R.F.C. de Liège

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Liège
Full name Royal Football Club de Liège
Nickname(s) Les Sang et Marine
(The Blood and Marine)
Founded 1892
Ground Stade de la rue Gilles Magnée,
Ans
(Capacity 2,500 (500 seats))
Chairman Jules Dethier
Manager Raphaël Quaranta
League Belgian Third Division B
2006-07 Belgian Third Division B, 12th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

R.F.C. de Liège is a Belgian football club from the city of Liège. It currently plays in the Belgian Third division B. Its matricule is the n°4. The club is perhaps best-known today 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.

Contents

[edit] History

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). In 1920 the prefix Royal was added to the name of the club that already had won 3 championships. 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. Between 1965 and 1985, there were poor results, and the club survived with the help of his 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, Hibs, 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 hadn't left since 1945) to the third division. The word Tilleur was finally excluded from the team name in 2000. Since 1995, the club is moving between the second and fourth divisions, with a title of 3rd division Champions in 1996.

[edit] Stadium

The stadium of the club is currently located rue Gilles Magnée, in Ans where a temporary stand was built. The new stadium will be ready for the 2006-07 season.

[edit] Current squad

No. Position Player
Flag of Italy GK Ludovic Govoni
Flag of Belgium DF Arnaud Winandts
Flag of Belgium DF Gaëtan Audoor
Flag of Belgium DF Stéphane Callegari
Flag of Belgium DF Nicolas Lacroix
Flag of Belgium MF Geert Thijs
Flag of Belgium MF Jean-Sébastien Legros
Flag of Belgium MF Christophe Kinet
Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo MF Serge Djamba-Shango
Flag of Belgium FW Joseph Zappia
Flag of Belgium FW Guillaume Legros
Flag of Belgium GK Kevin Aerts
Flag of Belgium DF Nicolas Lapaix
Flag of Belgium MF Ludovic Lambert
No. Position Player
Flag of El Salvador MF Eladio Ramirez
Flag of Belgium FW Benjamin Maréchal
Flag of Turkey DF David Aktan
Flag of Belgium DF Jâcques Ciammaglichella
Flag of Belgium DF Sébastien Dubois
Flag of Belgium DF Christophe Bouzid
Flag of Belgium MF Geoffrey Lizen
Flag of Belgium MF Maté Marin
Flag of Belgium MF Davy Heymans
Flag of Belgium MF Sébastien Gonzatti
Flag of Belgium FW Giresse Mwemwe
Flag of Belgium FW Yassine Neetens
Flag of Belgium FW Phillipe Nizet
Flag of Belgium DF Benoit Sotteau

[edit] Trivia

RFC de Liège other "names" are: Liège, RFC Liège, RTFCL, Football Club Liégeois, Club Luik (in Dutch), FC Liegi (Italian), FC Lieja (Spanish) and FC Lüttich (German).

[edit] Former Players

[edit] Honours

[edit] References