BELGIUM: US Lesve-Besinne-Arbre (1968-2001) / FC Lesve-Arbre (2011-)

Rue Joseph Misson, Lesve (FC Lesve-Arbre, formerly US Lesve-Besinne-Arbre)

Belgium, province: Namur = Namen

August 2021 / no match visited

Timeline

• 1968 / Foundation of a football club in Lesve, called Union Sportive (US) Lesve-Besinne-Arbre. Upon joining Belgium’s Football Association, the club acquires registration number 7218. It is probable that the club started its life at Terrein Rue Joseph Misson, but this cannot be proven.
• 2001 / After an existence of 33 years, spent in its entirety in Namur’s provincial divisions, US Lesve-Besinne-Arbre folds, ceasing all activities. It is unclear what happened to the club’s ground at Rue Joseph Misson in the following ten years.
• 2011 / Foundation of a new club in Lesve, which takes on the name FC Lesve-Arbre and acquires membership of Belgium’s FA under registration number 9584. Founding fathers Frank Quintens and Frédéric Piret disdain fielding a first team, instead sticking with youth teams for the first few seasons – initially just two, later three in number. Potential academy players in age groups for which no team are available, are allowed to join teams from two clubs in the vicinity with which FC Lesve-Arbre has a partnership, JS Bois-de-Villers and RCS Profondeville.
• 2015 / Four years after the club’s foundation, FC Lesve-Arbre fields a first team for the first time. Playing the 2015-16 season in Namur’s Provincial League 4E, it finishes in a modest tenth place in a division with thirteen competing clubs.
• 2023 / Having had respectable, yet unspectacular results in the seasons before, FC Lesve-Arbre now finds itself fighting for the title in Namur’s Provincial League 4C, in the end tying for first place with Etoile Taminoise, with Lesve having a slightly better goal difference (+120 vs. + 115) – brought about in part thanks to a rather comfortable 27-0 win over one of the bottom clubs, ES Viroin-Olloy. In spite of this, FC Lesve-Arbre has to face Etoile Taminoise in a tie-break match for the title, played at AC Lustin’s Complexe Sportif Rue Pépin, losing the match 3-2. Thus having to take part in the play-offs in an attempt to attain promotion via the backdoor, FC Lesve-Arbre successively defeats Union Saint-Gérard (3-0) and RFC Surice B (2-3); as such, the club accedes to Provincial League 3 for the first time.

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