Extreme Football Tourism: FRANCE: US Bruaysienne (1933-1971) / USO Bruay-en-Artois (1971-1987) / USO Bruay-la-Buissière (1987-)

Stade Vélodrome, Bruay-la-Buissière Labuissière (USO Bruay-la-Buissière, formerly US Bruaysienne / USO Bruay-en-Artois)

France, region: Nord-Pas de Calais

6 IX 2026 / USO Bruay-la-Buissière - US Gouvieux 0-2 / Ligue des Hauts-de-France, Régional 2B (= FRA level 7)

Timeline

1902 / Foundation of a football club in Bruay-en-Artois, a mining town in northern France, with the new club taking on the name Union Sportive (US) Bruaysienne. US Bruaysienne joins the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), the main sports federation in France at the time. Unfortunately, no exact information is available on the whereabouts of the ground used by the club in the first 23 years of its existence.
1919 / Not having achieved any remarkable feats in the first seventeen years of its existence, US Bruaysienne is one of the founding members of the French Football Federation – initially called FFFA, Fédération Française de Football Association.
1925 / US Bruaysienne wins promotion to the Division d’Honneur of the Ligue du Nord, at the time the highest level achievable prior to the introduction of the Championnat de France in 1927. Sources mention high spectator turnouts for matches, up to 2,000 – and even some 2,500 for a derby against Stade Béthunois FC (2-1). The year 1925 also sees the construction of a football stadium in Labuissière, the neighbour town of Bruay-en-Artois, by the Compagnie des Mines de Bruay, in the hamlet Normandie. It is unclear if US Bruaysienne made use of this Stade de Labuissière, but this is highly probable.
1928 / Works get underway on a more ambitious stadium project, with the financing largely being taken care of by the Compagnie des Mines de Bruay. On a plot of land at modern-day Rue de la Belle au Bois, in the area halfway between Labuissière and Bruay-en-Artois, a stadium is constructed to host track cycling events, immensely popular in the mining area in Northern France at the time.
1930 / Nearly 6,000 spectators attend the inauguration of the Stade Vélodrome in Labuissière on June 15th, 1930, with cycling events being held. At the time, there are no plans to host football matches at the ground.
1932 / As professional league football is introduced in France, US Bruaysienne chooses to remain an amateur club in what now effectively becomes non-league. The club manages an upset in the Coupe de France, defeating Division 2 club CS Metz in the round of last 64 (0-1), going on to suffer defeat against FC Rouen in the following round (1-0).
1933 / Moving away from its previous ground, possibly the Stade de Labuissière, US Bruaysienne moves to the Stade Vélodrome, where a football pitch has been laid out in the central area surrounded by the cycling track. This change came at a time when the Compagnie des Mines was seeking to attract the local mining population to sporting events in an attempt to lure them away politically from the leisure opportunities offered to local workers by the socialist municipal council led by Mayor Henri Cadot.
1934 / Knocking out FC Metz in the previous round (0-1), US Bruaysienne reaches the round of last 32 in the 1933-34 Coupe de France, with the club bowing out at that stage following a 2-0 defeat away at RC Roubaix. Also in 1934, the Stade Vélodrome hosts a cycling event featuring that year’s Tour de France winner, Antonin Magne. That same year, the inauguration takes place of the football pitches of the so-called Stade-Parc, later renamed Stade Roger Salengro, a stadium project in Bruay-en-Artois initiated by socialist Mayor Henri Cadot – officially inaugurated as a whole in 1936. It is unclear (to me) if US Bruaysienne, during part of its history, played its home matches at this ground – nowadays still existing, but exclusively as an athletics stadium.
1935 / Defeating SC Havrais in the previous round (0-1), US Bruaysienne reaches the last 32 of the Coupe de France, being knocked out at that stage by Division 1 side AS Cannes (1-0).
1937 / US Bruaysienne reaches the round of last 64 of the Coupe de France, suffering elimination at that stage at the hands of Division 1 side FC Rouen (5-0).
1939 / Champions in the Championnat du Nord-Pays-de-Calais, US Bruaysienne qualifies for the finals of the Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), defeating AAE École de la rue Saint-Jean (from Châteaudun, 0-3) and SM Caennais (4-1) in the group stage, going on to have the better of US Annemasse in the semifinal (played at a neutral venue in Nevers, 3-1). Thus reaching the final, US Bruaysienne travels to France’s national stadium, which at that time is the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir in Colombes, Greater Paris. The CFA final against Stade de Reims is staged as a preliminary match of the international friendly between France and Wales. On the day, Bruay has to leave the honours to their adversaries from Reims through a sole Dubois own goal (0-1). Following this successful season, Bruay’s star defender, 21-year-old Joseph Jadrejak, signs a professional league contract with Division 1 side SC Fives. Jadrejak would go on to join Lille OSC in the immediate aftermath of the war, winning four nationwide titles as well as three Coupe de France finals with this club, while also gaining 3 caps for France in 1947.
1941 / Following the German occupation of France in the previous summer, Bruay-en-Artois becomes part of the so-called forbidden zone in the north of France, with draconian travel restrictions being imposed by the oppressors. To allow league football to continue, US Bruaysienne joins a temporary league association of twelve clubs from the area concerned.
1942 / US Bruaysienne reaches the semifinal of the forbidden zone cup competition, suffering elimination at that stage at the hands of Racing Lens (0-2 A.E.T.).
1947 / A third stadium is inaugurated in Bruay-en-Artois; besides the Stade Vélodrome and the Stade-Parc, a smaller venue is created in the shape of the Stade Grossemy, completed after four years of works. In subsequent years, this ground also saw first team football of US Bruaysienne, as the Stade Vélodrome does not seem to have remained in use continuously for football, but no exact data are available about this matter.
1948 / Clinching the title in the Championnat du Nord (officially Championnat du Nord-Pays-de-Calais), US Bruaysienne once again qualifies for the Championnat de France amateurs, in which the club bows out in the group stage, finishing fifth in a group of seven, behind winners AS Orléans as well as Chamois Niortais FC, Stade Montois, and Stade Rennais UC, but ahead of SM Caennais and SO Mazamet. In a reorganisation of the non-league pyramid, US Bruaysienne is placed in the northern group of the CFA Division Nationale for the 1948-49 season, in effect the top amateur level and the third tier of France’s football pyramid below the professional Division 1 and Division 2.
1951 / Knocking out EA Guingamp in the previous round (4-0), US Bruaysienne – given as SO Bruay-en-Artois by one other source (possible name change?) – reaches the round of last 32 in the Coupe de France, suffering elimination at that stage by Olympique Marseille (4-0).
1955 / US Bruaysienne wins the title in the CFA Northern Group, with an equal number of points as US Auchel, with an inferior number of wins and with an inferior goal difference; it is unclear if Bruay was awarded the title due to its results against Auchel in the regular league or thanks to a tie-break match. In the nationwide CFA title play-offs, the club finishes in second place in a group of five, behind US Quevilly and ahead of FC Annecy, RC Vichy, and AS Giraumont. Also in 1955, US Bruaysienne reaches the round of last 32 in the Coupe de France following a win over CS Avion (2-1), with defeat following at that stage against FC Rouen (4-1).
1958 / Finishing in third-last place in the northern group of the CFA Division Nationale, US Bruaysienne descends into the Division d’Honneur of the Championnat du Nord-Pays-de-Calais, with US Maubeuge and bottom club US La Biette being the other drop-outs.
1959 / Clinching the title in the Division d’Honneur of the Championnat du Nord-Pays-de-Calais, US Bruaysienne manages a return to the CFA Division Nationale. That same season, the club also reached the round of last 32 in the Coupe de France as a result of a win over AS Cherbourg-Stella in a tie played in Dieppe (2-1), however going on to suffer a heavy defeat against powerhouses Stade de Reims with their star striker Juste Fontaine (8-0 in Amiens).
1960 / Finishing bottom of the table in the northern group of the CFA Division Nationale, US Bruaysienne drops back into the Division d’Honneur of the Championnat du Nord-Pays-de-Calais after just one season, with CSP Réhon and Olympique Saint-Quentin being the other two drop-outs. This time, the club does not manage a return to the top non-league level in one of the following years.
1969 / Following a round of renovations on the Stade Grossemy, this ground is reinaugurated as the Stade Léo Lagrange.
1971 / US Bruaysienne changes its name to become Union Sportive Ouvrière (USO) Bruay-en-Artois.
1987 / With the municipalities of Bruay-en-Artois and Labuissière merging to become Bruay-la-Buissière, USO Bruay-en-Artois changes its name to become USO Bruay-la-Buissière.
1988 / In a post-Tour de France cycling event at the Stade de Vélodrome, one of the participants is reigning world champion Francesco Moser.
1995 / Clinching the title in the Championnat du Nord-Pays-de-Calais, USO Bruay-la-Buissière wins promotion to CFA National 3, the fifth level of the French football pyramid. One source mentions that the club did not play its home matches at the Stade Vélodrome at the time, with the Complexe Léo Lagrange being mentioned as venue instead.
1996 / USO Bruay-la-Buissière holds its own in Group A of CFA National 3, finishing in tenth place in a competition of fourteen teams, 5 points above the drop zone.
1997 / Finishing in third last place in CFA National 3 Group A, USO Bruay-la-Buissière is retrograded into the Championnat du Nord-Pays-de-Calais after two seasons, with CS Château-Thierry and bottom club US Friville-Escarbotin being the two other drop-outs. It is unclear (to me) when the club moved its first team football back from the Stade Patrice Bergues to the Stade Vélodrome.
2004 / The pitch of the Stade Léo Lagrange is laid out anew with a synthetic surface, with the ground being renamed Stade Patrice Bergues upon its reinauguration.
2018 / By then having dropped back into Regional Division 4 of the Championnat du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, USO Bruay-la-Buissière is placed in Regional Division 3 of the Championnat des Hauts-de-France in a reorganisation of the non-league pyramid.
2021 / With the Stade Vélodrome undergoing major restoration works, USO Bruay-la-Buissière moves its first team football to the Stade Patrice Bergues.
2022 / In late 2022 or early 2023, with the restoration of the Stade Vélodrome having been completed, USO Bruay-la-Buissière moves its first team football back to this ground. Since then, however, whenever the state of the grass pitch at the Stade Vélodrome is deemed insufficient, first team matches are moved to the synthetic pitch of the Stade Patrice Bergues.
2025 / Clinching the title in the Championnat des Hauts-de-France Regional Division 3D, 8 points ahead of closest followers ESD Isbergues, USO Bruay-la-Buissière accedes to Regional Division 2, i.e. the seventh tier of the French football pyramid.