FC Kosova Schaerbeek (Belgium)

FC Kosovo Schaerbeek is an amateur football club who were formed in 1989 and is based in the Schaerbeek district of the Belgian capital of Brussels.

The club was created for the Albanian population who live in the city, predominantly in the district where they play their games. The team started out in the fourth level of Brabant provincial football, the lowest in the Belgian pyramid.

A couple of years after their formation, Kosava became a member of the Belgian FA, and played their home games at Crossingstadion, nearby to where they developed Chazal Stadion after a disagreement with the local council forced them to leave the municipality-owned venue.

By 2011, Kosova had won promotion to the third level, attracting regular crowds of around 200 fans. The club lifted the 3ème Provinciale Série B title in 2011-12 to win promotion. Their debut season in the regional second tier ended in a third-place finish.

After a few seasons in the lower reaches of the table, Kosova recovered to a fifth place result in the 2 Provinciale Série A ACFF/BXL season, which led to promotion under their manager, Christos Letas. The team consolidated with eighth place in 2017-18 before ending as runners-up the following season.

This led to promotion to the fifth-tier Belgian Third Amateur Division, where they were placed in Division C. Fourteenth place in 2019-20, when the season was finished prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was not enough to save Kosava from relegation.

Once football returned, the side found itself in the 1 Provinciale Brabant, where they finished seventh in 2021-22 under manager Anthony Petaccia, who was replaced later in the season by Laurent Vantilborgh. In 2022-23, FC Genappe ended hopes of promotion in the playoffs, by which time Naceur Ouertani was managing Kosova.

In 2023-24, it was again FC Genappe who won the semi-final playoff tie, but there was to be no worries twelve months later as Kosova marched to the title, with the goals of Soulaymane Ziani and Reda Benslimane doing the job as the club was promoted to the fifth-tier Belgian Division 3 ACFF, where Abdennaceur Ouertani became manager.

FC Kosova Schaerbeek will play in the Belgian Division 3 ACFF in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

Saturday 19th August 2017

My visit to Kosovo at Stade Chazal fitted in perfectly on a very pleasant lunchtime. I’d already been to Crossing Stadion just across Parc Josaphat before taking a walk through the stunning greenery, where an event was being set up.

I walked down the hill of Avenue Chazal to the corner of Avenue Ernest Cambier, where I was delighted to see the gates to the venue were open for me to pop inside and take some snaps. A gentleman came out of the clubhouse at the near end to enquire what I was doing. He seemed satisfied with my taking photos charade.

Stade Chazal was a tidy venue. The clubhouse, changing rooms and offices were at the near end, along with some hard standing behind the goal. A neat grandstand was the main feature down one touchline, while the rest of the ground had hard standing and a few steps of terracing; all bordered by trees and hedges.

With my task completed, I crossed over Avenue Chazal to catch the number 65 bus back to Centraal Station to collect my backpack and head to the Hotel Sabina to check in and take a brief siesta before heading to more venues and a couple of matches that evening.