People would have never guessed a small town village like Etikhove, somewhere deep in East Flanders, Belgium, would have two football teams. In the past VV Etikhove and HO Etikhove would fight for the title of team of the village. Nowadays both teams have disappeared in a merger.
VV Etikhove merged with Vlaamse Ardennen Schorisse into KVV Ardennen. But we are most interested in the other merger. KSV Maarkedal is the continuation of the in 1931 founded FC Eendracht Nukerke. Well, at least officially. We can find a full and detailed history of Eendracht, what they achieved and experienced and where they played. It seems like it wasn't always easy to play in the same stadium and they even had to move to the stadiums of Kwaremont Sportief and Hoger Op Etikhove. Currently their A pitch in Nukerke is still being used by the A team.
In 1992 KSVE Nukerke (after the name change in 1968) merged with HO Etikhove mainly because HO Etikhove had to cease all activities due to financial problems. Because KSVE Nukerke didn't have the need to merge they had their demands for the merger. The A stadium of KSVE had to stay as A stadium (mainly also because they were in full process of modernizing that pitch) and the matricule number of KSVE had to stay. That also meant the new team, KSV Maarkedal, started off one division lower than the one HO Etikhove ended in a year before.
There is very little known of HO Etikhove but we do know that HO had a wonderful little grandstand with some nice standing areas at the other side of the pitch. Most of it is still there, although very much consumed by time. A beauty for groundhoppers.
The team seems to maintain the grass pitch only. Even the club bar remains unused and empty and some very nice remainings from the 90s can be found there. The B stadium of KSV Maarkedal, formerly the A stadium of HO Etikhove is yet another absolute gem in East Flanders which a lot of groundhoppers don't know about. Definitely a must visit!
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