Almere City Football Club is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...

, Netherlands. Founded in 2001, the club currently compete in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

, following relegation from the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

in 2024–25. They play their home matches at the 4,501-capacity

Yanmar Stadion Yanmar Stadion (formerly Mitsubishi Forkliftstadion and Almere City Stadion) is a multi-purpose stadium in Almere, Netherlands. The stadium primarily hosts association football matches and is the home ground of Almere City FC. The stadium was buil ...

. The club builds on former clubs from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and is a result of ambitions of the

city council to play an active role in top sports. To that end, the sports club ''Omniworld'' was formed, which consists of a

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

branch, a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

branch and a football branch. Prior to the 2010–11 season, the club was renamed to Almere City FC.

History

Early history

Almere City can trace its history back to 1976, with the merger of DWS,

Volewijckers ASC De Volewijckers is a Dutch football club that plays in the Vierde Klasse. It is a continuation of ASV–DWV and AVV De Volewijckers. History ASV–DWV ASV-DWV or Door Wilskracht Verkregen was founded on 12 May 1912 in present-day Amsterda ...

and Blauw-Wit into FC 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 the

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunda ...

. After several violent incidents on the pitch and a six-month suspension by the

Royal Dutch Football Association The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues ( Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and w ...

(KNVB), the club moved from

to nearby

and changed its name to Sporting Flevoland.

FC Omniworld

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 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. 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

) and pitch were approved by the KNVB as well, the club met all criteria for admission, and joined the 19 clubs already in the

. The club's first official match would have been held on 12 August 2005 against BV Veendam. However, the referee postponed the match shortly before the kick-off because heavy rain had made the

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

pitch unplayable. The club's professional debut came a week later, in an away match against

FC Eindhoven Football Club Eindhoven, commonly known as FC Eindhoven, is a professional association football, football club based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football ...

, a 2–0 defeat. FC Omniworld registered its first official goal a few days later, in a 2–3 home defeat against

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a professional football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadiu ...

, as Juan 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 against

Go Ahead Eagles The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...

(2–2). The club's first victory came on 16 September, when

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; ) is a professional football club from the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was establi ...

were defeated 3–2. In its first season, Omniworld finished in 19th place with 29 points from 38 matches. Forward

Sjoerd Ars Sjoerd Adrianus Theodorus Ars (; born 15 April 1984) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. Career Youth career Ars played in the youth of DVC'26 from the town of Didam, and was later picked up by Dutch giants, Feyen ...

ended in fifth place in the top goalscorer ranking, with 17 goals. Ars was transferred to

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 2–7 home match defeat

FC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

on 16 March 2007 resulted in the then-worst defeat in the club's short history.

Almere City

Early struggles (2010–16)

In March 2010, the club was renamed AFC Almere City before being changed again a few weeks later to Almere City FC, as the "AFC" prefix was deemed to be too reminiscent of the club's partners

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

. In their second match of the 2010–11 season, they were defeated 12–1 by

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

, who equalled Ajax's Dutch league record win, with Johan Voskamp scoring a Jupiler League record eight goals on his debut. Almere City finished dead last in the Eerste Divisie during their initial 2010–11 season, but were heeded from relegation due to the bankruptcy of RBC Roosendaal. In the following years, the team struggled to maintain consistency, and even suffered a relegation scare during the 2013–14 season.

Five-Year Plan and promotion (2016–present)

Under the guidance of manager Jack 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 the 2018–19 season under head coach

Ole Tobiasen Ole Tobiasen (born 8 July 1975) is a Danish football manager and former player. He is an assistant manager with the Dutch club Heerenven. As a player, Tobiasen played as a right-back or centre-back for a number of clubs in Denmark, the Nether ...

. 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 the

. In August 2019, the club announced plans of building a new grandstand and a club office building. The grandstand was completed during the 2020 winter break and increased the capacity of the stadium from around 3,000 to 4,501 spectators. During the 2020–21 season, Almere City marked the conclusion of its prestigious five-year plan with a record-breaking season. 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 by

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

with a 4–0 defeat, during interim management under Jeroen Rijsdijk. 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 legend

Vincent Janssen Vincent Petrus Anna Sebastiaan Janssen (born 15 June 1994) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for Belgian Pro League club Antwerp. He began his professional career in the Eerste Divisie with Almere City before playing in ...

. Despite the initial success, the club's good form was short-lived as they struggled in the 2021–22 season and could only manage a disappointing 14th-place finish. During the 2022–23 season, head coach Alex Pastoor guided Almere City to a third-place finish, the highest in the club's history. In June 2023, they secured promotion to the

for the first time by defeating Emmen 4–1 on aggregate in the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. In their debut 2023–24 Eredivisie campaign, Almere City avoided relegation and retained their top-flight status. Ahead of the 2024–25 season, Pastoor departed and was replaced by Hedwiges Maduro. On 18 December 2024, with the club bottom of the table—eight points adrift after one win in 16 matches—Maduro was dismissed. He was succeeded in January 2025 by former interim manager Jeroen Rijsdijk, but the team failed to recover and finished last, resulting in relegation to the Eerste Divisie.

Results

ImageSize = width:800 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2025 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2005 Colors = id:bl1 value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.3) id:bl2 value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5) id:rs value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.6) id:rn value:rgb(0.9,0.1,0.1) PlotData= bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:19 from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/01/2007 till:01/01/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2008 till:01/01/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:20 from:01/01/2009 till:01/01/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/01/2010 till:01/01/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/01/2011 till:01/01/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2012 till:01/01/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2013 till:01/01/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/01/2014 till:01/01/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:8 from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:8 from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/01/2018 till:01/01/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/01/2019 till:01/01/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/01/2021 till:01/01/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/01/2022 till:01/01/2023 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/01/2023 till:01/01/2024 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/01/2024 till:01/01/2025 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/01/2005 till:01/01/2023 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "

" from:01/01/2023 till:01/01/2025 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "

Club name

*FC Omniworld (2001–2010) *AFC Almere City (2010) *Almere City FC (2010–present)

Current squad

Out on loan

Club officials

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Almere City Fc Football clubs in Flevoland Association football clubs established in 2001 Multi-sport clubs in the Netherlands Football in Almere Sports clubs and teams in Almere Articles which contain graphical timelines