R. Charleroi S.C.

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Charleroi Sporting
100px
Full name Royal Charleroi Sporting Club
Nickname(s) Les Zèbres (The Zebras),
Les Carolos
Founded January 1, 1904; 120 years ago (1904-01-01)
Ground Stade du Pays de Charleroi,
Charleroi
Ground Capacity 14,000[1]
Chairman Fabien Debecq[2]
Managing Director Mehdi Bayat
Head Coach Felice Mazzu
League Belgian Pro League
2014–15 Belgian Pro League, 6th
Current season

Royal Charleroi Sporting Club (RCSC) (often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, or by their nickname Les Zèbres (The Zebras)) is a Belgian football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League and their current spell at the highest level in Belgian football has started in the 1985–86 season. Charleroi was founded in 1904 and they first reached the first division in 1947–48. Their highest finish was runner-up in the 1968–69 season. They have also twice reached the Belgian Cup final, losing in 1977–78 to Beveren and in 1992–93 to Standard Liège.

Sporting Charleroi have a long-standing rivalry with city other club ROC de Charleroi-Marchienne, currently playing in the third division. Charleroi play their home matches at the Stade du Pays de Charleroi, which was refurbished for the UEFA Euro 2000. The stadium hosted 3 group stage games in the Euro 2000 among which the 1–0 victory of England against Germany. Charleroi have been recruiting several French players in recent years, including Michaël Ciani, Cyril Théréau and goalkeeper Bertrand Laquait.

History

Charleroi Sporting Club was founded in 1904 and they received the matricule n°22. Twenty years after their foundation, they qualified to play in the Promotion (then the second level in Belgian football) and in 1929, the club changed its name to Royal Charleroi Sporting Club. Rivals from Olympic Charleroi were playing in the first division in the late 1930s and the 1940s, while Sporting Charleroi was playing one level down, until they promoted in 1947. In 1949, Sporting Charleroi finished 4th (2 points behind Standard Liège) whereas Olympic Charleroi was 14th. But Olympic took the lead again until 1955 and their relegation to the second division. At the end of the 1956–57 season, Olympic Charleroi had promoted to the first division but Sporting Charleroi finished last in the first division and was thus relegated to the second division. A spell of 9 seasons in the second division followed and in 1966–67 Sporting Charleroi was back at the top level. They finished at the second place in 1968–69 5 points behind Standard Liège but within two years they were relegated again.

In 1974 the first division was changing from 16 to 20 teams and Sporting Charleroi was chosen to play at the top level. Olympic Charleroi promoted too as they had won the second division right before but they remained at the top level for just one season. Sporting underwent a new relegation in 1979–80 (17th on 18) but was back five years later. Their best result since then in the first division is a 4th place in 1993–94. In September 2005, the G-14 took FIFA to court over the 8-month injury incurred by Abdelmajid Oulmers whilst on international duty with Morocco.

Colours and badge

The colours of Charleroi are black and white with a shirt generally striped, which lead to the team being nicknamed The Zebras.

Stadium

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The actual ground was baptized in 1939 with a match Sporting-Union du Centre and it was located near the coal mine named Mambourg. In 1985 the stadium was slightly modernized as the club had qualified for the first division. It was then heavily renewed in the late 1990s in view of the 2000 European Football Championship. The name changed on May 24, 1999 from Stade du Mambourg to Stade du Pays de Charleroi. During the tournament, the full capacity of the stadium was up to 30,000 seats. The Stade du Pays de Charleroi hosted notably the match between Germany and England. The highest stand was eventually reduced and the capacity is now 16,000.

Honours

European record

Overview

Correct as of December 2008

Competition Played W D L GF GA
UEFA Cup 2 1 0 1 2 3
UEFA Intertoto Cup 10 3 3 4 11 11
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 4 3 0 1 8 5
TOTAL 16 7 3 6 21 19

Matches

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1R Croatia Zagreb 2–1 3–1 5–2
2R France FC Rouen 3–1 0–2 3–3(a)
1994–95 UEFA Cup 1R Romania Rapid Bucureşti 2–1 0–2 2–3
1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup Group 10 Israel Beitar Jerusalem N/A 1–0 3rd
Turkey Bursaspor 0–2 N/A
Slovakia FC Košice N/A 2–3
England Wimbledon 3–0 N/A
1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup Group 4 Denmark Silkeborg IF 2–4 N/A 3rd
Wales Conwy United N/A 0–0
Poland Zagłębie Lubin 0–0 N/A
Austria SV Ried N/A 3–1
2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup 2R Finland Tampere United 0–0 0–1 0–1
2015–16 UEFA Europa League 2Q Israel Beitar Jerusalem 5–1 4–1 9–2
3Q Ukraine Zorya Luhansk 0–2 0–3 0–5

Players

Current squad

As of 26 May 2015

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 France GK Nicolas Penneteau
15 Belgium GK Valentin Baume
35 Democratic Republic of the Congo GK Parfait Mandanda

3 France DF Steeven Willems
5 France DF Benjamin Boulenger
6 Republic of Macedonia DF Gjoko Zajkov (on loan from Rennes)
8 Spain DF Martos
17 Greece DF Stergos Marinos
22 Belgium DF Guillaume François
24 Belgium DF Dorian Dessoleil
41 Republic of the Congo DF Francis N'Ganga (Captain)

7 France MF Clément Tainmont
No. Position Player
13 Senegal MF Christophe Diandy
18 Senegal MF Amara Baby
19 Angola MF Clinton Mata
20 Belgium MF Jessy Gálvez López
23 Belgium MF Karel Geraerts
25 France MF Damien Marcq
28 Belgium MF Enes Saglik
88 Democratic Republic of the Congo MF Dieumerci Ndongala
Peru MF Cristian Benavente

9 France FW Florent Stevance
10 Belgium FW David Pollet
21 France FW Jeremy Perbet
45 Belgium FW Roman Ferber

Out on loan

For recent transfers, see List of Belgian football transfers winter 2013–14, List of Belgian football transfers summer 2014.

Coaches

References

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External links