Royal Football Club de Liège (more commonly known as RFC Liège) is a professional football club based in Liège,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. It currently plays in the

Belgian First Amateur Division The Belgian National Division 1, commonly referred to as simply Eerste Nationale (in Dutch) or Nationale 1 (in French) is a semi-professional and the third-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First ...

. Its matricule is 4, meaning that it was the fourth club to register with the country's national federation (founded 1895), and the club was the first Belgian champion in history (5 Championships & 1 Cup). The 'philosophy' of the club is based on integration of local young players and on popular and faithful support. The club was also known for being 'homeless' between 1995 and 2015, but is now playing on its own ground in the Rocourt area of Liège. In 1990, FC Liège precipitated a ground-breaking ruling for European football, when its refusal to release Jean-Marc Bosman after his contract ran out led to the Bosman ruling, a

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Unio ...

decision that caused major changes to the structure of European football.

History

It was founded in 1892 as Liège Football Club (Liège FC) and became an inaugural (1895) member of the Belgian Football Association as Football Club Liégeois (FC Liégeois). In 1896, the club became the first ever Belgian Champion, and is still the only club that has played all its seasons (117 as of 2019–20) at a national level, versus county or local levels. The club has won five First Division championships: 1896, 1898, 1899, 1952 and 1953. In 1920 the prefix Royal was, when the club changed its name to Royal Football Club Liégeois (RFC Liégeois). Its name had been shortened to RFC Liège by the time of its consecutive championships in 1952 and 1953, the only clubs able to contest a dominating streak by Anderlecht, which won the three championships before (1949–1951) and after (1954–1956). RFC Liégeois reached the

1963–64 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The sixth Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was played over the 1963–64 season. The competition was won by Zaragoza in a one-off final at Camp Nou in Barcelona against fellow Spaniards and defending champions Valencia. There was only one representative c ...

semi-finals, losing in three games against the eventual winner of the Cup, Spain's

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

. 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, RFC Liège played in European competitions, facing such notable clubs as Benfica, Juventus,

Rapid Vienna Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' casca ...

, Hibernian, Werder Bremen and

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los Le ...

. The club won a Belgian Cup in 1990. In 1995, the club faced bankruptcy when its stadium, Stade Vélodrome de Rocourt, was sold and demolished to build a movie theatre. To survive, the club joined with

R.F.C. Tilleur-Saint-Nicolas R.F.C. Tilleur-Saint-Nicolas was a Belgian football club from the municipality of Saint-Nicolas, a suburb of Liège. It was created in 1899 as Tilleur F.C. and was assigned the matricule n°21. History The club was an inaugural (1909) participan ...

, based in the Liège suburb of Saint-Nicolas, 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 In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. The word Tilleur was dropped from the team name in 2000, returning to "RFC Liège". From 1995 to 2009, the club moved between the Second and Third Divisions, with two Third Division titles in 1996 and 2008. In 2008–09, the club played in the Second Division, but suffered back to back relegations, dropping to the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

in April 2011. In the 2015–16 season, RFC Liège plays in

Division 3 In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football * Belgian Th ...

Stadium

Starting in 1921, RFC Liège played in Stade Vélodrome de Rocourt, in the suburban municipality of Rocourt. Rocourt became part of the city of Liège in 1977. The stadium was sold, and demolished, in 1995, earning RFC Liège the nickname 'homeless'. Between 1995 and 2015, RFC Liège played in Tilleur (1995–2000), Seraing (2000–2004), Ans (2004–2008), and Seraing (Pairay Stadium, 2008–2015). In 2015 the club returned to Rocourt, playing its home matches in the Stade de Rocourt.

Current squad

Staff

Head coach: Gaëtan Englebert
Assistant coach: Eric Deflandre
Goalkeeper coach:

Pierre Drouguet Pierre Drouguet (Verviers, 2 May 1962) is a former Belgian football goalkeeper. Honours Player RFC Liège * Belgian League Cup: 1986 * Belgian Cup: List of Belgian Cup finals, 1986-87 (runners-up) KV Mechelen * Belgian First Division ...

Honours

League

* Belgian First Division **Champions (5): 1895–96, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1951–52, 1952–53 **Runners-up: 1896–97, 1958–59, 1960–61 *

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division (known as the Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) 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 Asso ...

**Winners: 1911–12, 1922–23, 1943–44 * Belgian Third Division **Winners: 1942–43, 1995–96, 2006–07 * Belgian Fourth Division **Winners: 2014–15

Cups

* Belgian Cup **Winners: 1989–90 **Runners-up: 1986–87 * Belgian League Cup **Winners: 1986 **Runners-up: 1973

References

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liege, RFC Association football clubs established in 1892 Football clubs in Belgium 1892 establishments in Belgium Organisations based in Belgium with royal patronage RFC Liège Belgian First Division A clubs