The area in and around Mechelen has a lot of beautiful stadiums, but perhaps one of the lesser known stadiums is the one located in De Nekker, a recreational area that happens to contain a lot of sports facilities as well. This is being used by KV Mechelen, mainly for training purposes, but occasionally the youth teams play games there as well.
Originally this was all built for athletics team RAM (Regionale Atletiekverenigingen Mechelen) during the 80s. RAM is in fact a continuation of Racing Mechelen Atletiek (since 1932) and a merger between the first mentioned and DIVA (merger on itself between FC Malinois and AC Mechelen), AC Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Willebroek AC and Atletiekwerking Eternit.
It wasn't until the 90s or early 2000s YR KV Mechelen started to use this for actual football as well. This is also the reason why the grandstand is quite large. The athletics teams can attract a large group of fans. In the meantime hockey team NEO Hockey Club is also using this stadium, but is mainly playing on the B pitch.
Until recently the stadium had four professional floodlights, but due to economical reasons two of them were taken down early 2017. It still is one of the few training stadiums that has an elevator. Quite extraordinary.
