Antwerp’s term of office, as it were, will be marked by an accent on cohesion –the creation of community spirit, as symbolised by the virtual sports club Sporting A. “Sport is the best means of building cohesion and collective pride, bringing different groups within the population of the city together,” De Wever said at the launch earlier this month.

Hardly less important is health, and De Wever pointed out that he has personal reasons – his recent massive weight loss – to take sport more seriously. “Sport is essential to our welfare. Encouraging people to take part in sport has positive consequences not only for the individual, but also for the city.”

According to Antwerp’s alderman for sport, Ludo Van Campenhout, two out of three Antwerpenaars are involved in sport in one way or another, as supporters or participants. But the other third are not to be forgotten. “You’d have to be very obstinate indeed to avoid taking part this year,” he said.

No one left out

The programme takes in numerous locations, from local squares to top venues, including the Sportpaleis, and an impressive array of disciplines. For the next six weeks, 24 squares across the city and in the districts of Deurne, Merksem, Wilrijk and Hoboken will become arenas for local clubs and associations, which will receive subsidies and support for organising their own activities.

Demonstrations and workshops will introduce new activities to the curious. This week, for instance, are workshops on freestyle football in Berchem and Linkeroever and a collective training in Park Spoor Noord for the coming 5km or 10-mile run. Next month includes the production Essien, I Want to Play As You by Australian stage director Ahil Ratnamohan. It features eight African footballers discovered training in an Antwerp park, whose skills with a ball transform an informal kickabout into something balletic.

There’s also no shortage of top sport in the year to come, including this summer’s World Outgames, EuroHockey Championships and European Championship in Wheelchair Rugby, plus the World Championship 3-Cushion billiards in October and competitions in breakdancing and gymnastics.

Sporting BVs

The Sporting A initiative has the patronage of 20 ambassadors, including Ajax footballer Toby Alderweireld, wheelchair Iron Man Marc Herremans, boxer Sugar Jackson, snowboarder Seppe Smits and BVs, including actor Matthias Schoenaerts and Studio Brussels DJ Linde Merckpoel. Their job is to act as role models and inspiration.

“I was always very sporty,” said Schoenaerts. “I was obsessed with football, tennis and also boxing. I know how important sport was for me, and that’s why I wanted to stand behind the project.” For the actor, whose international breakout role in the drama Rundskop required him to undergo a formidable physical transformation, the key is enjoyment: “Pleasure is central to sport; the pleasure of playing and the relaxation it instills, have a kind of meditative quality.”

Herremans calls sport “a passion, an obsession”. In 2002, the Ironman athlete had a cycling accident while training in the Canary Islands. Since then he’s been in a wheelchair, but he carried on with triathlon, completing the terrifying Hawaii Ironman in 2003 and creating the foundation To Walk Again, which supports medical research into spinal injuries. “Sport taught me the value of life,” he says.

www.sportingA.be