Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in the city of

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

. Their current spell at the highest level in Belgian football started in the 2012–13 season. Charleroi was founded in 1904 and they first reached the first division in 1947–48. Their highest finish was runner-up in the 1968–69 season. They have also twice reached the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

final, losing in 1977–78 to

Beveren Beveren () is a former municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') ...

and in 1992–93 to

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. Sporting Charleroi have a long-standing rivalry with their crosstown rival ROC de Charleroi-Marchienne, currently playing in the third division. Charleroi play their home matches at the

Stade du Pays de Charleroi Stade du Pays de Charleroi is a football stadium in the city of Charleroi, Belgium. It was built for the 2000 UEFA European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands in replacement of the old stadium known as Mambourg. The name Stade du Mam ...

, which was refurbished for the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. The stadium hosted 3 group stage games in the Euro 2000 among which the 1–0 victory of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Charleroi have been recruiting several French players in recent years, including Michaël Ciani, Cyril Théréau and

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Bertrand Laquait.

History

Charleroi Sporting Club was founded in 1904 and they received the matricule n°22. Twenty years after their foundation, they qualified to play in the

Promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

(then the second level in Belgian football) and in 1929, the club changed its name to Royal Charleroi Sporting Club. Rivals from Olympic Charleroi were playing in the first division in the late 1930s and the 1940s, while Sporting Charleroi was playing one level down, until they promoted in 1947. In 1949, Sporting Charleroi finished 4th (2 points behind

) whereas Olympic Charleroi was 14th. But Olympic took the lead again until 1955 and their relegation to the second division. At the end of the 1956–57 season, Olympic Charleroi had promoted to the first division but Sporting Charleroi finished last in the first division and was thus relegated to the second division. A spell of 9 seasons in the second division followed and in 1966–67 Sporting Charleroi was back at the top level. They finished at the second place in 1968–69 5 points behind Standard Liège but within two years they were relegated again. In 1974 the first division was changing from 16 to 20 teams and Sporting Charleroi was chosen to play at the top level. Olympic Charleroi promoted too as they had won the second division right before but they remained at the top level for just one season. Sporting underwent a new relegation in 1979–80 (17th on 18) but was back five years later. Their best result since then in the first division is a 4th place in 1993–94. In September 2005, the

G-14 The G-14 was an organisation of European football clubs that existed between 1998 and 2008. It consisted of 14 European top class teams initially, later expanded to 18. It was disbanded in 2008 and was replaced by the European Club Association ...

took

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

to court over the eight-month injury incurred by

Abdelmajid Oulmers Abdelmajid Oulmers (born 12 September 1978) is a retired Moroccan professional footballer. Oulmers is the subject of a major legal battle between football clubs and FIFA over the right to compensation for injuries sustained during internation ...

whilst on international duty with

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Colours and badge

The colours of Charleroi are black and white with a shirt generally striped, which led to the team being nicknamed The Zebras.

Stadium

The current ground was baptized in 1939 with a match Sporting-Union du Centre and it was located near the

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

named Mambourg. In 1985 the stadium was slightly modernized as the club had qualified for the first division. It was then heavily renewed in the late 1990s in view of the

2000 European Football Championship The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. The name changed on 24 May 1999 from Stade du Mambourg to Stade du Pays de Charleroi. During the tournament, the full capacity of the stadium was up to 30,000 seats. The Stade du Pays de Charleroi hosted notably the match between

and

. The highest stand was eventually reduced and the capacity is now 15,000.

Honours

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

**Runners-up: 1968–69 *

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

**Winners: 1946–47, 2011–12 **Runners-up: 1965–66 *

Belgian Second Division play-offs The Belgian Second Division play-offs were a series of playoff matches to decide promotion to the Belgian Pro League, organised between 1974 and 2015. Following a large reform of the Belgian football league system at the end of the 2015–16 season ...

**Winners: 1985 *

**Runners-up: 1977–78, 1992–93

European record

UEFA club competition record

''Correct as of May 2016''

Matches

Current squad

On loan

Retired numbers

11 – Has been retired in honor of club legend Dante Brogno since July 2001, his retirement.

Zebra Elites (Second team)

Club officials

Coaches

Jiří Sobotka Jiří Sobotka (also known as Georges Sobotka; 6 June 1911 – 20 May 1994) was a Czech football player and manager. He played internationally for Czechoslovakia. Career Sobotka played for Czechoslovakia national football team (23 caps, 8 goals ...

(1968–69) * Lukas Aurednik (1969–71) * Léopold Anoul (1974–75) * Jean-Paul Colonval (1975–76) *

Aimé Anthuenis Aimé Anthuenis (born 21 December 1943) is a Belgian former professional Association football, football player and manager. He managed the Belgium national football team between 2002 and 2005. After a career as a defender, Anthuenis moved into ...

(1 July 1987 – 30 June 1989) * Georges Heylens (1990–92) *

Luka Peruzović Luka Peruzović (born 26 February 1952) is a Croatian football coach and former player, who managed Belgium's Standard Liège, Charleroi and Anderlecht and Qatar's Al Sadd. He also holds a Belgian citizenship. Club career As a player, Peruzovi ...

(1 July 1991 – 30 June 1992) *

Robert Waseige Robert Waseige (26 August 1939 – 17 July 2019) was a Belgian football manager and player. Career While managing R.F.C. de Liège he helped them win the 1989–90 Belgian Cup. He became the coach of Belgium before Euro 2000 and led Belgium to ...

(1 July 1992 – 30 June 1994) * Georges Leekens (1 July 1994 – 30 July 1995) *

(1 August 1995 – 30 June 1997) *

(1 July 1997 – 1999) *

(1999 – 8 December 1999) *

Raymond Mommens Raymond Mommens (born 27 December 1958) is a former Belgian international footballer who played as a left winger or striker). He is currently managing the Talents Detection Department at the R. Charleroi S.C. Club career As a player his club t ...

(1999–00) * Manu Ferrera (2000) *

Enzo Scifo Vincenzo "Enzo" Daniele Scifo (; born 19 February 1966) is a retired Belgian football midfielder. He has also managed the Belgium national under-21 football team and several Belgian club sides. He played for clubs in Belgium, France and Italy, w ...

(2001–02) * Dante Brogno (November 2002 – 3 October 2003) *

(15 October 2003 – 26 April 2004) * Jacky Mathijssen (26 April 2004 – 30 June 2007) * Philippe Vande Walle (1 July 2007 – 10 December 2007) * Thierry Siquet (11 December 2007 – 9 December 2008) * John Collins (15 December 2008 – 30 June 2009) *

Stéphane Demol Stéphane Auguste Ernest Demol (11 March 1966 – 22 June 2023) was a Belgian professional football player and manager who played as a central defender. Demol amassed Belgian First Division A totals of 120 games and 11 goals over the course of ...

(2009) * Jacky Mathijssen (2009) *

(1 July 2009 – 1 November 2009) * Tommy Craig (20 November 2009 – 14 April 2010) * Jacky Mathijssen (1 July 2010 – 20 September 2010) * Csaba László (23 September 2010 – 17 March 2011) * Zoltan Kovacs ''(interim)'' (24 March 2011 – 4 April 2011) *

(4 April 2011 – 30 June 2011) * Jos Daerden (1 July 2011 – 26 September 2011) * Tibor Balogh (27 September 2011 – 22 February 2012) * Mario Notaro ''(interim)'' (23 February 2012 – 5 March 2012) *

Dennis van Wijk Dennis Johannes van Wijk (; born 16 December 1962) is a Dutch association football, football coach and former football player. Van Wijk was a left-back who began his career in the youth system of Ajax Amsterdam. He was unable to break into the ...

(5 March 2012 – 12 June 2012) * Yannick Ferrera (14 July 2012 – 14 February 2013) *

''(interim)'' (14 February 2013 – 13 March 2013) * Mario Notaro ''(interim)'' (March 2013 – 13 April 2013) * Felice Mazzu (1 June 2013 – 3 June 2019) *

Karim Belhocine Karim Belhocine (born 2 April 1978) is a French football coach and a former player who played as a midfielder and is the manager of Belgian Challenger Pro League club Francs Borains. Early life Belhocine was born in Vénissieux, France, to Alge ...

(1 July 2019 –30 June 2021) *

Edward Still Edward Still (born 30 December 1990) is a association football, football manager (association football), manager and assistant manager of Ligue 1 club RC Lens, Lens. He has managed Royal Charleroi S.C., Charleroi, K.A.S. Eupen, Eupen and K.V. Ko ...

(1 July 2021 -22 October 2022)

References

R. Charleroi S.C. Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League. Their current ...

1904 establishments in Belgium Belgian Pro League clubs