Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RCS Vielsalm (B) (1991-1996) / RCS Vielsalm (1996-2017) / RCS de la Salm (B) (2017-2020, 2022-2023, 2024-2025) / RCS de la Salm (2020-2022, 2023-2024, 2025-)

Stade Saint-Gengoux / François Lejeune terr. 1 "Hermanmont", Vielsalm (RCS de la Salm, formerly B ground of RCS Vielsalm / A ground of RCS Vielsalm / B ground of RCS de la Salm)

Belgium, province: Luxembourg

19 IX 2021 / RCS de la Salm - R Lierneux FC 2-4 / Belgian Luxembourg, Provincial League 3F (= BE level 8)

Timeline

1919 or 1920 / Foundation of a first football club in Vielsalm, a town in the far north of the Belgian Province of Luxembourg. The new club takes on the name Cercle Sportif (CS) Vielsalm, which joins the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA / KBVB) in 1920. It is unclear if, yet rather probable that, the club played its football on the pitch known as Stade Saint-Gengoux at modern-day Rue Hermanmont from the outset. No other location for football within the confines of the town has been recorded – and the ground was certainly already in use before the start of World War II.
1921 / CS Vielsalm folds, ceasing all activities.
1922 / Refoundation of CS Vielsalm, which joins the Belgian FA one year later.
1925 / CS Vielsalm concludes a merger with neighbour club SS Salmienne from nearby Salmchâteau, resulting in the foundation of Entente Salmienne, with all activities moving to the ground in Salmchâteau, the so-called Champ des Dames.
1928 / As a new, third successive CS Vielsalm is founded in Vielsalm, with registration number 1214 being obtained when being accepted into the Belgian FA, the 1925 merger is effectively disentangled. The new CS Vielsalm settles at Stade Saint-Gengoux.
1940 / CS Vielsalm is officially wound up, with registration number 1214 being erased from the membership list of the Belgian FA.
1941 / A new club sees the daylight in Vielsalm, with the name Excelsior Vielsalm being adopted.
1942 / Excelsior Vielsalm joins the Belgian FA under a more familiar name, CS Vielsalm – with this being the fourth club of this name seeing the daylight in 25 years. Receiving registration number 3470, the new CS Vielsalm settles at Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont). At some point in the club’s history, CS Vielsalm acquired an additional training pitch in the hamlet of Ville-du-Bois, some 1 km to the east of the town proper.
1991 / A second pitch is added to the set-up at Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont), to the east of the already existing (main) pitch, with the club’s goal being to create a clubhouse and covered stand alongside this new pitch, which is the projected new main pitch of the ground. This coincides with the abandonment of the club’s training pitch, the Stade Josy in Ville-du-Bois.
1993 / Having obtained the royal epithet one year previously, CS Vielsalm now officially changes its name to become Royal Cercle Sportif (RCS) Vielsalm.
1996 / With the new clubhouse and covered stand alongside the second pitch of Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont) being inaugurated, first team football moves to this new pitch. In subsequent years, the small wooden covered stand, situated next to the old clubhouse alongside the old main pitch, is knocked down. The pitch as well as the old clubhouse are retained, the former for lower team football and training sessions, the latter as storage room.
1997 / Having dropped back into Luxembourg’s Provincial League 3, the bottom of the league pyramid, three years previously, RCS Vielsalm now conquers the title in Provincial League 3E, 4 points ahead of CS Odeigne, thus gaining promotion to Provincial League 2.
2001 / Runaway champions in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 2C, 10 points ahead of closest followers R Lierneux FC, RCS Vielsalm manages a return to Provincial League 1 after an absence of twenty seasons at that level.
2002 / Finishing in third-last place in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 1, RCS Vielsalm drops back into Provincial League 2 after just one year, along with US Givry, RJ Arlonaise, and bottom club RSC Barvautois.
2010 / Finishing in second-last place in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 2C, RCS Vielsalm descends into Provincial League 3, alongside RES Izier and bottom club R Lierneux FC.
2012 / Finishing in fifth place in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 3E, RCS Vielsalm qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club is knocked out in R1 by RCS Halanzy (3-2).
2013 / Finishing in joint first place in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 3E with RO Harre, RCS Vielsalm suffers defeat in a test match for the title and a direct promotion spot (3-3 A.E.T. & penalty shoot-out). Subsequently, the club bows out in R1 of the promotion play-offs against ES Transinnoise (1-3).
2015 / Champions in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 3F, 1 point ahead of derby rivals RSS Salmienne, RCS Vielsalm wins promotion to Provincial League 2.
2016 / Finishing in second-last place in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 2C, RCS Vielsalm drops back into Provincial League 3 after just one season, alongside bottom club R Ortho Sport.
2017 / In its last season as an independent club, RCS Vielsalm finishes in a lowly twelfth place in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 3F. Following the 2016-17 season, a merger is concluded between RCS Vielsalm and RSS Salmienne, resulting in the foundation of Royal Cercle Sportif (RCS) de la Salm, with registration number 555 of RSS Salmienne being retained; number 3470 of RCS Vielsalm is erased from the Belgian FA’s membership list. The first chairman of the new club becomes Jean-Marie Thomas. First team football moves to the Champ des Dames in Salmchâteau, with the main pitch and side-pitch of the Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont) in Vielsalm remaining in use for lower team football and training sessions.
2020 / First team football moves to Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont) in Vielsalm, with the Champ des Dames in Salmchâteau remaining in use for lower team football and training sessions. That same year, RCS de la Salm merges its youth academy with the academies of neighbour clubs R Lierneux FC and RUS Sartoise in a newly formed youth academy club, which is given the name Jeunesse Unie Nord-Ardenne (JUNA) Salm-Sart-Lierneux, with this ‘club’ acquiring registration number 9796 upon being admitted as a new member of the Belgian FA.
2022 / Finishing in fourth place in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 3F, RCS de la Salm qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which R Lierneux FC is defeated in R1 (4-6); however, it is unclear how Salm fared in the remainder of the play-off, except that the club did not win promotion. In the summer of 2022, first team football moved back to the Champ des Dames in Salmchâteau, with Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont) in Vielsalm remaining in use for lower team football and training sessions.
2023 / First team football of RCS de la Salm moves from the Champ des Dames in Salmchâteau to Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont) in Vielsalm once again.
2024 / First team football of RCS de la Salm moves from Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont) in Vielsalm to the Champ des Dames in Salmchâteau after one season only.
2025 / First team football of RCS de la Salm moves from the Champ des Dames in Salmchâteau to Stade Saint-Gengoux (Hermanmont) in Vielsalm once again. That same year, the ground in Vielsalm, of which the old name Stade Saint-Gengoux has long fallen into disuse, is officially renamed Stade François Lejeune in honour of the man who served RCS Vielsalm as chairman between 1985 and 2017.
2026 / Finishing in fifth place in Luxembourg’s Provincial League 3C, RCS de la Salm qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club knocks out RSC Rendeux in R1 (0-2), only to suffer elimination in R2 against RES Izier (3-2).