight in the town of Marche-en-Famenne; first, there is Union Marche FC, founded in March 1925, closely followed by FC Saint-Louis Marche, four months younger than its rivals. Both clubs join the Belgian Football Association
• 1926 / Upon the introduction of the matricule system, Union Marche FC obtains matricule 476, with FC Saint-Louis Marche receiving matricule 538.
• 1929 / Champions in Belgian Luxembourg's Division 2, the highest provincial level at the time, Union Marche FC accedes to Promotion, the third and lowest national division. The experience at this level is no less than catastrophic, though, with the club losing 25 of their 26 league games, ending up with a goal difference of 31-167 (-136) - and a return to Belgian Luxembourg's regional divisions in 1930.
• 1932 / Due to reasons unknown, FC Saint-Louis Marche folds, ceasing all activities, while Union Marche FC does not enter a team for the 1932-33 season. Union folds in 1933.
• 1933 / A committee is founded of former members of Saint-Louis and Union to form a new football club in Marche-en-Famenne. This activity results in the foundation of Entente Marche Football Club (FC). One of the 14 founding members, Edouard Michel, becomes the new club's first chairman. Entente's colours are black and white; the same as Union Marche had worn. Upon joining the Belgian Football Association, the club obtains matricule 1954. From the beginning, the club plays its football at Lieu-dit-Pirire, just south of the town centre. After the war, the ground is renamed Stade Léon Lambert in honour of a local resistance fighter who was murdered by the Germans in KZ Gross-Rosen in 1944.
• 1934 / Successful in its first season, Entente Marche FC obtains the title in Belgian Luxembourg's Division 3. In the following years, the club comes close to a promotion to the national leagues several times, just missing out on that opportunity in 1938 and 1939 in test matches against ES Mussonaise and Excelsior Virton respectively.
• 1953 / Winning the title in Belgian Luxembourg's Provincial League 2B, Entente Marche FC accedes to Provincial League 1 for the first time.
• 1957 / Finishing in first place in Provincial League 1, the club begins a spell of three seasons of national league football in 'Promotion' or National Division 4. With a 7th place in National Division 4D, the 1957-58 season is the most successful year in club history.
• 1958 / Entente's youth player Jacky Beurlet, 14 years old at the time, signs a contract with R Standard de Liège. Experiencing his breakthrough at that club in 1961, Beurlet serves the 'Rouches' for thirteen seasons - and with three international games for Belgium to his credit, as well as a selection for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, he is Marche-en-Famenne's most successful footballer of all times.
• 1964 / The club changes its colours, from now on playing in green and white (the old colours of Saint-Louis Marche FC) instead of black and white.
• 1967 / After seven seasons in P1, Entente Marche FC suffers relegation to Provincial League 2. 
• 1972 / Winning the title in Provincial League 2B, Entente Marche FC begins a new spell of five seasons at Belgian Luxembourg's highest provincial level.
• 1983 / Upon its 50th anniversary, Entente Marche FC obtains the royal epithet, thus becoming Royale Entente Marche Football Club.
• 1984 / Champions in P2C, R Entente Marche FC finds itself in Provincial League 1 again after an absence of seven years.
• 1992 / The club moves from its old Stade Léon Lambert, in the hamlet of Pirire just to the south of Marche-en-Famenne proper (immediately to thw est of the premises occupied by Rugby Club Famenne since 1985) to the newly built Centre Sportif et Culturel at Chaussée de l'Ourthe. Apart from facilities for several other sports, the park disposes of two football pitches. The main pitch, surrounded by an athletics track, is adorned with a small covered stand. 
• 1996 / Losing a test match against RUS Chestrolaise, R Entente Marche FC has to say goodbye to Provincial League 1 - as it turns out, for good.
• 2003 / A humiliating relegation sees the club sink back to Provincial League 3, the lowest provincial division in Belgian Luxembourg. 
• 2012 / Due to financial difficulties, R Entente Marche FC, in P3 for the last nine seasons of its existence, ceases all activities. Its matricule 1954 is erased from Belgium's FA's official lists one year later. Still in 2012, a successor club is founded, Olympic Marche Football Club (matricule 9593; oddly, the logo of the club reads Olympic Marchois FC instead of Marche), which takes the place of Entente at the Centre Sportif Local.
• 2015 / After an existence of only three seasons - all spent in Belgian Luxembourg's Provincial League 3 -, Olympic Marche FC concludes a merger with Union Sportive Waha, becoming Union Famenne Waha-Marche. The new merger club retains Waha's matricule 8350. First team football moves to Waha's ground at Rue du Point du Jour, while pitch 2 at Marche's Centre Sportif Local remains in use for training purposes. From 2015 onwards, the former main pitch in Marche-en-Famenne has been used exclusively for athletics.
• 2019 / The side pitch in Marche is equipped with a synthetic surface. Meanwhile, this second pitch is no longer used by UF Waha-Marche's youth academy, but serves local schools as well as training sessions organised by Marche-en-Famenne's city hall for youth players affiliated to clubs in the vicinity of Marche (R Entente Roy-Lignières-Grimbiémont / R Jeunesse Réunie d'Aye FC / Union Famenne Waha-Marche) as well as young, aspiring players not affiliated to any club.
• 2022 / R Entente Durbuy, evicted from its Stade Communal 'Basse Commène' in Barvaux-sur-Ourthe after a conflict with local authorities as well as other clubs belonging to the municipality of Durbuy, moves its first team football to the synthetic pitch in Marche-en-Famenne. Playing in ACFF's Amateur Division 3 - the fifth and lowest national division -, R Entente Durbuy brings back national league football to the town of Marche-en-Famenne for the first time in 62 (!) years.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of two different non-matchday visits: pictures 1-3 & 5-7 = May 2011 / pictures 4 & 8 = July 2022.

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