FC Omniworld

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FC Omniworld
Image:omniworld.gif
Full name Football Club Omniworld
Founded 1997
Ground Mitsubishi Forklift Stadion,
Almere
(Capacity 3,000)
Chairman René ter Borgh
Manager Peter Boeve
League Eerste Divisie
2007-08 Eerste Divisie, 13th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

FC Omniworld is a Dutch football club. The club was founded in the 1990s, 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.

[edit] History

FC Omniworld can trace its history back to 1972, with the merger of DWS 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 Netherlands 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 the 1990s, 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), a volleyball club (VC Omniworld) 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.

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 Netherlands 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.

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. The home match against FC Zwolle on 2007-03-16 resulted in the worst defeat in club history though: 2-7.

[edit] Current squad

No. Position Player
Flag of the Netherlands GK Marc Hogervorst
Flag of the Netherlands GK Mark Zegers
Flag of the Netherlands DF Magid Jansen
Flag of the Netherlands DF Bas van den Brink
Flag of the Netherlands DF Bilal Ched Dadi
Flag of the Netherlands DF Jeroen Hessing
Flag of the Netherlands DF Dennis Hollart
Flag of the Netherlands DF Wilco Krimp
Flag of the Netherlands DF Wesley Zandstra
Flag of the Netherlands MF Nicandro Breeveld
Flag of Australia MF Zenon Caravella
Flag of the Netherlands MF Sander Duits
Flag of the Netherlands MF Remco Heerkens
Flag of the Netherlands MF Mitchell Kappenberg
Flag of the Netherlands MF Chelton Linger
No. Position Player
Flag of the Netherlands MF Kevin van Essen
Flag of the Netherlands MF Joey Snijders
Flag of the Netherlands MF Arnoud van Toor
Flag of the Netherlands MF Steffan Vlietstra
Flag of the Netherlands MF Lars van der Voort
Flag of Greece FW Yannis Anastasiou
Flag of the Netherlands FW Shane Arana Barrantes
Flag of the Netherlands FW Ousama Assaidi
Flag of The Gambia FW Jatto Ceesay
Flag of the Netherlands FW Richard Haklander
Flag of Angola FW Diangi Matusiwa
Flag of the Netherlands FW Paul Mulders
Flag of the Netherlands FW Hakan Turkoz
Flag of Brazil FW Wamberto

[edit] External links