Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: R Olympic Club Charleroi (1922-1972, 1982-2000, 2016-2019, 2020-) / R Olympic Club Montignies-sur-Sambre (1972-1982) / R Olympic Club Charleroi-Marchienne (2000-2016) / RACS Couillet (2005-2008) / FC Charleroi (2011-2013) / R Charleroi-Fleurus (2013-2014) / Olympic Charleroi-Châtelet-Farciennes (2019-2020) / RSC du Pays de Charleroi (B) (2022-)

Stade de la Neuville, Charleroi Montignies-sur-Sambre (Olympic Cluc Charleroi & RSC du Pays de Charleroi B, formerly R Olympic Club Charleroi / R Olympic Club de Montignies-sur-Sambre / R Olympic Club Charleroi-Marchienne (ROCCM) / FC Charleroi / R Charleroi-Fleurus / Olympic Charleroi-Châtelet-Farciennes (OCCF))

Belgium, province: Hainaut = Henegouwen

27 X 2007 / R Olympic Club Charleroi-Marchienne - RFC Tournai 1-0 / Tweede Klasse (= BE level 2)
26 II 2012 / FC Charleroi - K Kampenhout SK 3-0 / National League 4B (= BE level 4)
15 VIII 2013 / R Charleroi-Fleurus - KSK Hasselt 2-0 / National League 3B (= BE level 3)

Timeline

1911 / Foundation of Caroloregian Lodelinsart Club Olympique.
1912 / Caroloregian Lodelinsart Club Olympique changes its name to become Olympic Club de Charleroi.
1913 / Due to a conflict with Belgium's Football Association, Olympic Club de Charleroi voluntarily withdraws its membership.
1921 / After an absence of eight years, Olympic Club de Charleroi rejoins the Belgian FA under the name Olympic Carolingien de Lodelinsart.
1922 / The old name Olympic Club de Charleroi is reinstated. That same year, after spells at two locations in Charleroi (Plaine des Manoeuvres & Plaine de l'Exposition) and one in Marcinelle (La Nervienne), the club settles down at Stade de la Neuville in Montignies-sur-Sambre.
1926 / Belgium's FA introduces the matricule system; OC Charleroi obtains matricule 246. That same year, the national leagues are reached - and the club has been part of the national divisions without interruption ever since.
1937 / The royal epithet is obtained, with the club name becoming Royal Olympic Club (ROC) de Charleroi as a result. Also in 1937, a first spell (lasting 18 years) of top flight football begins - and to allow an ever-increasing band of spectators to attend home matches, Stade de la Neuville is extended with three large terraces (one of which was knocked down in 2010, with the two others still existing today), giving the stadium a maximum capacity of some 30,000.
1955 / First relegation in the club's history; ROC Charleroi descends to the second tier of the league pyramid.
1956 / Back at the highest level, ROC Charleroi enjoys seven more seasons in National League 1.
1967 / While town rival R Charleroi SC becomes ever more successful in the 1960s, Olympic is caught in a downward spiral. Nevertheless, the club manages promotion to National League 1 in 1967, but this spell lasts no longer than one single season.
1972 / In order to distinguish itself from R Charleroi SC, ROC Charleroi changes its name to become Royal Olympic Club (ROC) de Montignies-sur-Sambre.
1974 / The club enjoys a last season of top flight football before suffering relegation from Division 1 - this time for good. In the course of the 1970s, renovation works take place at Stade de la Neuville, involving, most notably, the construction of a new main stand.
1982 / With the reference to Montignies-sur-Sambre being dropped, the old name of Royal Olympic Club de Charleroi is reinstated.
1992 / The main stand is equipped with business seats. After various amendments at the ground, the maximum capacity is now down to 12,164.
2000 / ROC Charleroi merges with Royale Association (RA) Marchiennoise des Sports (matricule 278) to become ROC de Charleroi-Marchienne (ROCCM), retaining Olympic's matricule 246. First team football is played at Neuville, with Marchienne's Stade Communal becoming the club's youth academy and training ground.
2005 / Its own Stade du Fiestaux being deemed unfit for National Division 3 football, RACS Couillet settles down at Stade de la Neuville as groundsharer, remaining there for three seasons before returning to their home ground.
2010 / The terracing at the southern end of the ground is knocked down, further reducing the capacity of the ground to some 8,000.
2011 / With Football Couillet (FC) La Louvière, successor club of RACS Couillet, changing its name to become FC Charleroi and moving away from La Louvière's Stade Communal du Tivoli, ROC Charleroi-Marchienne has to put up with a new groundsharer at its stadium. After two seasons, however, FC Charleroi moves to Stade du Fiestaux.
2013 / When another smaller national league team from the Greater Charleroi Region, RJS Heppignies-Lambusart-Fleurus, changes its name to become Royal Charleroi-Fleurus, Charleroi's town council allows this club to play at Stade de la Neuville alongside Olympic, but this arrangement lasts no longer than one season.
2016 / ROC Charleroi-Marchienne changes its name, coming back once again to the old and more straightforward Royal Olympic Club de Charleroi.
2019 / ROC Charleroi merges with R Châtelet-Farciennes, resulting in the foundation of R Olympic Charleroi-Châtelet-Farciennes (ROCCF), once again retaining matricule 246 and keeping first team football at Stade de la Neuville (Farciennes' Stade des Marais being relegated to the club's C ground as Marchienne's Stade Communal remains in use).
2020 / Incredibly, yet in a way predictably, R Olympic Charleroi-Châtelet-Farciennes changes its name to become R Olympic Club de Charleroi - the fourth time in club history that this old name is reinstated.
2022 / With part of the professional side's B teams being integrated in the Belgian football pyramid, RSC du Pays de Charleroi's U21 team qualifies for Amateur Division 1, the third tier of Belgian football. Home matches are played at Stade de la Neuville.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of three different visits: pictures 1-7 = non-matchday visit, July 2010 / pictures 8-23 = match visit, February 2012 / pictures 24-43 = match visit, August 2013. No pictures of my first match visit in 2007 have been included.