Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RAFC Cobreville

Friday 21 July 2023

BELGIUM: RAFC Cobreville

Stade Jean Goosse, Cobreville (RAFC Cobreville)

Belgium, province: Luxembourg

21 VII 2023 / RAFC Cobreville - RUC Bras 0-4 / Belgian Luxembourg, Provincial Cup

Timeline

1928 / Foundation of a first football club in the villages of Nives and Cobreville, which is given the name Alliance Cobreville. Upon applying for membership of Belgium’s FA, the club acquires matricule 1292. It is as yet unclear where Alliance Cobreville’s ground was situated.
1929 / Alliance Cobreville is placed in the so-called Competion Spéciale Série F, competing against the likes of US Gouvy, ES Bourcy, JS Bastogne, Excelsior Club Bastogne, and Union Burettoise. In the following year, the club accedes to Belgian Luxembourg’s regular provincial leagues, being placed in the bottom league, Division 3 (renamed Provincial League 3 later on).
1934 / After an existence of barely 6 years, Alliance Cobreville folds, ceasing all activities.
1939 / Refoundation of Alliance Cobreville under the slightly adapted name FC Alliance Cobreville. The club joins Belgium’s FA, obtaining matricule 2802. FC Alliance Cobreville’s ground was situated on the eastern outskirts of the village, at Route de Remoiville. It is as yet unclear when the club moved to its current ground at Chemin de Martelange, but it might have been around the year 1975.
1954 / After an existence of 15 years, in which the club only fielded a first time in one season, FC Alliance Cobreville folds, ceasing all activities.
1957 / At the instigation of former club chairman Georges Cornette, FC Alliance Cobreville is refounded under the slightly adapted name Alliance Football Club (AFC) Cobreville. The club is accepted as new FA member under matricule 6040. With the exception of the 1966-67 season, the new club fields a first team in Provincial League 3 each year.
1977 / In the best season in club history, AFC Cobreville finishes in 3rd place in Belgian Luxembourg’s Provincial League 3C behind RC Longlier and ES Saint-Pierre. In its history, AFC Cobreville never climbed out of the bottom division of Belgian Luxembourg’s league pyramid.
1993 / Tracing its origins to the foundation of FC Alliance Cobreville in 1934, Alliance FC Cobreville successfully applies for the royal epithet, thus adapting its name to become Royale Alliance Football Club (RAFC) Cobreville.
2001 / Usually among the bottom clubs in Provincial League 3, RAFC Cobreville has an excellent campaign, resulting in 5th place in P3C.
2008 / RAFC Cobreville’s ground at Chemin de Martelange is renamed Stade Jean Goosse to honour long-time club president Jean Goosse.
2014 / Jean Goosse, president of the club during two spells (1994-96, 1999-2014), passes away at the age of 83.
2020 / A new clubhouse is erected at Stade Jean Goosse; simultaneously, the surface of the ground’s only pitch, which had a considerable slope, is levelled.