Almere City FC was founded in 2001, and is an expression of the ambitions of the city council of Almere to play an active role in top sports. Almere City can trace its history back to 1976, with the merger of DWS, Volewijckers and Blauw-Wit into FC Amsterdam. The club quickly rose through the ranks of Dutch amateur football, eventually reaching the Hoofdklasse. 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 and changed its name to Sporting Flevoland. That name was changed to FC Omniworld in 2001 as a result of the efforts of a consortium to bring professional sports to Almere. In March 2010, the club was renamed AFC Almere City before being changed again a few week later to Almere City. In 2011 the sheep’s head of the old logo has been replaced for the harrier, the symbol of the province of Flevoland. Next to this a strong red color was chosen. The sheep in the old logo referred to the old nickname the black sheep.