BELGIUM: SRU Verviers matr. 34 (1976-±1977, 1980-1991, 2001-2002) / R Union Verviers-Ensival (1991-2001) / FC Surdents (1998-1999) / RCS Verviétois (2002-2015) / Etoile Verviétoise (B) (2013-2019) / CS Jeunesse Verviétoise (2015-2016) / CS Verviers (2016-2019) / AS Verviers (2019-2020) / Racing Club Star Verviers (2020-2023) / Stade Verviétois (2023-)

Stade Communal du Bielmont, Verviers (Stade Verviétois, formerly SRU Verviers matr. 34 / R Union Verviers-Ensival / FC Surdents / RCS Verviétois / CS Jeunesse Verviétoise / CS Verviers / AS Verviers / B ground of Etoile Verviétoise / Racing Club Star Verviers)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

27 II 2011 / RCS Verviétois - RFC Liège 0-3 / National Division 3B (= BE level 3)

Timeline

• 1907 / Foundation of a football club in Verviers, which takes on the name Skill (often spelled in capital letters, SKILL). Skill joins Belgium's Football Association that same year. It is unclear where the club’s ground(s) was/were situated until 1934.
• 1918 / Skill merges with Racing Club (RC) de Lambermont, resulting in the foundation of Skill Racing Union.
• 1923 / Skill Racing Union accedes to the national divisions for the first time, winning promotion from Liège’s Provincial League 2 (the highest provincial level at that time) to Promotion, the second and lowest tier of the nascent Belgian national league pyramid.
• 1924 / Finishing in twelfth place in Promotion A, Skill Racing Union drops back into the provincial divisions along with CS Schaerbeek, AEC Mons, and bottom club US Tournaisienne.
• 1925 / Skill Racing Union manages an instant return to Promotion after one season in Liège’s Provincial League 2.
• 1926 / In the best season in club history, Skill Racing Union finishes in seventh place in what is still the second tier of Belgian football, Promotion A. For the new season, the club is placed in Division 1, which, confusingly, is the newly created second tier of the Belgian football pyramid. In December 1926, when the system of registration numbers is introduced by Belgium’s Football Association, Skill Racing Union acquires number 34. 
• 1927 / Finishing in last place in Division 1, Skill Racing Union drops back into Promotion, the third national level, along with AS Herstalienne and Sint-Ignatius SC Antwerpen.
• 1928 / Finishing in joint twelfth place in Promotion C with Ixelles SC and Hoboken SK, Skill Racing Union has to play a set of relegation play-offs against those two clubs. Finishing in last place in this round of play-offs, the club descends into the provincial divisions along with direct drop-outs R Léopold Club and SR Dolhain FC.
• 1931 / After three years in Liège's provincial divisions, Skill Racing Union makes a return to the national level for the third time.
• 1932 / The club extends its name to become Skill Racing Union (SRU) Verviers. Later that same year, SRU Verviers obtains the royal epithet, again subtly adapting its name to become Société Royale Union (SRU) Verviers. Colloquially, though, the club continues to be referred to as 'Skill' or 'Skill Racing Union'.
• 1933 / Finishing bottom of the table in Promotion D, SRU Verviers drops back into the provincial divisions along with RUS Liège and CS Tongrois. 
• 1934 / SRU Verviers moves into its newly built Stade Albert at Rue Simon Lobet. The first match at the new ground takes place on August 18th, 1934.
• 1938 / After five years in Liège’s regional divisions, SRU Verviers now wins promotion from Provincial League 2 to Promotion for the fourth time.
• 1943 / Finishing in fourteenth place in Promotion A, SRU Verviers descends back into the provincial leagues along with Milmort FC and bottom club Saint-Nicolas FC Liège.
• 1945 / SRU Verviers accedes to the national level for the fifth time in club history, being placed in Promotion D.
• 1946 / Finishing in fifteenth place in Promotion D, SRU Verviers drops back into the provincial leagues along with FC Melen-Micheroux, Spa FC, Aywaille FC, and bottom club UW Ciney.
• 1952 / After six years in the provincial divisions, SRU Verviers manages a return to the national level, being placed in National Division 4, which replaces Promotion as the lowest level of the national league pyramids following the introduction of a National Division 3 that same year.
• 1953 / Champions in National Division 4C, 3 points ahead of runners-up Racing FC Montegnée, SRU Verviers accedes to National Division 3.
• 1954 / Winning its second title in a row, this time in National Division 3B, 3 points ahead of closest followers AS Herstalienne SR, SRU Verviers sensationally finds itself in National Division 2 just two years after having won promotion from Liège's Provincial League 1.
• 1955 / SRU Verviers admirably holds its own in its first season in National Division 2, finishing in thirteenth place, 5 points ahead of the drop zone.
• 1956 / The adventure of SRU Verviers in National Division 2 ends following a second-last place in that division, falling just 1 point short of RRC Bruxelles which stays up and dropping down into D3 along with bottom club KFC Herentals.
• 1957 / As the club finishes in second-last place in D3A, SRU Verviers suffers its second relegation in a row, tumbling down into National Division 4 along with bottom club KV Mol Sport. 
• ± 1961 (?) / SRU Verviers acquires a youth academy ground at Rue des Champs in Stembert. This ground is referred to by the surname of its owner as Terrain Lejoly or Stade Lejoly - and retained by the club for the following 25 odd years.
• 1962 / Finishing in second-last place in National Division 4C, SRU Verviers disappears from the national level after ten years, dropping down into Provincial League 1 along with KSC Maccabi Antwerp and bottom club LC Bastogne.
• 1963 / SRU Verviers manages an immediate return to National Division 4, winning promotion from Liège’s Provincial League 1 along with R Ans FC.
• 1966 / Following three difficult seasons at the national level, SRU Verviers now finishes in fourteenth place in D4B, dropping back into Provincial League 1 along with R Spa FC and bottom club RCS Visétois.
• 1970 / SRU Verviers manages a return to National Division 4, winning promotion from Liège’s Provincial League 1 along with RC Stockay-Warfusée. Also in or around 1970, SRU Verviers acquires the luxury of a third ground along Rue Georges Albert in Jehanster. This new facility, named Stade (Le) Jonckeu, serves the club for lower team football and training purposes. 
• 1974 / Following four seasons in D4, SRU Verviers now finishes in fourteenth place in D4B, dropping back into Provincial League 1 along with R Herve FC and bottom club Bomal FC.  
• 1976 / As Stade Albert is demolished, SRU Verviers moves into the newly built Stade Communal du Bielmont, only slightly to the east of the old ground, constructed on a site hemmed in between Avenue Elisabeth and Rue Simon Lobet. Stade Bielmont is a multi-use stadium with a running track and further athletics facilities.
• ± 1977 / As Stade Bielmont is much too large for the crowds drawn by SRU Verviers in home games in Provincial League 1, the club moves its first team football to its B ground, Stade Le Jonckeu.
• 1980 / SRU Verviers manages a return to National Division 4, winning promotion from Liège’s Provincial League 1 along with RCS Visétois. Upon its return to the national level, the club moves its first team football back to the Stade Communal du Bielmont.
• 1982 / Finishing in fifteenth place in National Division 4D, SRU Verviers drops back into Provincial League 1 along with KFC Wezel Sport and bottom club KFC Putte.
• 1983 / SRU Verviers manages a return to National Division 4, winning promotion from Liège’s Provincial League 1 along with AS Herstalienne SR.
• 1984 / For the first time in both clubs' history, SRU’s city-rivals RCS Verviétois plays in a lower division (Liège's Provincial League 1) than SRU Verviers (National Division 4). The situation does not last longer than one season, though, with RCS Verviétois quickly finding its way up into the national divisions.
• 1987 / Having managed a respectable seventh place in D4 the previous season, SRU Verviers now finishes in fourteenth place in National Division 4D, descending into Provincial League 1 along with RUW Ciney and bottom club RAFC Oppagne-Wéris.
• 1988 / SRU Verviers manages a return to National Division 4, winning promotion from Liège’s Provincial League 1 along with R Prayon FC.
• 1991 / SRU Verviers concludes a merger with FC Ensival (registration number 5932, founded in 1956), resulting in the foundation of Royale Union Verviers-Ensival – often referred to abbreviatedly as RU Verviers-Ensival or even RUVE.
• 1993 / After five last years in National Division 4, R Union Verviers-Ensival falls back into Liège’s provincial leagues for good following a fourteenth place finish in D4D, dropping back into P1 along with RCS Visétois and bottom club R Alliance Melen-Micheroux. In total, SRU Verviers / RU Verviers-Ensival played 38 seasons of national league football (5 in D2, 9 in D3, and 24 in D4). 
• 1998 / As local provincial club FC Surdents is evicted from its ground, Terrain de la Banque, the club concludes a groundsharing agreement with R Union Verviers-Ensival Verviers, playing its first team football at Stade du Bielmont for the 1998-99 season.
• 1999 / Following the 1998-99 season, FC Surdents concludes a merger with FC Stembert, resulting in the foundation of FC Entente Stembertoise, with all activities moving to Stembert's Terrain des Linaigrettes; as such, R Union Verviers-Ensival remains at Bielmont as the ground's sole user.
• 2001 / Forced to go into liquidation due to financial difficulties, RU Verviers-Ensival conserves its registration number 34, but it has to put up with being retrograded to the bottom of Liège's provincial league ladder, Provincial League 4. In the process, the old name SRU Verviers is reinstated.
• 2002 / Evicted from Stade Communal du Bielmont by Verviers’ town council, SRU Verviers is forced to move all its activities to Stade Le Jonckeu in Jehanster. SRU's place at Bielmont is taken by RCS Verviétois, which moves away its first team football from Stade du Panorama in Stembert after 89 years. In subsequent years, Stade du Panorama remains in use for the club's youth academy.
• 2003 / In its first season at Stade Bielmont, RCS Verviétois is relegated from National Division 3. The club returns to that level in 2005 after a two-year spell in D4.
• 2010 / Having soldiered on in its banishment at Stade Le Jonckeu – which, being situated in an isolated location, saw several burglaries in its clubhouse (2008-09), SRU finally folds, playing its last home match in Provincial League 4G in April 2010 against R Baelen FC. Registration number 34 is erased from the Belgian FA's official lists. In 2018, the club would be refounded with the name Skill Racing Union (SRU) Verviers with registration number 9699, but this new SRU Verviers does not return to Stade du Bielmont, instead settling at Terrain Lejoly in 2019 after a first season of groundsharing at FC Entente Stembertoise's Terrain des Linaigrettes.
• 2013 / A new club sees the daylight in Verviers, Etoile Verviétoise. Upon joining Belgium's FA, the club obtains registration number 9603. Etoile plays its first team football at Stade du Panorama, groundsharing with RCS Verviétois' youth academy, while the club has the benefit of occasionally being allowed to use Stade du Bielmont for lower team football.
• 2015 / RCS Verviétois, finishing second-last in National Division 3, folds due to an unavoidable bankruptcy; number 8 disappears from the Belgian FA’s registration lists. Following this, a successor club is founded straightaway, taking on the name of Cercle Sportif Jeunesse (CSJ or CS Jeunesse) Verviétoise (registration number 9657). The new club's first team takes RCS Verviétois' place at Stade de Bielmont, while the club takes over RCS's youth academy at Stade du Panorama.
• 2016 / Cercle Sportif Jeunesse Verviers changes its name to become Cercle Sportif (CS) Verviers.
• 2019 / Conclusion of a merger between Etoile Verviétoise and CS Verviers, resulting in the foundation of Alliance Sportive (AS) Verviers, retaining CS Verviers' registration number 9657. AS Verviers first team plays its football at Bielmont, with Panorama remaining in use for lower team football and training purposes. 
• 2020 / AS Verviers concludes a merger with Royal Star Fléron FC (registration number 33), a club who had just been forced out of their ground at Rue de Romsée in Fléron by Fléron's mayor Thierry Ancion, who gave preference to his own newly founded football club, Entente Jeunesse Fléron (registration number 9703, founded in 2018). The new merger of AS Verviers and RS Fléron takes on the name of Racing Club Star (RCS!) Verviers, retaining Fléron’s registration number and with Bielmont remaining in use for the club's first team and Panorama for the youth academy. 
• 2023 / A merger is concluded between RCS Verviers and R Stade Disonais (registration number 9410), resulting in the foundation of Stade Verviétois, in which RCS Verviers’ number 33 is retained. As Dison plays in ACFF Division 2, Stade du Bielmont becomes the host venue of national league football for the first time in 8 years.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author