Sportvereniging Belisia Bilzen is a

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

Bilzen Bilzen () is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. In 2021, Bilzen had a total population of 32,536. The total area is 75.90 ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

, Belgium. The club is affiliated to the

Royal Belgian Football Association The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, th ...

(KBVB) with ''

matricule Association football is the most popular sport in Belgium, which has been played since the end of the 19th century. The national association was founded in 1895 with the intention of bringing some order and organization to the sport. The fir ...

'' 5775 and has

sky blue Sky blue refers to a collection of shades comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. Typically it is a shade of cyan or light teal, though some iterations are closer to light Azure (color), azure or light blue. The term (as "sky blew") is atte ...

as club colour. The club currently play in

Belgian National Division 1 The Belgian Division 1 is a semi-professional division and the third-highest division in the Football in Belgium, Belgian football Belgian football league system, league system, one level below the Challenger Pro League. It was created by the Ro ...

from 2024 to 2025, Belgian third tier of football after promotion from

Belgian Division 2 The Belgian Division 2, commonly referred to as simply Tweede Afdeling (in Dutch) or Division 2 (in French) is the fourth-highest division in the Football in Belgium, Belgian football Belgian football league system, league system, one level below ...

History

Rapid Spouwen (1950–2002)

The club joined the

(KBVB) with ''

'' 5775 as Rapid Spouwen in 1954, starting its existence in the

Belgian Provincial Leagues The Belgian Provincial leagues are the lower leagues for Belgian football. Until 2016, these were at levels 5-8 in the Belgian football league system however as part of the reform an extra level was created causing the provincial leagues to drop ...

. In 1974, Spouwen reached the national divisions for the first time. They were able to maintain themselves in the

Belgian Fourth Division The Belgian Fourth Division was the lowest nationwide division in Belgian football. The division was split into four separate leagues, A, B, C and D. The team with the most points in the four leagues together was declared the overall winner ...

for several years. In 1976, the second season in Fourth Division, they even finished second place in the league, albeit at a distance from winners White Star FC Beverst. In 1989 they again ended up in second place, this time three points behind title winner FC Poederlee. However, a few years later, in 1992, Spouwen finished third to last. After 18 seasons of in the national divisions, Spouwen returned to provincial football. The club then also relegated from the First Provincial. In 1998, Spouwen won their group in the Second Provincial, and thus returned to the highest provincial level.

Spouwen-Mopertingen (2002–2021)

In the 2001–02 season, Spouwen finished fifth in the First Provincial, and qualified for the Limburg Provincial finals. Lutlommel VV and Turkse Rangers were eliminated, which resulted in a place in the interprovincial final rounds. There, however, they lost 5–1 to Union La Calamine and missed the return to the national tiers. That season, besides Spouwen being in First Provincial, nearby GS Mopertingen had recently won promotion to the same division. That club was affiliated to the KBVB with matricule 7073. The two clubs merged after the season to form Spouwen-Mopertingen. The merger club continued to play with Rapid Spouwen's matricule 5775. The recently merged club immediately finished third in the First Provincial in its first season, and again forced a place in the final rounds for promotion. After SK Bree and RC Hades were knocked out, they once again advanced again to the interprovincial final round. This time they were successful. Spouwen-Mopertingen defeated Jeunesse Rochefortoise and SK Eernegem and again gained promotion to the national Fourth Division, for the first time in 11 years. In the 2008–09 season, the club participated in the final round in the Fourth Division. In their first game at home, they lost 1–0 to KM Torhout. The 2009–10 season already saw a new high point in club history, as they eliminated

RFC Liège Royal Football Club de Liège (more commonly known as RFC Liège) is a professional football club based in Liège, capital of Liège Province, Belgium. The team currently play in Challenger Pro League, the second tier in Belgian football. It ...

and Wielsbeke in 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 ...

en route to the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

against

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

. They held on to a draw until the 80th minute,

Aloys Nong Aloys Bertrand Nong (born 16 October 1983) is a Cameroonian footballer. Club career Nong was born in Douala. He moved to Belgium in 2000, aged 16, and signed with SC Eendracht Aalst. In the 2002 summer Nong joined C.S. Visé, and after a short ...

delivered a 1–0 lead to Mechelen. In stoppage time, Giuseppe Rossini expanded the lead to 2–0. Spouwen-Mopertingen left Mechelen home ground

Achter de Kazerne The AFAS Stadion is a football stadium in Mechelen, Belgium. It is used for football (soccer), football matches and is the home ground of KV Mechelen. Currently, the ground has a capacity of 16,672. The stadium is called ''Achter de Kazerne'', whi ...

to a standing ovation from the opposing supporters after their performance. In the 2015–16 season, the club again reached the round of 16 of the Belgian Cup. After eliminating

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen (), or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the top tier Pro League after promotion from second tier in 2023–24 season. In 2013, KFCO Wil ...

Diegem Sport Koninklijke Diegem Sport is a Belgian association football club based in Diegem, Flemish Brabant. The team set to playing in the Belgian Division 1 from 2025–26, the third tier of Belgian football after promotion from Belgian Division 2 in ...

and Oosterzonen, they drew

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

. After an even game, Anderlecht scored the winner in the 89th minute, after a goal by

Leander Dendoncker Leander Dendoncker (born 15 April 1995) is a Belgian professional Association football, footballer who plays as either a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder or Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back for club A ...

. Later in the season, Spouwen-Mopertingen reached the final play-off round of the Fourth Division. After beating Zwarte Leeuw, the team secured promotion to the

Belgian Second Amateur Division The Belgian Division 2, commonly referred to as simply Tweede Afdeling (in Dutch) or Division 2 (in French) is the fourth-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian National Division 1. It was created by ...

Belisia Bilzen (2021–present)

In 2021, Spouwen-Mopertingen merged with Bilzerse Waltwilder, and a new club was formed named Belisia Bilzen, taking its name after the first football club of

named Belisia, founded in 1912. In August 2021, former

Belgian international The Belgian International is an international badminton open tournament, held since 1958 but in irregular periods. Since 2005, Yonex has become title sponsor of the event, which also become an International Challenge tournament within the Badminto ...

Luc Nilis Luc Gilbert Cyrille Nilis (born 25 May 1967) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the striker coach of Patro Eisden. He spent most of his career in his native Belgium and, in particular, in the Netherlands with P ...

became head coach of the team. In 2023–24, Belisia Bilzen secure promotion to

from 2024 to 2025 after winning of

VV A.

Current squad

Honours

** Champions (1): 2023–24

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Belisia Bilzen Football clubs in Belgium Sport in Limburg (Belgium) Association football clubs established in 2021 2021 establishments in Belgium Bilzen