Ekeren

The name possibly originates from Vikings who settled there in the ninth century after using the oak trees.

Ekeren used to be the home town of the Germinal Ekeren football club until Germinal merged with K. Beerschot V.A.C. into K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot (in 1999). The new club is based in the Olympisch Stadion in Antwerp.

Ekeren is home to the Jozef Pauly municipal academy for music and diction, which has around 2000 pupils as of 2004 (also counting branches in some other districts of the city of Antwerp, and one in the nearby municipality of Kapellen). The academy hosts many musical ensembles; the Jozef Pauly flute ensemble has made concert tours to Australia and the United States. Municipal music academies in Belgium are distinct from the public educational system; attending these academies is entirely optional, and merely a hobby for most of the students.

The 1 square kilometre large domain of the Oude Landen is a unique and extremely diverse natural sanctuary situated near the border with the Antwerp city district.