Right at the Belgian coastline, not that far from the French border, there are quite some football teams very close to each other. Although we are seeing that amount going down over the years. KVV Oostduinkerke underwent so transformations and kind of took over neighbour KVV Coxyde recently.
When KVV Oostduinkerke was created in 1943 as Voetbalvereeniging Oostduinkerke the neighbours of Koksijde (VV Coxyde) were already playing the game for nine years. The beach town is without any doubt more known for the folklore of the shrimp fishers on horses, but there is a lot more to be found. For decades though both teams played in the regional leagues in West Flanders. But the start of the new millennium gave the dunes a fresh wind. While KVV Coxyde promoted to the national divisions for the first time ever in 2008, KVV Oostduinkerke experienced great successes as well. They managed to reach the top regional league in 2011.
KVV Coxyde managed to go up the stream across the next few years and by 2015 the team had promoted to second division. Sadly enough that would also be the starting point of a lot of changes. One year later the team relegated to the newly founded first amateur division (the third level), but after that it was over. At least for a while. Because after one sabbatical (2017/2018) the team returned with a first team in the fourth regional division, the lowest level.
KVV Oostduinkerke on the other hand managed to stay in the top regional league mentioned earlier. The stability of the environment and the tangled history of both teams eventually resulted in what remained talks and speculation for years; a co-operation of two teams. Not an official merger as KVV Coxyde had some debts they didn't want to give to the neighbours in Oostduinkerke. Joined forces with KVVO's matricule number, KVVC's stadium and a new name - KV Koksijde Oostduinkerke.
But Covid-19 had a serious impact. In 2021 only three players of the renewed first team stayed and in the end the reasonable decision was made to not continue with the original first team in the top regional league. The old B team (in the lowest regional league) would become the new first team and there will be more focus on the youth. And with the brothers Vincent and Yannick Euvrard as examples, we're sure they have all it takes to get back to the higher divisions.
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