RFC Liège

Royal Football Club de Liège (RFC Liège) is a Belgian football club from the city of Liège. It currently plays in the Belgian First Amateur Division. Its matricule is 4, meaning that it was the fourth club to register with the country's national federation, and the club was the first Belgian champion in history (5 Championships & 1 Cup). The club was also known for being 'homeless' between 1995 and 2015, but is now playing on its own ground in Rocourt. FC Liège management also made the club sadly famous for its refusal to release Jean-Marc Bosman after his contract ran out in 1990, which in turn led to the Bosman ruling, a European Court of Justice decision that caused major changes to the structure of European football. The 'philosophy' of the club is based on integration of local young players and on popular and faithful support.

Liège
Full nameRoyal Football Club de Liège
Nickname(s)Les Sang et Marine
(The Blood and Marine)
Founded1892
GroundStade de Rocourt,
Liège
Capacity3,500
ChairmanJean-Paul Lacomble
ManagerDante Brogno
LeagueBelgian First Amateur Division
2018–19Belgian First Amateur Division, 6th
WebsiteClub website

History
RFC Liège Club, the first Belgian Champion in 1896. Alfred Wahl, La balle au pied : Histoire du football (p. 53), "Découvertes Gallimard" collection (vol. 83).

It was founded in 1892 as "Liège Football Club" and became a member of the Belgian Football Association as "Football Club Liégeois" when it was founded in 1895. The club is the first Belgian Champion (1896) and is still the only club that has played all seasons at a national level (106 seasons in 2008–09). In 1920 the prefix Royal was added to the name of the club that already had won 3 championships (1896, 1898, 1899). In 1952 and 1953, the RFC Liège won two more championships, being at that time the only team which was able to contest the undisputed domination of Anderlecht. In 1964 Football Club Liégeois reached the Fairs Cup 1/2 finals, losing in 3 games against the winner of the Cup, Real Zaragoza. Between 1965 and 1985, there were poor results, and the club survived with the help of its own tradition: young players coming from inside the club, and faithful supporters.

At the end of the 1980s, the RFC Liège played in European competitions (notably against Benfica, Juventus, Rapid Vienna, Hibernian, Werder Bremen and Athletic Bilbao) and also won a Belgian Cup in 1990. Unfortunately, after that, bankruptcy was inevitable, and the stadium was sold and destroyed to build a movie theatre. The team joined with R.F.C. Tilleur-Saint-Nicolas, (a team from the suburb of Liège) in 1995, to become R. Tilleur F.C. de Liège.

The club went down from the First Division (which it had not left since 1945) to the Third Division. The word Tilleur was finally excluded from the team name in 2000, coming back to "RFC de Liège". Since 1995, the club has moved between the Second and Fourth Divisions, with two 3rd Division titles in 1996 and 2008. In 2008–09 the club played in the Belgian Second Division, but after just 2 seasons the club suffered back to back relegations: they eventually dropped to the Belgian Fourth Division in April 2011.

In the 2015–16 season RFC Liège plays in Division 3.

Stadium

Not having its own stadium after Stade Vélodrome de Rocourt (Liège) was destroyed in 1995 is the biggest problem for the RFC Liège, also well known as 'homeless'.

Between 1995 and 2015 the RFC Liège played in Tilleur (1995–2000), Seraing (2000–2004), Ans (2004–2008), Seraing (Pairay Stadium, 2008–2015).

In 2015 the club is back home in its new Rocourt-based ground.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  BEL Kevin Debaty
3 DF  BEL Martin Saint-Mard
4 DF  BEL Sergio Teruel
5 DF  BEL Benjamin Van den Ackerveken
6 DF  BEL Emmanuel Massa
7 DF  BEL Randy Giargiana
9 FW  BEL Michaël Lallemand
10 MF  BEL Yoshi Mariën
11 FW  BEL Didier Amou-Djaba
12 GK  BEL Arthur Cremer
13 FW  BEL Damien Mouchamps
14 FW  BEL Quentin Ronvaux
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 MF  CIV Paul-Armand Niankou
17 MF  BEL Loïc Reciputi
18 FW  BEL Benoît Bruggeman
19 DF  BEL Jordan Bustin
21 FW  BEL Giulian Teise
22 MF  BEL Maxime Electeur
23 DF  BEL Natanaël Frenoy (on loan from Standard Liège)
24 FW  GUI Yadi Bangoura
25 DF  BEL Jonathan D'Ostilio
26 MF  BEL Okness Dago
28 MF  BEL Benjamin Schmit

Staff

Head coach: Dražen Brnčić
Assistant coach: Bernard Wegria
Goalkeeper coach: Pierre Drouguet

Honours

References
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