Extreme Football Tourism: BELGIUM: RCS Xhorisien

Friday, 21 July 2023

BELGIUM: RCS Xhorisien

Stade Jean Bonfond, Xhoris (RCS Xhorisien)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

21 VII 2023 / RCS Xhorisien - R Aywaille FC 3-3 / Pre-season friendly

Timeline

1927 / Foundation of a football club in Xhoris, which is given the name Saint-Martin Xhoris FC. The club joins a local league association, the so-called Ligue de l’Aisne.
1929 / Saint-Martin Xhoris FC joins the official Belgian FA, receiving matricule 1808 upon being accepted as new members.
1931 / The club changes its name to become Cercle Sportif (CS) Xhorisien.
1956 / CS Xhorisien acquires the royal epithet, thus becoming Royal Cercle Sportif (RCS) Xhorisien.
± 1975 / RCS Xhorisien settles at its current ground, named after Jean Bonfond, the club chairman at the time, who was the spiritual father of the move to a new ground.
2009 / With the performance of the club in the first 80 years of its existence being nebulous – although it probably never reached higher than Liège’s Provincial League 2 –, RCS Xhorisien now wins the title in Provincial League 4E with a 4 point advantage over RC Vaux-Chaudfontaine, thus acceding to Provincial League 3.
2012 / Having finished runners-up in Provincial League 3 in the two previous seasons (behind R Skill FC d’Ivoz-Ramet and R Ougrée FC respectively), RCS Xhorisien now storms to first place in Provincial League 3B with an advantage of 11 points over closest followers R Fraiture Sports. The club thus accedes to Provincial League 2.
2019 / RCS Xhorisien manages a 4th place in Provincial League 2A, but it is unclear if the club played promotion play-offs as a result. Also in 2019, Inauguration of a synthetic surface on pitch 2 of Stade Jean Bonfond.
2022 / Finishing in fourth place in Provincial League 2A, RCS Xhorisien qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated in R1 by REH Braives.
2024 / Finishing in third place in Provincial League 2C, RCS Xhorisien qualifies for the play-offs, successively defeating KFC Olympia Recht (1-0) and KFC Weywertz (4-0) to qualify for the final round with RFC Croatia Wandre and Etoile de Faimes - in which the first match is played (a convincing 3-0 win over RFC Croatia Wandre), upon which the following matches in the three-way competition are suspended due to extra promotion places being available for all three clubs.