BELGIUM: Cosmo Waremme (1972?-2010?) / R Stade Waremmien FC (B) (2013-2023, 2023-2024) / R Stade Waremmien FC (2023)

Stade Edmond Leburton terrain 2 "Le Cosmo", Waremme = Borgworm (R Stade Waremmien FC, formerly Cosmo Waremme / B ground of R Stade Waremmien FC)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

22 VIII 2023 / R Stade Waremmien FC B - RCS Verlaine B 0-2 / Liège, Provincial League 2A (= BE level 7)

Timeline

• 1921 / Foundation of a new football club in Waremme, which is given the name Stade Waremmien FC.
• 1922 / A year following its foundation, Stade Waremmien FC joins Belgium’s Football Association. The club moves into its first ground, Stade Longchamps.
• 1972 / Having played at Stade Longchamps for 50 years, the club now moves away to Stade Edmond Leburton, situated closer to the town centre. Contrary to its predecessor, the new stadium is owned by Waremme’s municipality – and its construction has been commissioned by the town's socialist council who named after its longtime socialist mayor (1947-87) who even briefly served as Belgium's prime minister (1973-74). Simultaneously, on the northern side of the new stadium, a pitch is put in place for the benefit of local recreational clubs, including Cosmo Waremme, which is sponsored by a local café, named Cosmos; another local recreational club making use of the pitch was FC Champanette. Moreover, not far from the new stadium, at Site Haute-Wegge, new training facilities are built for R Stade Waremmien around the same time. In spite of the new facilities having been put in place, the pitch at Stade Longchamps remains in use for lower team football and training purposes in the following decades.
• 2010 / In the summer of 2010, major renovation works get underway at Stade Edmond Leburton, involving, most importantly, the construction of a clubhouse, the removal of the gravel track around the main pitch, and the putting in place of a synthetic surface on that same pitch. Unable to use the ground in the meantime, R Stade Waremmien moves its first team football (back) to Stade Longchamps. 
• 2011 / While the renovation works at Stade Edmond Leburton are ongoing, the pitch previously used by the meanwhile defunct recreational club Cosmo Waremme, is sown anew.
• 2012 / Inauguration of the renovated Stade Edmond Leburton, with its new clubhouse and 3G pitch on January 21st, 2012. The club abandons Stade Longchamps. 
• 2013 / Two years after having been sown anew, Terrain Cosmo – officially known from now on as Stade Leburton terrain A2 – is taken in use by R Stade Waremmien for lower team football and training sessions. 
• 2023 / Due to the artificial pitch in Stade Edmond Leburton having suffered due to its extensive use for matches and training sessions, it is deemed unsuitable for match purposes by Belgium’s FA. As a result, R Stade Waremmien has to play several of its home matches at the end of the 2022-23 season and the beginning of the 2023-24 season at the ground’s side pitch, Le Cosmo. By mid-September 2023, the club moved its first team football to its old ground, Stade Longchamps, while awaiting the commencement of works on the repair of the artificial pitch at Stade Leburton, which is meanwhile used only for training sessions.
• 2024 / Upon completion of the works on the artificial pitch in November 2024, first team football returns to the Stade Edmond Leburton. 

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

LUXEMBOURG: FC Marisca Mersch (1989-)

Terrain Schintgespesch, Mersch (FC Marisca Mersch)

Luxembourg, canton: Mersch

20 VIII 2023 / FC Marisca Mersch - FC Wiltz 71 1-1 / National Division (= LUX level 1)

Timeline

• 1908 / Foundation of football club FC Marisca Mersch. Most probably, the club started its life at a ground at Rue des Prés. 
• 1940 / After Germany’s invasion of Luxembourg, occupation authorities pursued an aggressive Germanisation campaign, involving – amongst other things – all football clubs having to take on a fully German name. As such, FC Marisca Mersch was renamed Fussballklub (FK) Mersch.
• 1944 / Following the liberation of Luxembourg by the Allies, the old club name FC Marisca Mersch is reinstated.
• 1989 / A new main pitch is created for FC Marisca Mersch on an open field near the village centre, Terrain Schintgespesch – no more than a stone’s throw away from the old ground. Terrain Rue des Prés is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
• 2013 / FC Marisca Mersch wins the title in Division 1 Série 1, 3 points ahead of FC Blue Boys Muhlenbach-Sandžak, thus acceding to Promotion d’Honneur for the first time in 50 years. The stay at this level does not last long, though, with relegation following straightaway in 2014.
• 2020 / In the 2019-20 season, broken off in March 2020 due to the COVID lockdown, FC Marisca Mersch is declared winner of Division 1 Série 1 – not unfairly, given that the club managed to build up an 8-point lead over closest followers FC Atert Bissen. As such, the club is placed in Promotion d’Honneur for the new season.
• 2023 / Finishing runners-up in Promotion d’Honneur behind FC Schifflange 95, FC Marisca Mersch, coached by Mickail Zaritski, accedes to the top flight of Luxembourg’s football pyramid for the first time ever. Moreover, the club also reaches the final of the nationwide cup following defeats of CS Sanem, FC Syra Mensdorf, FC Luxembourg City, FC Wiltz 71, and US Mondorf-les-Bains. In the final, played at Stade du Luxembourg, the club loses 4-2 against FC Differdange 03, with Mersch’s goals being scored by Joel Rodrigues da Cruz and Frédéric Thill.
• 2024 / Unable to hold its own in the National Division, FC Marisca Mersch finishes in second-last position, dropping back into Promotion d'Honneur along with bottom club FC Schifflange 95 and play-off victim UN Käerjeng 97.

Note - Non-matchday photos date back to April 2011.

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

BELGIUM: R Entente Engissoise (1925-1993) / R Alliance Engis-Flémalle (B) (1993-1999) / RSC Entité Engis (1999-2017) / Football Académie d'Engis (2017-2023) / RRC Stockay-Warfusée (B) (2023-2024) / R Stockay Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse (2024-) / Engis FC (2025-)

Stade des Fagnes, Engis (Football Académie d'Engis & B ground of RRC Stockay-Warfusée, formerly R Entente Engissoise / B ground of R Alliance Engis-Flémalle / RSC Entité Engis)

Belgium, province: Liège = Luik

19 VIII 2023 / RRC Stockay-Warfusée B - RFC Warnant B 1-5 / Liège, Provincial League 3A (= BE level 8)

Timeline

• 1925 / Foundation of a football club in Engis, Entente Engissoise. The club joins Belgium’s FA and starts its life in Liège’s provincial divisions. It is unclear if the club played at Stade des Fagnes from the outset.
• 1926 / Upon the introduction of registration numbers by the Belgian Football Association, Entente Engissoise acquires number 525.
• 1980 / Entente Engissoise obtains the royal epithet, thus becoming Royale Entente Engissoise.
• 1993 / After an independent existence of 68 years, in which the club never reached the national divisions, R Entente Engissoise concludes a merger with Alliance FC Flémalle (registration number 7762, founded in 1972), resulting in the foundation of Royale Alliance Engis-Flémalle, which retains Engis’ registration number 525. First team football moves to Alliance’s Terrain Profondval in Flémalle-Grande, while Engis’ ground at Rue des Fagnes is retained for lower team football and training sessions.
• 1999 / Following a conflict with Flémalle’s municipal authorities, the board of R Alliance Engis-Flémalle withdraws from Terrain Profondval in Flémalle-Grande. Initially a new merger is planned, this time with Hermalle SC (registration number 9260), but this scheme falls through when it transpires that Hermalle finds itself heavily indebted. In the end, R Alliance Engis-Flémalle takes on the name Royal Sport Club (RSC) Entité Engis, moving back to Stade des Fagnes in Engis proper.
• 2012 / Finishing 6th in Liège’s Provincial League 3A, RSC Entité Engis qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it is eliminated by Etoile de Faimes in R1 (4-0).
• 2013 / Finishing runners-up in P3A behind RFC Jehaytois, RSC Entité Engis qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which it eliminates JS Kemexhe Crisnée in R1 (5-3) and RES Wanze in R2 (1-3) to reach the final. In that final, however, the club is defeated 2-0 by Stade Disonais B (2-0); in a subsequent lucky-loser play-off, Engis defeats RFC Heusy-Rouheid (1-2), thus eventually winning promotion to P2 through the backdoor.
• 2017 / In its last season as an independent club, in which it never reached the national divisions, RSC Entité Engis finishes 5th in Provincial League 2A. In the subsequent promotion play-offs, Engis defeats ESFC du Geer in an away tie in R1 (1-1 and a penalty shoot-out) and R Union Momalloise in R2 (2-1) to qualify for the final, in which it edges past R Aubel FC at Aubel's Stade Communal (0-0 and penalty shoot-out), thus winning promotion to Provincial League 1. Following the 2016-17 season, RSC Entité Engis concludes a merger with R Union Flémalloise, resulting in the foundation of R Union Flémalle, with Flémalloise’s registration number 2874 being retained; Engis’ number 525 is erased from the Belgian FA’s official lists. For the time being, while a new infrastructure is being constructed on the pitches of the former R Mons FC at Rue Jean-Louis Adam, first team football moves to Stade Robert Lecomte in Ivoz-Ramet, while lower team football and most training sessions take place at Terrain du Beau-Site in Flémalle-Haute. The Stade des Fagnes in Engis is abandoned to make way for a new club which is founded locally, Football Académie (FA) d’Engis, which joins Belgium’s FA receiving registration number 9681. The new club’s first team starts its life in Liège’s Provincial League 4A, finishing 9th in the 2017-18 season.
• 2021 / National league club RRC Stockay-Warfusée from nearby Stockay concludes a deal with FA Engis about the use of its ground for its first team football for a short while following a spell of bad weather which has rendered the main pitch of Stockay’s own ground at Rue Joseph Wauters unplayable. For similar reasons, in the second half of the 2022-23 season, Stockay again moves two home matches of its first team to Engis.
• 2023 / FA Engis concludes a partnership agreement with RRC Stockay-Warfusée, whereby Engis’ youth academy continues under the flag of Stockay at Stade des Fagnes. FA Engis itself retains just its first team in Provincial League 4. Moreover, Stockay’s B team, which plays its football in Liège’s Provincial League 3, moves its home matches to Stade des Fagnes as well.
• 2024 / Having withdrawn its first team from P4B before the start of the 2023-24 season, FA Engis officially folds in 2024, ceasing all activities. That same year, RRC Stockay-Warfusée changes its name to become R Stockay Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse. Also in 2024, a groundsharer settles down at the Stades des Fagnes, FC Les Oranges de Liège, a young club, founded in 2022 (registration number 9783), which had spent the first two seasons of its existence sharing the pitch of RJS Chênéenne at Rue Sart-Moray. However, rather than playing its football on the main pitch in Engis, FC Les Oranges de Liège uses the grass pitch on the other side of the club house for its first team matches.
• 2025 / Finishing bottom of the table in Liège's Provincial League 3A, R Stockay Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse B descends into Provincial League 4 along with the team in second-last place, RFC Hannutois B. In the bottom division, Stockay B meets a new club from Engis, Engis Football Club (FC), which acquires membership of Belgium's FA with registration number 9835. Engis FC shares the facilities at Rue des Fagnes with Stockay's youth academy and lower teams.
• 2026 / Runner-up in Liège's Provincial League 4A, 10 points behind runaway champions JS Racour-Lincent, R Stockay Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse B qualifies for the promotion play-offs, in which the club edges past near-groundsharers FC Les Oranges de Liège in R1 (1-1 A.E.T. & penalty shoot-out), only to suffer defeat in R2 against RFC Vaux-Borset (1-1 A.E.T. & penalty shoot-out).

Note 1 - The match I attended at Stade des Fagnes was nearly called off by the referee due to the goal nets at both ends being in a deplorable state. Following Belgian FA regulations, he accorded the home side 30 minutes to repair the damage - and gave the all-clear after 29 of those 30 minutes. As such, the match kicked off at 8.30pm instead of 8pm.

Note 2 - Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-2 & 4 = non-matchday visit, August 2021 / pictures 3 & 5-17 = match visit, August 2023.

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