Union Royale Sportive Lixhe Visé, commonly known as URSL Visé, is a Belgian football club based in Visé, Liège Province. The club play their home games at Stade de la Cité de l'Oie.[2] The club colours, reflected in their crest and kits, are white, red and blue. Formed in 1927 as a merger between to local clubs, the club has spent most of its existence in the provincial tiers.

URSL Visé

Full name	Union Royale Sportive Lixhe Visé
Founded	22 October 1927; 94 years ago (1927-10-22)
Ground	Stade de la Cité de l'Oie, Visé
Capacity	5,460[1]
Chairman	Guy Thiry
Manager	José Riga
League	Belgian National Division 1
2021–22	Belgian National Division 1, 8th of 15
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

History

The club was formed on 22 October 1927 when two clubs not affiliated to the Royal Belgian Football Association (KBVB) (Bleus clairs and Bleus foncés) merged and continued under the name Union Sainte-Brigitte Football Club.[3] On 21 November 1928, the club joined the KBVB.

On 6 August 1929, the name was changed to Union Sportive Lixhe. On 17 May 1945 the name was changed again: they would continue under the name Sporting Union Lixhe-Lanaye. On 5 November 1953, the club was given royal status and its name was changed to Union Royal Sports Lixhe-Lanaye on 26 November 1953.[3]

For a long time, the club spent an anonymous existence in the regional tiers of the Liège Province. Until the 2013–14 season, where the club won four consecutive promotions – three championships and one play-offs win – to reach the Belgian Third Division.[3]

After the bankruptcy of local rivals CS Visé in 2014,[4] the club was relocated to the main stadium in Visé, the 5,460 capacity Stade de la Cité de l'Oie.[5] In order to give this move more weight, the name was changed to Union Royale Sportive Lixhe Visé on 1 July 2016.[3][6] In 2017, the club was promoted from the provincial series to the Belgian Third Division and finished second behind FC Tilleur, thereby promoting to the second amateur division.[7] The following year, they again entered the play-offs for promotion, in which they beat Oudenaarde and Ronse, which secured their sixth promotion in a row.[8][9][10] Thereby, URSL Visé would compete in the highest amateur division, the Belgian third-tier First Amateur Division for the first time in club history for the 2019–20 season.

In December 2019, the club managed to sign former Belgian international Jonathan Legear.[11][12]

Honours

• Belgian Second Amateur Division:
  • Runners-up (1): 2018–19
• Belgian Third Amateur Division:
  • Runners-up (1): 2017–18
• Première Provinciale Liège:
  • Runners-up (1): 2016–17
• Deuxième Provinciale Provinciale Liège:
  • Winners (1): 2015–16
• Troisième Provinciale Provinciale Liège:
  • Winners (1): 2014–15
• Quatrième Provinciale Provinciale Liège B:
  • Winners (1): 2013–14

Current squad

As of 11 August, 2022. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  BEL Maxime Mignon 4 DF  BEL Reno Wilmots 6 DF  MAR Karim Essikal 7 FW  BEL Grégory Perseo 8 MF  BEL Alexandro Cavagnera 9 FW  GUI Yady Bangoura 10 MF  BEL Alessio Cascio 13 MF  MAR Ayoub El Harrak 14 MF  BEL Thomas Englebert 15 DF  BEL Noah Putz 16 GK  BEL Arthur Cremer 17 MF  BEL Karim El Khattoutii

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  CIV Cédric N'Guessan 19 FW  BEL Hugo Gilon 20 MF  BEL Sam Sylla 21 GK  BEL Benjamin Thomé 22 MF  BEL Nicolas Gerits 23 DF  BEL Jonathan Hendrickx 27 DF  BEL Axel Bonemme 28 MF  COD Miguel Quintais 29 MF  BEL Marten Wilmots 30 FW  BEL Jonathan Legear 39 DF  FRA Guillaume Dequaire — DF  MAR Faycal Rherras

References