Search form

menu menu
  • Daily & Weekly newsletters
  • Buy & download The Bulletin
  • Comment on our articles

Football league runners-up consider 100km relocation

11:50 22/05/2013

Football club Zulte Waregem, who on Sunday finished runners-up in the Belgian championship, are considering moving from West Flanders to Antwerp, 100km away, reports De Gazet van Antwerpen. Secret negotiations took place in recent weeks between Patrick Decuyper, managing director of Zulte Waregem, and Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever. Last week both parties came close to an agreement, though the move has not yet been confirmed for next season. A top-flight team moving 100km from its home is unprecedented in Belgian football, but for De Wever, the plans are interesting now that, since the implosion of Beerschot, Belgium’s second city no longer has a team in the top division. Decuyper has said in the past that the club’s Rainbow Stadium in Waregem had already reached saturation point. A move to Antwerp, which the Football Association allows, would give Zulte Waregem growth opportunities. The new club would be given an 'Antwerp' name and, during construction of a new stadium, would play at Beerschot’s home, the Kiel. It remains to be seen, however, whether the plans will go ahead. When the news leaked yesterday, Decuyper was quick to say that next season’s home games would be played in the Rainbow Stadium. Waregem council was holding an emergency meeting this morning.

Written by The Bulletin