Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RDC Cointe (B) (1989-2010) / Standard Cointe (B) (1992-2001) / RDC Cointe (2010-2011) / RDC Cointe-Liège (2011-)

Stade Michel Jamar - terrain 2, Liège = Luik Cointe (RDC de Cointe-Liège, formerly B pitch of RDC Cointe & Standard de Cointe / A ground of RDC Cointe)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

6 X 2015 / Daring Club de Cointe-Liège B - SC Haneffe 5-1 / Liège, Provincial League 3A (= BE level 7)

Timeline

1947 / Foundation of Daring Club de Cointe by a group of friends, belonging to the 20th Sté-Véronique scouts group, under the informal leadership of Michel Jamar. DC de Cointe plays its first match on November 11th, 1947, on the Plaine des Sports de Cointe. Initially, the club plays its football in the so-called Ligue Jociste (a recreational competition for youths organised by the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne). Some time later - frustratingly, no exact year can be found, but it must have been around 1950 - Jamar and DC Cointe play a leading role in the foundation of a league of recreational clubs, the Association Liégeoise du Football Amateur (ALFA). As one of ALFA's founding clubs, DC de Cointe is handed matricule 1.
1949 / By 1949, after having played for some time on a makeshift pitch at Rue du Chéra, which falls victim to building projects, and again at Plaine des Sports de Cointe, DC Cointe has settled at a ground called Tubes de la Meuse, probably situated in Sclessin.
1955 / By 1955, DC de Cointe has moved from Tubes de la Meuse to a pitch at Sclessin's priest school, the Petit-Séminaire.
1968 / After two decades markedly lacking success, DC de Cointe succeeds in winning the nationwide Belgian Cup for recreational ('amateur') teams - a feat which it repeats in 1970, 1971, and 1972.
1972 / By 1972, DC de Cointe plays its football on a unique ground, comprising two pitches, on the site of the Cockerill-Sambre Metalworks in Chertal. Tragically, though, the club has to leave the premises after a sad incident which sees a spectator being run over by a factory locomotive. The club finds a new home at Hermalle-sous-Argenteau, also comprising two pitches. In those years, ALFA also organises youth competitions, in which DC de Cointe is one of the most prolific participants.
1973 / Daring Club de Cointe clinches the nationwide Belgian title for recreational teams - succeeding in winning a second two seasons later, in 1975.
± 1988 / At Hermalle-sous-Argenteau, DC Cointe's clubhouse is consumed in a fire. In search of a new ground, the club settles temporarily at the Plaine des Sports de Cointe.
1989 / Helped by local professional side R Standard de Liège, which finances the project, DC de Cointe inaugurates a completely new ground constructed at Rue du Chéra, consisting of two pitches. This 'Site du Chéra', a stone's throw away from the Eglise du Sacré-Coeur de Cointe and the Phare de Liège, is used for training sessions by Standard as well.
1992 / DC de Cointe's partnership with R Standard de Liège is formalised; less talented players in Standard's youth academy are given the opportunity to play in Cointe under the flag of a new club, named Standard de Cointe.
1993 / Groundsharing with Daring Club de Cointe at Site du Chéra, Standard de Cointe joins the Belgian FA under matricule 9266. Although, in the 1990s, every FA member is obliged to field a first team, Standard de Cointe is exempted from this obligation for the time being - and fields just one U17 team.
1995 / Relinquishing the coordination of the Standard de Cointe project to DC Cointe, R Standard de Liège more or less withdraws from the Site du Chéra. By now, Standard de Cointe consists of nine youth teams, while, in the 1995-96 season - obliged to do so by Belgium's FA -, a first team is entered in Liège's Provincial League 4 for the first time.
1997 / At its 50th anniversary, DC Cointe obtains the royal epithet, thus becoming Royal Daring Club (RDC) de Cointe. Around this same time (the exact year is uncertain), the Site du Chéra is renamed Stade Michel Jamar in honour of the club's founder and long-time president.
2001 / R Standard de Liège terminates its involvement with Standard de Cointe once and for all. Thereupon, Standard Cointe is absorbed by RDC Cointe, which, from now on, is a member of two football associations: ALFA and the official Belgian FA. RDC Cointe begins its life as a provincial league club in P4, the level at which Standard Cointe played in the six previous seasons.
2004 / Jean-Marie Raucq, formerly manager at Real Hazard, is signed as RDC Cointe's new head coach. Raucq guides the club's first team for the next ten seasons.
2006 / Winning its first-ever provincial league title, RDC Cointe clinches promotion to Provincial League 3.
2007 / RDC Cointe absorbs Euro Youth (EY) Liège 75. This club (matricule 8285), founded in 1982 as a breakaway of DC Cointe, played its football at a ground at Boulevard Gustave Kleyer. After the merger, RDC Cointe continues to make use of EY Liège's ground for some more time before abandoning the site due to its ongoing vandalisation.
2008 / RDC Cointe wins promotion to Provincial League 2.
2010 / Finishing second in Provincial League 2B, RDC Cointe subsequently wins the promotion play-offs to accede to Liège's Provincial League 1 for the first time. In April and May 2010, Stade Michel Jamar's pitch 2 is equipped with a synthetic surface; henceforth, RDC Cointe's first team plays its football on this pitch rather than on the grass pitch to its west.
2011 / RDC Cointe adapts its name slightly to become Royal Daring Club (RDC) de Cointe-Liège. In the 2010-11 season, the club finishes 14th in Provincial League 1, thus dropping back into P2 after just one season.
2012 / With an advantage of 13 points over its nearest rival, R Aubel FC, in P2B's final ranking, RDC Cointe-Liège manages an immediate return to Provincial League 1.
2013 / Again, RDC Cointe-Liège's stay in P1 lasts no longer than one season after finishing 14th, with relegation ensuing.
2014 / For the third time in five seasons, RDC Cointe-Liège wins promotion from Provincial League 2B - this time, via the promotion play-offs.
2015 / With an advantage of just one point over FC United Richelle, RDC Cointe-Liège wins the title in Liège's Provincial League 1, thus acceding to the national leagues for the first time in club history.
2016 / Holding its own at the national level excellently, RDC Cointe-Liège finishes 8th in National Division 4D. Subsequently, in the summer of 2016, a thorough reorganisation of the national league pyramid is undertaken, in which RDC Cointe is placed in ACFF Amateur Division 3, the new fifth and lowest national level - with the club again finishing in 8th position in the following season in ACFF Amateur Division 3B.
2018 / Finishing bottom of ACFF's Amateur Division 3B, RDC Cointe-Liège drops out of the national leagues after three seasons.
2019 / Suffering a second relegation in a row, RDC Cointe-Liège's flagship team finds itself in Provincial League 2.
2022 / Finishing second-last in P2A, RDC Cointe-Liège drops back into Provincial League 3 - a level at which it last played 14 seasons previously.
2024 / Runners-up in P3B, 16 points behind champions CS Juprelle, RDC Cointe-Liège qualifies for the play-offs, in which the club wins the two qualifying rounds (1-0 against FC Jupille & 2-0 against RCS Sart-Tilman) - which, in hindsight, proved enough to win promotion to Provincial League 2 due to extra promotion places being available, rendering the final round matches against Patro Lensois (3-3) and Etoile Elsautoise (1-0) superfluous, as all three clubs earn a P2 ticket.