Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RCS Verviétois (1913-2000) / R Entente Dison-Verviers (2000-2002) / RCS Verviétois (B) (2002-2015) / Etoile Verviétoise (2013-2019) / FC Entente Stembertoise (B) (20??-2019, 2021-2023) / CS Jeunesse Verviétoise (B) (2015-2016) / CS Verviers (B) (2016-2019) / SRU Verviers matr. 6966 (C) (2018-) / FC Entente Stembertoise (2019-2021) / AS Verviers (B) (2019-2020) / RCS Verviers matr. 33 (B) (2020-2023) / Stade Verviétois (C) (2023-)

Stade du Panorama, Verviers Stembert (C ground of Stade Verviétois, formerly RCS Verviétois / R Entente Dison-Verviers / Etoile Verviétoise / FC Entente Stembertoise & formerly B ground of RCS Verviétois - CS Jeunesse Verviétoise - CS Verviers - AS Verviers - RCS Verviers & formerly C ground of SRU Verviers matr. 9699)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

21 VII 2022 / Racing Club Star Verviers - R Ougrée FC 1-5 / Pre-season friendly

Timeline

1896 / Foundation of Verviers Football Club (FC), probably a refoundation of a club with the same name founded in 1894.
1897 / Verviers FC joins Belgium's Football Association.
1899 / Foundation of a second club in Verviers, which chooses the name Stade Wallon. Stade Wallon joins the Belgian FA that same year.
1900 / Verviers FC accedes to the Division d'Honneur, the highest division in Belgian football - in fact, the only national division at that time.
1903 / Merger of Verviers FC and Stade Wallon, resulting in the foundation of Club Sportif (CS) Verviétois. CS Verviétois takes the place of Verviers FC in the Division d'Honneur, holding its own at that level until dropping into Liège's regional divisions in 1907.
1909 / CS Verviétois is back at the national levels, taking its place in Promotion - at that time the second and lowest national level.
1912 / Heralding the most successful years in club history, CS Verviétois wins promotion to the Division d'Honneur, remaining in the top flight uninterruptedly until 1924 (although the 1914-19 seasons were not disputed due to World War I).
1913 / CS Verviétois moves into the newly built Stade du Panorama, situated in Stembert, a municipality just outside of Verviers (and administratively absorbed by the city of Verviers in 1977).
1925 / CS Verviétois obtains the royal epithet, adapting its name to become Royal Club Sportif (RCS) Verviétois. That same year, the club wins promotion to the Division d'Honneur after a year's absence, but the stay at the highest level does not last longer than just one season - beginning a spell at the second tier of the Belgian football pyramid which lasts until 1936, interrupted by one year in Promotion - meanwhile the third national level - in 1930-31.
1926 / Upon introduction of the matricule register at Belgium's FA, RCS Verviétois receives matricule 8.
1948 / After 12 years in Promotion (of which only 9 seasons were played, with three others not being disputed due to World War II), RCS Verviétois finds its way back to the second level of the Belgian football pyramid.
1956 / Crowning itself champion of Division 2, RCS Verviétois wins promotion to the top flight of Belgian football after an absence of 30 years.
1961 / After a spell of five years of top flight football, with a 7th place in 1957-58 as the club's best result, RCS Verviétois drops to Division 2. The club never returns to the top of the Belgian football pyramid in subsequent years.
1972 / Following 11 uninterrupted seasons in D2, the club falls back to Division 3.
1977 / After two seasons in D3 followed by three in D4, RCS Verviétois drops out of the national leagues after an uninterrupted spell of 68 years.
1979 / Back in National Division 4, RCS Verviétois holds its own at that level until 1993 with the exception of the 1984-85 season, which is spent in Liège's Provincial League 1.
1993 / Winning the title in National Division 4D, RCS Verviétois finds its way back to D3 after an absence of 19 years.
2000 / Relegated to D4, RCS Verviétois concludes a merger with R Dison Sport (matricule 63), resulting in the foundation of Royale Entente Dison-Verviers - retaining Verviétois' matricule 8.
2002 / Although crowning itself champions in National Division 4D, R Entente Dison-Verviers runs into financial difficulties, forcing the club to go into administration - only to be saved by Verviers' town council. As such, matricule 8 is saved, but an obligatory name change cannot be avoided, upon which the decision is taken to reinstate the old abbreviation RCS, but with a subtle change as the new name filed at Belgium's FA reads R Cercle (instead of Club!) Sportif Verviétois. In the process, the council also moves first team football away from Stade du Panorama after 89 years, moving RCS Verviétois to Stade Communal du Bielmont, which had hitherto been home to SRU Verviers (who were forced out, involuntarily moving to Stade Jonckeu in Jehanster). Stade du Panorama, of which the main stand and part of the terracing were dismantled after 2002, remained in use for lower team football and training purposes.
2013 / A new club sees the daylight in Verviers, Etoile Verviétoise. Upon joining Belgium's FA, the club obtains matricule 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 Bielmont for lower team football..
2015 / Having soldiered on for 13 more seasons in D3 and D4, the (not quite) new RCS Verviétois finally folds due to an unavoidable bankruptcy; matricule 8 disappears from the Belgian FA's registers after having played 25 seasons of football in D1 (including 3 as Verviers FC), 27 seasons in D2, 30 in D3, and 20 in D4 (including 2 as R Entente Dison-Verviers) - an impressive total of 102 years of national league football. Following RCS Verviétoise's demise, a successor club is founded straightaway, taking on the name of Cercle Sportif Jeunesse (CSJ or CS Jeunesse) Verviétoise (matricule 9657). The new club's first team takes RCS Verviétois' place at Stade Bielmont, while the club takes over RCS's youth academy at Stade du Panorama.
2016 / Cercle Sportif Jeunesse Verviétoise changes its name to become Cercle Sportif (CS) Verviers.
2018 / Skill Racing Union Verviers (matricule 9699), a refoundation of the old SRU Verviers which had ceased activities in 2010, plays its first team football at Stade Lejoly in Stembert, but has the benefit of using Heusy's Croix de Fays as well as Stade du Panorama for lower team football and training purposes.
2019 / Conclusion of a merger between Etoile Verviétoise and CS Verviers, becoming Alliance Sportive (AS) Verviers, retaining CS Verviers' matricule 9657. AS Verviers first team plays its football at Bielmont, with Panorama remaining in use for lower team football and training purposes. That same year, FC Entente (FCE) Stembertoise, of which the little ground just down the road at (confusingly) Rue du Panorama was unable to house all of the club's teams - and who had consequently been allowed the use of Stade du Panorama for lower team football and training purposes (unclear from what year onwards exactly) -, decides to move its first team to the stadium as well (if you can shed light on the exact year when FCE Stembertoise first made use of the Stade du Panorama for their lower teams, please contact me).
2020 / AS Verviers concludes a merger with Royal Star Fléron FC (matricule 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 (matricule 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 matricule (33) - and with Bielmont remaining in use for the club's first team and Panorama for the youth academy.
2021 / FC Entente Stembertoise's first team returns to that club's home ground at Rue du Panorama, abandoning the Stade du Panorama for everything except the occasional training session.
2023 / A merger is concluded between RCS Verviers and Stade Disonais, resulting in the foundation of Stade Verviétois, with RCS Verviers low matricule 33 being retained. First team football moved to Stade Bielmont, with many of the lower teams moving to Dison's Stade Communal Val Fassotte. Stade du Panorama remains in use for the youth academy of the newly founded club. Also in 2023, FCE Stembertoise and SRU Verviers leave Stade du Panorama.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1, 4 & 6-20 = match visit, July 2022 / pictures 2-3 & 5 = non-matchday visit, March 2010.