R.F.C. de Liège

Football club infobox
clubname = Liège
fullname = Royal Football Club de Tilleur-Liège


nickname = "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 Second Division
season = 2007-08
position = Belgian Third Division, 1st
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leftarm1=0000FF|body1=0000FF|rightarm1=0000FF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

R.F.C. de Tilleur-Liège is a Belgian football club from the city of Liège. It currently plays in the Belgian Second Division. 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.

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.

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 2010-11 season.

Current squad

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).

Former players

*flagicon|Belgium Robert Waseige (player in the 60's, coach in the 80's)
*flagicon|Belgium Victor Wegria
*flagicon|Belgium Jean-Marc Bosman
*flagicon|England Ian Hamilton (1983-85) 48 apps 6 goals
*flagicon|Nigeria Victor Ikpeba
*flagicon|Nigeria Sunday Oliseh
*flagicon|Belgium Benoît Thans
*flagicon|Belgium Eric Deflandre
*flagicon|Belgium Jean-Francois de Sart
*flagicon|Belgium Guillaume Gillet
*flagicon|Belgium Gaëtan_Englebert
*flagicon|Belgium Sébastien Bruzzese

Honours

*Belgian First Division:
**Winners (5): 1895-96, 1897-98, 1898-99, 1951-52, 1952-53
**Runners-up (3): 1896-97, 1958-59, 1960-61
*Belgian Cup:
**Winners (1): 1989-90
**Runners-up (1): 1986-87
*Belgian Second Division:
**Winners (3): 1911-12, 1922-23, 1943-44
*Belgian Third Division:
**Winners (2): 1942-43, 1995-96, 2007-2008

References

*fr icon [http://www.rfcl.be/ Official website]
*fr icon [http://www.rfcliege.be/ Unofficial website]
*fr icon [http://www.rfcliege.be/historique Club history website]
*fr icon [http://www.rfcliege.be/statistiques statistics website]