There aren't a lot of stadiums in Belgium which hosted a men's team and a women's team in the higher national leagues. In Mol we can find one of those examples. The George Claes stadium used to be the homeground of KSV Mol (and later on KFC Racing Mol-Wezel) and now is being used by VC Moldavo.
Everything started in 1924 when in Ginderbuiten, near Mol, De Rooden Band was created. Due to its political references the name was later changed into Football Club Mollina. Eventually it would take another year to start over with a new name. In 1931 Sport Vermaakt Mol was first used. Two years later they joined the Belgian FA. For about 30 years they played their games in Ginderbuiten and they would only compete in the regional leagues.
In the 60s there would be major changes. During that decade the homeground in Ginderbuiten was sold for a real estate project and SV Mol moved to the newly built George Claes stadium. in 1973 SV Mol would finally reach the national leagues, fourth division at that time. After three years they relegated back to the regional leagues, but it became clear there was a future for the team in the higher divisions. In 1983 they returned to fourth division and under the leadership of chairman George Claes they would fight for promotion almost every single season. It did take until 1990 before they finally got their chance in third division. For eight straight years they lived their dreams, although they had to fight against relegation. In 1998 the dream seemed over - relegation to fourth division. One year later they immediately had to go to the regional leagues again.
Financially KSV Mol had more and more problems and in 2002 they merged with the neighbouring KFC Wezel Sport to become KFC Racing Mol-Wezel. The matricule number of Wezel Sport was used and the new team moved to the grounds of KSV Mol. KFC Wezel Sport started its history before 1926 as FC Vieille Montagne, but they joined the FA in 1926 and changed their name into FC Wezel Sport. In 1937 they first reached the national leagues, third division and one year later they promoted to second division. Again a year later they relegated back to third division. After WWII FC Wezel Sport would go up and down between third and fourth division and the top regional leagues. During the 60s Guy Thys was coach of the team. In the beginning the results were actually quite good, but by the end of the 60s they relegated back to fourth division. In 1972 they would even go back to the regional leagues, after 22 years of national football. Between 1978 and 1982 they returned to fourth division very briefly, but other than that they had to play in the regional leagues for a couple of years. In 1992 they finally returned and all throughout the 90s they were continuously close to third division.
Unfortunately their luck ran out in 2002. That was the year of the merger with KSV Mol and as KFC Racing Mol-Wezel they climbed up again. In 2004 they returned to fourth division and only three years later third division was their league again. In 2009 they were extremely close to promotion to second division but financial problems made them look for other solutions. There were talks to merge with Verbroedering Geel-Meerhout and KFC Dessel Sport but the deals fell through. Finally they merged with KVSK United Overpelt-Lommel. The name was changed into Lommel United but the matricule number of KFC Racing Mol-Wezel (the old KFC Wezel Sport) was kept for the youth leagues. That matricule number took the name KFC Wezel.
In 2010 the old board members of KFC Wezel Sport founded a new team, Wezel Sport FC. After a couple of years it was decided to merge that new team with the old matricule number and suddenly the old FC Wezel Sport was back again!
Nice to know: Patrick Goots is definitely the most known former player of Wezel Sport.
Since the George Claes stadium wasn't being used anymore since 2009 the ladies team VC Moldavo moved to the abandoned stadium in 2010. VC Moldavo was founded in 2001. Slowly but surely the team moved up and since 2015 they are playing in the ladies second division (eerste klasse). And they still have a lot of ambition to go the first division (the superleague). In 2016 they hired former Red Devil, AA Gent/Lierse/Westerlo player and Westerlo coach Frank Dauwen.
The George Claes stadium is definitely a must do. Everything in the stadium is still as it was built originally and there are some very interesting standing areas. We're glad to see there still is football in the higher leagues in this stadium.
