Merelbeke

The pitch at Sportpark Molenkouter has barely worn in. KFC Merelbeke moved onto the ground in April 2023, and the stand still looks built for a club with room to grow rather than one that has already arrived.

Founded in 1942 as Vlug en Vrij Merelbeke, the club merged in 1988 with Union Merelbeke and Sporting Merelbeke to form FC Merelbeke. Royal status followed in 1992, when it took its current name, KFC Merelbeke, playing in yellow and blue since.

What followed was a slow climb rather than a single leap. Merelbeke worked up through every level of East Flanders' provincial football, from the bottom division to the top, across four decades. The breakthrough came in 2018/19, when the club won Derde klasse Amateurs, the third tier of national amateur football. A play-off promotion at the end of the 2023/24 season then took Merelbeke into Eerste Nationale, the top division outside the professional pyramid, for the first time.

Sportpark Molenkouter holds 1,000.