In Haaltert in East Flanders, there's a lot of football to be found. Besides the sports activities in Denderhoutem (part of Haaltert), Kerksken and Haaltert also had their own team. "Had" indeed. Because the two have become one in the meantime.
FC Kerksken (beautiful name by the way) was founded in 1972 and the first months they were an active member of the Royal Catholic Sports Federation of Belgium. A few months later, they made the move to the Belgian FA. It's a fairly young team that had a peaceful existence throughout the years. Sadly enough FC Kerksken never made it to the national divisions, but you wouldn't say when you have a look at their ground. Their Willy Michiels Stadion is an absolute gem!
That stadium has now become the new location of the merger. Because as we had already mentioned, two teams recently became one. KRC Haaltert and FC Kerksken became FC Kerksken-Haaltert in 2020. FC Kerksken didn't live long enough to see the age of 50 as their matricule number was sacrificed in the merger. The new team continues with the matricule number of KRC Haaltert. KRC Haaltert has a bigger and deeper history, but we'd like to keep that part of the story for another moment.
In 2020, both teams played in the regional leagues and that's where the merger continued the activities. Third regional division - the eighth level in Belgium - to be exact. It looks like that will stay their division for a while. But who knows, the team may soon climb back up to the regional top competitions.
If you want to enjoy our articles in Dutch, you can read them here.