Limburg must have good grounds. Proof of that is the great number of talents coming from these provinces, both in Belgium and The Netherlands. Football is king and this is also the case in the Belgian Zonhoven. Let's take a trip down memory lane.
To keep things clear, we won't start talking about the great amount of amateur clubs in the village which never joined the Belgian FA. There is already plenty to tell about all of the other teams. Even there, we'll need to stop halfway through. The great football story in the Limburg village of Zonhoven started in 1926. That year Fora Club Zonhoven started, but the yellow/blue boys pulled out of the FA in 1928. In 1929 they were back, but again two years later they dropped out again.
Zonhoven Voetbalvereeniging took over in 1931, but they too struggled to stay on board. In 1934 Zonhoven VV disappeared from the FA books. Not long after, Weerstand Zonhoven took a shot at it. But in 1937, only one year after starting, it was over already. Again one year later, Sportkring Zonhoven was the next in line. They did manage to last longer than only a handful of years. For eleven years straight Sportkring Zonhoven survived (even WWII). In 1949 however they decided to stop and pull back from the FA.
Sportkring had a short revival at the Belgian FA in 1979 with a new matricule number, but again this would be short lived. In 1997 the team was gone. In between though many other teams had risen and many of those managed to build a stable history. In 1939 Zonhoven Vlug en Vrij started, still being active to this day. After WWII a whole bunch of other teams joined the pack. One of those was Football Club Halvenweg Zonhoven in 1950 - our stop for now.
Just like many other teams in the village of Zonhoven, FC Halvenweg always kept to the regional leagues. At least when it comes to men's football. Still FC Halvenweg can be very proud of its trajectory. One of the highlights is without a doubt the launch of the career of Jo Coppens. He started his career in Zonhoven and grew to become the goalkeeper at STVV. The absolute pride however is most definitely Luc Nilis.
After daddy Roger Nilis ended his career at FC Halvenweg, his son Luc started his in the youth teams. Despite the fact the family lived right across the street of competitor FC Melosport, Luc decided to start his career at FC Halvenweg, where his father had become coach. After seven years of perfecting his technique, Luc moved to Winterslag which would start his famous career. Anderlecht would follow, added by PSV, the national team and his unlucky ending at Aston Villa. The man with the velvet kick is still being honoured at FC Halvenweg.
FC Halvenweg would also have successes on the pitch. We do have to move to the women's section for that. In 2014 the ladies team promoted to the national divisions, followed by a promotion to the second national division in 2016. In 2018 unfortunately they stopped. All attention went back to the male results in the lowest regional league in Limburg, still at the Schopdriesweg. But... no team no glory hangs proudly on their stand... Spicy detail; they call themselves FC Halveweg although the official name with the Belgian FA is FC Halvenweg.
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