 | |||
| Full name | Almere City Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | De Zwarte Schapen (The Black Sheep) | ||
| Founded | 14 September 2001; 23 years ago (2001-09-14), as FC Omniworld | ||
| Ground | Yanmar Stadion | ||
| Capacity | 4,501 | ||
| Owner | Lesley Bamberger | ||
| Chairman | John Bes | ||
| Head coach | Jeroen Rijsdijk | ||
| League | Eredivisie | ||
| 2023–24 | Eredivisie, 13th of 18 | ||
| Website | almerecity.nl | ||
 Current season | |||
Almere City Football Club is a professionalfootball club based inAlmere, Netherlands. Founded in 2001, they play in theEredivisie, the top tier ofDutch football. They play their home matches at the 4,501-capacityYanmar Stadion.
The club builds on former clubs fromAmsterdam and is a result of ambitions of theAlmere city council to play an active role in top sports. To that end, the sports clubOmniworld was formed, which consists of avolleyball branch, abasketball branch and a football branch. Prior to the2010–11 season, the club was renamed to Almere City FC.
Almere City can trace its history back to 1976, with the merger ofDWS,Volewijckers andBlauw-Wit intoFC Amsterdam. Disgruntled DWS supporters founded their own club,De Zwarte Schapen, named after their nickname, which translates as "Black Sheep". The club quickly rose through the ranks of Dutch amateur football, eventually reaching theHoofdklasse. After several violent incidents on the pitch and a six-month suspension by theRoyal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), the club moved fromAmsterdam to nearbyAlmere and changed its name toSporting Flevoland.
That name was changed toFC Omniworld in 2001 as a result of the efforts of a consortium (in which the city of Almere was a participant) to bring professional sports to Almere. These plans included a basketball club (BC Omniworld, now defunct), a volleyball club (VC Omniworld, now defunct) and the football club (FC Omniworld). However, when the Leefbaar Almere party became the largest party in the city council in 2002, the community withdrew from the project. This caused the club to fail the criteria for admission to the professional league in 2004.[1]
Private investors were found, and the club managed to meet the first two criteria for admission (among which is a balanced budget) in late 2004 and early 2005. After FC Omniworld's stadium (the 3,000 seaterYanmar Stadion) and pitch were approved by the KNVB as well, the club met all criteria for admission, and joined the 19 clubs already in theEerste Divisie. The club's first official match would have been held on 12 August 2005 againstBV Veendam. However, the referee postponed the match shortly before the kick-off because heavy rain had made theartificial turf pitch unplayable. The club's professional debut came a week later, in an away match againstFC Eindhoven, a 2–0 defeat. FC Omniworld registered its first official goal a few days later, in a 2–3 home defeat againstFC Den Bosch, asJuan Viedma Schenkhuizen scored to make the score 1–2 in the 37th minute. Omniworld's first league point was achieved a week later, on 29 August againstGo Ahead Eagles (2–2). The club's first victory came on 16 September, whenFortuna Sittard were defeated 3–2. In its first season, Omniworld finished in 19th place with 29 points from 38 matches. ForwardSjoerd Ars ended in fifth place in the top goalscorer ranking, with 17 goals.[2]
Ars was transferred toGo Ahead Eagles for the2006–07 season, but the results for Omniworld improved. The club achieved 41 points from 38 matches, finishing the season in 16th place.[3] The 2–7 home match defeatFC Zwolle on 16 March 2007 resulted in the then-worst defeat in the club's short history.
In March 2010, the club was renamedAFC Almere City[4] before being changed again a few weeks later toAlmere City FC, as the "AFC" prefix was deemed to be too reminiscent of the club's partnersAFC Ajax.[5] In their second match of the2010–11 season, they were defeated 12–1 bySparta Rotterdam, who equalled Ajax's Dutch league record win,[6] withJohan Voskamp scoring aJupiler League record eight goals on his debut.[7]
Almere City finished dead last in the Eerste Divisie during their initial 2010–11 season, but were heeded from relegation due to the bankruptcy ofRBC Roosendaal.[8] In the following years, the team struggled to maintain consistency, and even suffered a relegation scare during the2013–14 season.
Under the guidance of managerJack de Gier, the team underwent a revival, finishing in the top-10 for three consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019. In 2016, This culminated in their highest-ever league finish of 7th place in the2018–19 season under head coachOle Tobiasen. The same year, CEO John Bes in consultation with the club's supervisory board implemented a "five-year plan" which aimed to transform the club into a sustainable and professional football organisation, with an ultime goal of reaching theEredivisie.[9]
In August 2019, the club announced plans of building a new grandstand and a club office building.[10] The grandstand was completed during the 2020 winter break and increased the capacity of the stadium from around 3,000 to 4,501 spectators.[11]
During the2020–21 season, Almere City marked the conclusion of its prestigious five-year plan with a record-breaking season.[9][12] The team achieved an impressive 75 points and scored a record-breaking 75 goals, securing a fourth-place finish in the final standings, which was considered a historic achievement for the club. However, the club's pursuit of promotion was unsuccessful as they were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs byNEC with a 4–0 defeat, during interim management underJeroen Rijsdijk.[12] During this period, the club's striker,Thomas Verheydt, set a new club record by becoming the first player in the club's history to score 20 goals in a single season, surpassing the previous record held by club legendVincent Janssen.[13] Despite the initial success, the club's good form was short-lived as they struggled in the2021–22 season and could only manage a disappointing 14th-place finish.[14]
During the2022–23 season,Alex Pastoor's first full season in charge of the team, Almere City secured their highest league finish to date by finishing third in the Eerste Divisie. In June 2023, after a thrillingplay-off run, the club gained promotion to theEredivisie for the first time in their history by defeatingEmmen 4–1 on aggregate in the final.[15]
In their debutseason in theEredivisie Almere City managed to finish above the bottom three clubs and they maintained their spot in the Eredivisie for the 2024–25 season.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Chairman |  John Bes |
| Head coach | Jeroen Rijsdijk |
| Assistant head coach | Foeke Booy Anoush Dastgir |
| Goalkeeper coach |  Agil Etemadi |
| Performance coach | Lucas Posthuma |
| Video analyst | Max Buis |
| Scout |  Jack Austin |
| Head of physiotherapy | Geert van der Heiden |
| Physiotherapist | Jeroen Bijl |
| Material | Herman Koster Ronald van Bruggen |
| Team Manager | Jasper Meeder |
De fans vonden dat de afkorting AFC teveel verwijst naar AFC Ajax. Voorzitter René ter Borgh liet zich overtuigen door hun argumenten en dient daarom vrijdag bij de KNVB het verzoek in om volgend seizoen de naam Almere City FC te mogen hanteren.
