The bullet is through the church. ACV received unanimous financial support from the city council in Assen last night. As a result, the Asser Christian football club can finally make a long -standing wish come true. And that is their football complex on Stadsbroek considerably expanding, renewing and making it more sustainable.
There will be four extra changing rooms, a new grandstand and at the top meeting and reception rooms for sponsors. Total costs are 1.9 me euros.
ACV, which plays at the highest amateur level in our country, receives an additional 150,000 euros from the town hall due to higher construction costs. And they receive a loan from the municipality of 700,000 euros, which must be repaid over forty years.
“Very happy of course,” responds interim chairman Jan Mike Wester to the good news. “Because this has been a very long process.” The expansion operation is needed to ‘properly facilitate’ the 1200 members. “Now we have to cram two teams in a dressing room on Saturday. We have double occupation, but no place. That really is no longer possible.”
ACV had wanted to tackle things much earlier. Since 2020, there has been more 570,000 euros in subsidy ready for the then ‘much needed’ renovation and expansion plans. The city council already gave support then. From 2018, the then club chairman at the municipality of Assen was prayed.
But when the money came, Corona, and then price increases due to the war in Ukraine, threw a spanner in the works. The financial picture was no longer correct. So nothing came of the renovation to date.
In the meantime, ACV also obtained his PhD in 2023 to the highest amateur level, the Second Division. So suddenly an extra dressing room is needed, namely one for the 4th official. That’s a requirement of the KNVB.
“All in all, this caused financial uncertainty. That is now, thanks to the municipality, resolved,” says Wester.
The provisional planning is that ACV will go wild with the renovation after the summer. Wester hopes that everything will be ready on time for the next season. “We start with the construction of new changing rooms behind the stands. Then the living rooms above it, and then the demolition of the old grandstand follows, so that we can build the new grandstand there,” says Wester.
If everything goes well, the improvement operation at ACV will be ready next year with the start of the football season 2026/2027. “In any case, we hope so, theoretical could.”
According to Wester, the amateur club will at least get to work hard in the coming weeks with all the control work, so that the renovation can start on time. “The tender is still ongoing. We still have to get a financial guarantee, the procedure for the building permit still has to be done and we have to inform and involve the neighborhood.”
The ACV director will be happy if ‘all these bumps’ will be taken quickly in the coming period. “We need this expansion plan as ACV, we have to have room to grow, and that is not possible now.”