Early history In 1954, in
Amsterdam, the club BVC Amsterdam is founded. In 1959, after that club merged into
DWS, disgruntled supporters founded their own club named
De Zwarte Schapen, which translates to "
The Black Sheep". Nineteen years later, in 1978, the club merges and is named
Argonaut-Zwarte Schapen until 1988, when it is named
FC Sloterpas for four years. It eventually reached the
Hoofdklasse in 1995, when after several violent incidents on the pitch and a six-month suspension by the
Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), the club moved from
Amsterdam to nearby
Almere. The club is immediately
relegated before again achieving promotion. In 1997, it changed its name to
Sporting Flevoland.
FC Omniworld That name was changed to
FC Omniworld in 2000 as a result of the efforts of a
consortium (in which the city of
Almere was a participant) to bring professional sports to Almere. 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. FC Omniworld registered its first official goal a few days later, in a 2–3 home defeat against
FC Den Bosch, as
Juan Viedma Schenkhuizen scored to make the score 1–2 in the 37th minute. FC Omniworld's first league point was achieved a week later, on 29 August against
Go Ahead Eagles (2–2). The club's first victory came on 16 September, when
Fortuna Sittard were defeated 3–2. In its first season, FC Omniworld finished in 19th place with 29 points from 38 matches. Ars transferred to
Go Ahead Eagles for the
2006–07 season, but the results for FC Omniworld improved. The club achieved 41 points from 38 matches, finishing the season in 16th place. The 2–7 home match defeat against
FC Zwolle on 16 March 2007 resulted in the then-worst defeat in the club's short history.
Almere City Early struggles (2010–2016) 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. In their second match of the
2010–11 season, they were defeated 12–1 by
Sparta Rotterdam, who equaled Ajax's Dutch league record win, with
Johan Voskamp scoring a
Jupiler League record eight goals on his debut. Almere City FC 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 then highest-ever league finish of 7th place in the
2018–19 season under head coach
Ole Tobiasen. 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 ultimate goal of reaching the
Eredivisie. 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 FC 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 with a 4–0 defeat, during interim management under
Jeroen Rijsdijk. 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 FC to a third-place finish, the highest in the club's history. In June 2023, they secured promotion to the
Eredivisie for the first time by defeating
FC Emmen 4–1 on aggregate in the
promotion play-offs. In their debut
2023–24 Eredivisie campaign, Almere City FC 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. It was on 7 July 2025 that
Yanmar agreed to buy Almere City and the rights of
Yanmar Stadion. The takeover was finalised on 18 November 2025. ==Results==