Koninklijke Bocholter Voetbalvereniging, known as K. Bocholter V.V. or simply Bocholt VV is a Belgian

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

based in the municipality of Bocholt, registered with the Belgian FA under matricule 595. The full name of the club is ''Koninklijke Bocholter Voetbalvereniging'' (Royal Bocholt Football Association) and it has white and black as club colours. The club has played most of its time in the

Belgian Provincial Leagues The Belgian Provincial leagues are the lower leagues for Belgian football. Until 2016, these were at levels 5-8 in the Belgian football league system however as part of the reform an extra level was created causing the provincial leagues to drop ...

, but managed to climb up to the national level towards the end of the 20th century.

History

Bocholter VV was founded in 1922 by former footballer Johannes Robersscheuten, most known for playing for clubs such as

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and

Capellen Capellen ( ) is a town in the commune of Mamer, in south-western Luxembourg, 12 km west of Luxembourg City. , the town has a population of 2,371. Despite not having a commune named after it, Capellen lends its name to the canton of Cape ...

. Together with some friends he formed the first squad. In 1924 the club formally joined the Belgian FA and in 1925 it started its first official season at the fourth provincial level, at that time the seventh level in the

Belgian football league system The Belgian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Belgium. Men's system The league system underwent restructuring which was approved by the Royal Belgian Football Association. One important step was the ...

. The club immediately took three consecutive titles, quickly rising to the highest provincial level, before promoting into the lowest national level in 1931, at that time known as

Promotion 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 ...

and at the third level overall. The club would remain only one season at this level, returning immediately into the provincial leagues where it would continue playing for several decades. A first revival occurred in the 1960s, as Bocholt again promoted into the national level. This lowest level was still called ''promotion'' but was now situated at the fourth level. This time the club was able to hold on for a second season, before again relegating into the provincial levels. Several more decades at the lower levels passed before the club started a strong period towards the end of the 20th century. In 1998 the club took the title at the first provincial level, promoting into the

Belgian Fourth Division The Belgian Fourth Division was the lowest nationwide division in Belgian football. The division was split into four separate leagues, A, B, C and D. The team with the most points in the four leagues together was declared the overall winner ...

, returning to the national level after more than 30 years. The club now managed to obtain decent results and avoid relegation, even obtaining the title after three seasons, promoting to the

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division (, ) was the third highest level in Football in Belgium, Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each (Belgian Third Division A, A and Belgian Third Division B, B) at the same level. This competition, originall ...

in 2001. Since then, the club has quite comfortably managed to stay at this level, several times even qualifying for the promotion play-offs, but without success. In 2016, a reform of Belgian football inserted a higher level, causing Bocholt now to play at the fourth level again, in the

Belgian Division 2 The Belgian Division 2, commonly referred to as simply Tweede Afdeling (in Dutch) or Division 2 (in French) is the fourth-highest division in the Football in Belgium, Belgian football Belgian football league system, league system, one level below ...

(initially called ''Belgian Second Amateur Division '', until 2020).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bocholt, KVV Association football clubs established in 1922 Football clubs in Belgium 1922 establishments in Belgium Sport in Limburg (Belgium) Bocholt, Belgium