BELGIUM: FC Pessoux (1969-2020) / FC Saint-Martin Pessoux (2020-2025)

Terrain de la Rue du Château d'Eau, Pessoux (formerly FC Pessoux & FC Saint-Martin Pessoux)

Belgium, province: Namur = Namen

July 2025 / no match visited

Timeline

• 1969 / Foundation of a football club in Pessoux, which takes on the simple and straightforward name FC Pessoux. Upon obtaining membership of Belgium's Football Association, the club is accorded registration number 7451. Most probably, the club played its home matches at Rue du Château d'Eau right from the start.
• 1970 / FC Pessoux starts its life as a competitive club in Namur's provincial divisions. Although the first forty odd years of club history have been poorly documented, it is clear that the club once reached Namur's Provincial League 2, but that it had tumbled back into Provincial League 4 by 2008 at its latest.
• 2012 / In the best season in recent years, FC Pessoux finishes in fifth place in Namur's Provincial League 4D - going on to copy that result in the following season.
• 2016 / FC Pessoux finishes bottom of the table in Namur's Provincial League 4C with just 3 points picked up all season (3 points accorded to the club due to its opponent RFC Natoye not being able to field a team on the day) with a horrific goal difference of -256 (14-270). The nadir of the season is a 1-25 home defeat at the hands of REFC Évelette-Jallet. As a result, the club is chosen to feature in a television programme called Les Héros du Gazon, with a team of specialists being put on the team to improve its achievements for the 2016-17 season.
• 2017 / In spite of the efforts of the team of Les Héros du Gazon, FC Pessoux finishes in last place in Namur's Provincial League 4C for the second year running, this time with 6 points (goal difference: -228, 14-242). The only win of the season is achieved away at RFC Natoye (3-4), with the lowpoint being a 21-0 away defeat at RFC Yvoir.
• 2020 / In spite of the achievements of the club having improved slightly since the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, FC Pessoux finds its hard to shed off its image as the worst club in the country - so much so, that the decision is taken to change the name of the club to become FC Saint-Martin Pessoux, with Saint-Martin being the patron saint of the village.
• 2025 / FC Saint-Martin Pessoux is evicted from its ground at Rue du Château d'Eau by Ciney's municipal authorities. Citing repeated misconduct on and off the pitch as the reason for this drastic measure, the municipal council allows rugby club CRC (Ciney Rugby Club) to take over the facilities. Thus having been deprived of a pitch and a clubhouse, FC Saint-Martin Pessoux eventually finds a solution by renting the Terrain du Rond Bois in Sorée, a village some 15 km to the north of Pessoux. This ground used to belong to R Sorée FC, a club which had ceased its activities in 2022.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author