Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: R Sprimont Sports (±1960?-2002) / R Sprimont-Comblain Sport (2002-2018) / FCB Sprimont (2018-2025) / R Sprimont Banneux (2025-)

Stade du Tultay, Sprimont (RFCB Sprimont, formerly R Sprimont Sports / R Sprimont-Comblain Sport / FCB Sprimont)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

20 IV 2013 / R Sprimont-Comblain Sport - UR Namur 2-1 / National Division 4D (= BE level 4)

Timeline

1919 / The enthusiasm for football is brought to the region of Sprimont, a village in the rural hillsides some 20 km to the south of the city-centre of Liège, by soldiers of the UK army liberating Belgium from the yoke of German occupation at the end of World War I.
1921 / Foundation of a football club in Sprimont, which takes on the name Sprimont Sport. The club settles on a pitch referred to locally as Terrain sur les Flins. In subsequent years, the club goes on to move grounds several times, playing its home games successively at Terrain près de la Carrière du Fond Leval, Terrain près du Cimetière, Terrain au Hornay, and Terrain près du Camping R3CB – with the last-mentioned two grounds being situated very closely to modern-day’s Stade du Tultay, where the club may have settled in the post-war years – but certainly before 1967.
1922 / Sprimont Sport joins the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA / KBVB).
1926 / Upon the Belgian FA introducing its system of registration numbers, Sprimont Sport acquires number 260. Though exact data are lacking, Sprimont Sport must have risen to the level of Provincial League 2 – the highest provincial level until the league reorganisation in 1952 – already in the pre-war years.
1953 / Acquiring the royal epithet, Sprimont Sport adapts its name to become Royal Sprimont Sports (note the additional of the plural-S to Sport). In the 1950s and 1960s, the club alternates spells in Liège’s Provincial League divisions 2 and 3.
1969 / Suffering relegation from Liège’s Provincial League 3, R Sprimont Sports descends into the newly created Provincial League 4.
1980 / R Sprimont Sports finishes as runner-up in Liège’s Provincial League 4 behind champions RCS Templiers-Neupré.
1985 / R Sprimont Sports finishes as runner-up in Liège’s Provincial League 4 behind champions Marchin Sport.
1992 / With a new, ambitious board having taken over the club in the previous year, R Sprimont Sports now eases to the title in Liège’s Provincial League 4, clinching promotion to Provincial League 3. In the course of the season, the club remained without defeat, dropping just two points in draws against R Esneux Sport and R Harzé FC.
1993 / Clinching the title in Liège’s Provincial League 3 in an away match against R Harzé FC, R Sprimont Sports wins promotion to Provincial League 2.
1994 / Grabbing the title in Liège’s Provincial League 2 following a win over RSC Beaufays, R Sprimont Sports accedes to Provincial League 1 for the first time in club history.
1997 / Clinching the title in Liège’s Provincial League 1, 4 points ahead of runners-up Seraing RUL and R Battice FC, R Sprimont Sports manages a historic promotion to National Division 4. Due to the Stade du Tultay undergoing a complete overhaul, the club has to play the entirety of its first season at the national level away from its ground; in fact, rather than concluding a groundsharing agreement with a club in the vicinity, it seems that R Sprimont Sports played all of its matches as away fixtures in the 1997-98 season.
1998 / Runner-up in National Division 4D, 2 points behind champions R Wallonia Walhain Chaumont-Gistoux, R Sprimont Sports qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Knocking out derby rivals R Comblain Sport in R1 (1-1 A.E.T. & penalty shoot-out), the club goes on to have the better of AFC Tubize in R2 (1-2), and eventually defeating K Stade Leuven in the final as well (2-1). As such, R Sprimont Sports manages an unprecedented promotion to National Division 3. In the summer of 1998, the club returns to a completely renovated Stade du Tultay.
2001 / Finishing bottom of the table in National Division 3B, R Sprimont Sports drops back into National Division 4 alongside the club in second-last place, UR Namur.
2002 / Finishing as joint runners-up in National Division 4D with R Spa FC, 13 points behind runaway champions R Entente Dison-Verviers, R Sprimont Sports qualifies for the promotion play-offs. Knocking out Verbroedering Mechelen-aan-de-Maas in R1 (3-1) and FC Verbroedering Meerhout in R2 (3-4), the club eventually defeats R Spa FC in the final (1-3 A.E.T.). As such, Sprimont manages an immediate return to National Division 3. Following the 2001-02 season, a merger is concluded between R Sprimont Sports and R Comblain Sport, resulting in the foundation of R Sprimont-Comblain Sport, which retains Sprimont’s registration number 260; Comblain’s number 1248 is erased from the Belgian FA’s membership list. Henceforth, first team football is played at the Stade du Tultay in Sprimont, with the merger club’s youth academy finding a place at the Site de la Gombe in Poulseur, which had been the ground of Comblain Sport.
2005 / Finishing in fourth place in National Division 3B, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out R Cappellen FC in R1 (5-1), only to suffer elimination in R2 against RCS Visétois (2-1).
2007 / Finishing in third place in National Division 3B, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club bows out in R1 against KFC Verbroedering Geel (0-3).
2008 / Finishing bottom of the table in National Division 3B, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport drops back into National Division 4.
2009 / Runner-up in National Division 4D, 1 point behind champions FC Bleid, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 against KESK Leopoldsburg (0-1).
2011 / Finishing in third place in National Division 4D, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is eliminated in R1 by R Mouscron Péruwelz (4-0).
2013 / Runaway champions in National Division 4D, 12 points ahead of closest followers UR Namur, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport wins promotion to National Division 3.
2015 / In the best season in club history, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport manages to finish as runner-up in National Division 3B, 5 points behind champions R Cappellen FC; in spite of the excellent league performance, Sprimont declines to compete for a ticket for National Division 2 in the play-offs, as the club does not apply for a licence for that level of the football pyramid.
2016 / Finishing in sixth place in National Division 3B, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport qualifies for the play-offs for a place in Amateur Division 1, the new third level of the Belgian football pyramid, created in a complete reorganisation of the national league pyramid, from now on to be divided in five tiers rather than four. Knocking out K Bocholter VV in R1 (5-2 aggr.), Sprimont goes on to ease past K Sporting Hasselt in the final (6-0 aggr.), thus qualifying for Amateur Division 1.
2017 / Finishing bottom of the table in Amateur Division 1, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport descends into Amateur Division 2 along with K Sporting Hasselt, KVV Coxyde, and R White Star Bruxelles.
2018 / Finishing in third-last place in ACFF Amateur Division 2, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport descends into the fifth and lowest tier of the national league pyramid, Amateur Division 3, alongside RFC Union La Calamine. Following the 2017-18 season, a merger is concluded between R Sprimont-Comblain Sport and R Banneux FC, which results in the foundation of Football Comblain Banneux (FCB) Sprimont, which retains Sprimont’s registration number 260; Banneux’s number 1060 is erased from the Belgian FA’s membership list. From now on, the new club disposes of three grounds; the Stade du Tultay in Sprimont for first team football, Stade Georges Radoux in Banneux for the club’s B team in the provincial divisions as well as some training sessions, and the Site de la Gombe in Poulseur for the youth academy.
2022 / Finishing in fifth place in ACFF Amateur Division 3B, FCB Sprimont qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out R Jeunesse Aischoise in R1 (0-1) and CS Entité Manageoise in R2 (0-3), only to stumble over RUS Binche in the final (1-3), thus missing out on promotion.
2025 / Finishing in third place in ACFF Amateur Division 3B, FCB Sprimont qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out ESFC du Geer in R1 (2-2 A.E.T. & penalty shoot-out), suffering elimination in R2 at the hands of RSC Tilffois (1-2). Also in 2025, as FCB Sprimont retrieves its royal epithet, which had been temporarily lost in the 2018 merger for administrative reasons, the club takes on the adapted name R Sprimont Banneux.

Note - In the match I attended at Stade du Tultay, as a result of this victory over their last remaining rivals UR Namur, R Sprimont-Comblain Sport were crowned champions of their league, gaining promotion to National Division 3.