- Almere City FC
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Almere City 
Full name Almere City Football Club Nickname(s) The Sheepheads Founded September 14, 2001 (as FC Omniworld) Ground Mitsubishi Forklift Stadion,
Almere
(Capacity: 3,000)Chairman René ter Borgh Manager Dick de Boer League Eerste Divisie 2010–11 Eerste Divisie, 18th 
Home coloursAway coloursAlmere City Football Club is a Dutch football club. The club was founded in 2001, and is an expression of the ambitions of the city council of Almere to play an active role in top sports. To that end, a sports club (Omniworld) was formed, which now comprises a volleyball branch, a basketball branch and a football branch. Before the 2010–2011 season the club was called FC Omniworld.
Contents
History
Almere City can trace its history back to 1972, with the merger of DWS, Volewijckers and Blauw-Wit into FC Amsterdam. Disgruntled DWS supporters founded their own club, called 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 the Hoofdklasse. After several violent incidents on the pitch and a six month suspension by the Royal Dutch Football Association, the club moved from Amsterdam to nearby Almere and changed its name to Sporting Flevoland.
That name was changed to FC 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 a 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 seater Mitsubishi Forklift Stadion) and pitch were approved by the Royal Dutch Football Association as well, the club met all criteria for admission, and joined the 19 clubs already in the Eerste Divisie. The club's first official match would have been held on August 12, 2005, against BV Veendam. However, the referee postponed the match shortly before the kick-off was due. Heavy rain had made the artificial turf pitch unplayable. The club's professional debut came a week later, in an away match against FC Eindhoven (2–0 defeat). FC Omniworld registered its first official goal a few days later, in a 2–3 home defeat against FC Den Bosch, as Juan Viedma Schenkhuizen scored the 1–2 in the 37th minute. FC Omniworld's first league point was achieved a week later, on August 29, 2005, against Go Ahead Eagles (2–2). The club's first victory came on September 16, when Fortuna Sittard was beaten 3–2. In its first season, FC Omniworld finished in 19th place, with 29 points from 38 matches. Forward Sjoerd Ars ended in fifth place of the top scorer ranking, with 17 goals.[2]
Ars was transferred to Go Ahead Eagles for the 2006–07 season, but the results for Omniworld improved. The club achieved 41 points from 38 matches, finishing the season in 16th place.[3] The home match against FC Zwolle on 2007-03-16 resulted in the then worst defeat in club history though: 2–7.
In March 2010 the club was renamed AFC Almere City[4] before being changed again a few weeks later to Almere City F.C., as the AFC prefix was deemed to be too reminiscent of the club's partners AFC Ajax.[citation needed] In their second game of the 2010–011 season they were defeated 12-1 by Sparta Rotterdam, who equalled Ajax's Dutch league record win,[5] with Johan Voskamp scoring an Eerste Divisie record 8 goals on his debut.[6]
Results
Players
Current squad
As of 1 August 2011
For recent transfers, see List of Dutch football transfers summer 2011
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
No. Position Player 1 
GK Erwin Friebel 2 DF Dion Malone 3 DF Gino Felixdaal 4 DF Cees Toet 5 DF Dennis Hollart 6 MF Paul de Lange (captain) (on loan from FC Volendam) 7 
FW Rihairo Meulens 8 MF Mitchell Burgzorg 9 
FW Vojtěch Schulmeister 10 
MF Jerson Ribeiro 11 FW Thijs Sluijter (on loan from FC Volendam) No. Position Player 12 
GK Kostas Peristerides 13 GK Michiel Belhadj 14 DF Cendrino Misidjan 15 MF Mitchell Kappenberg 16 MF Jonathan Robertson 17 FW Mikhail Rosheuvel 18 MF Leroy Resodihardjo 19 FW Fabian Serrarens 20 
FW Serdar Öztürk 21 MF Allon Worms Staff
Head Coach
- Dick de Boer
Assistant Coach
Team Manager
- Hans van Diggelen
Former players
- Dwight Eind
Jatto Ceesay (2007–08)- Nordin Amrabat (2006–07)
- Juan Viedma Schenkhuizen (2005–08)
- Tomi Nyman
- Biko Brazil (2005–06)
- Kofi Mensah (2005–06)
- Raymond Beerens
- Yannis Anastasiou (2007–08)
Diangi Matusiwa (2007–08)
Zenon Caravella (2006–08)
Paul Mulders (2007-09)
References
- ^ TOF-begroting: middenmoot Jupiler League
- ^ Jupiler League teampagina
- ^ FC Omniworld verder als AFC Almere City – Sport Regionaal
- ^ "FC Omniworld gaat verder als Almere City (in Dutch).". VoetbalPrimeur. 19 March 2010. http://www.voetbalprimeur.nl/site/nieuws/127861/FC_Omniworld_gaat_verder_als_Almere_City.html.
- ^ Sparta evenaart record Ajax en Heracles - De Telegraaf (Dutch)
- ^ Acht treffers bij debuut - De Telegraaf (Dutch)
External links
Eerste Divisie · 2011–12 Clubs Division 2/Eerste Divisie Seasons 1956–57 · 1957–58 · 1958–59 · 1959–60 · 1960–61 · 1961–62 · 1962–63 · 1963–64 · 1964–65 · 1965–66 · 1966–67 · 1967–68 · 1968–69 · 1969–70 · 1970–71 · 1971–72 · 1972–73 · 1973–74 · 1974–75 · 1975–76 · 1976–77 · 1977–78 · 1978–79 · 1979–80 · 1980–81 · 1981–82 · 1982–83 · 1983–84 · 1984–85 · 1985–86 · 1986–87 · 1987–88 · 1988–89 · 1989–90 · 1990–91 · 1991–92 · 1992–93 · 1993–94 · 1994–95 · 1995–96 · 1996–97 · 1997–98 · 1998–99 · 1999–2000 · 2000–01 · 2001–02 · 2002–03 · 2003–04 · 2004–05 · 2005–06 · 2006–07 · 2007–08 · 2008–09 · 2009–10 · 2010-11 · 2011-12Football in the Netherlands Overview Football Association · League system · Clubs · Stadiums · Champions · Players · Managers · Referees · Footballer of the YearInternational MenWomenLeagues MenEredivisie · Eerste Divisie · Tweede Divisie (defunct) · Topklasse · Hoofdklasse · Eerste Klasse · Tweede Klasse · Derde Klasse · Vierde Klasse · Vijfde Klasse · Zesde Klasse · Zevende KlasseWomenEredivisie · Topklasse · HoofdklasseCups MenWomenCategories:- Dutch football clubs
- Association football clubs established in 1997
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- Almere City FC
- Sport in Almere
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