Royal Ixelles Sports Club is a sports club from the municipality of Ixelles in the south of the Belgian capital of Brussels that was formed in 1909. The club has departments for tennis and hockey as well as football.
An earlier club, Ixelles Sporting Club, was formed in 1894 and participated in the first ever Belgian national championship in 1895-96 as Sporting Club de Bruxelles after changing their title in 1895.
That club was dissolved in 1897, while a new club, Club Athlétique Corpore Sana d'Ixelles, was formed in 1909. In 1926, the club changed their name to Ixelles Sporting Club and joined the national Third Division.
The club dropped down to Brabant Provincial football in 1929 before returning to the national series just twelve months later. In 1931-32, the team was relegated once again before the club changed their name to Royal Ixelles Sporting Club in 1935.
Ixelles managed to finish in third place in the Third Division in 1943-44 and 1945-46 before dropping to mid-table positions. From 1951-52, the leagues were restructured in Belgium with the introduction of fourth-tier Promotion Divisions, with Ixelles dropping into that level.
At the end of the 1955-56 campaign, Ixelles were relegated to provincial football before returning to the fourth tier in 1961-62. The 1966-67 season saw the club land back in regional football, from where further demotions saw Ixelles in the fourth provincial level.
In 2009-10, RSC Ixelles won the 4 Provinciale E title and promotion. A third-place finish in Série B of the third tier followed for the following four seasons, before they lifted the league title in 2014-15.
A couple of mid-table finishes for RSC Ixelles helped consolidate their league status in the second tier, before the club was elevated to the top level of provincial football for the 2017-18 campaign, where they ended in seventh place.
The position was replicated in 2018-19 before ending one position higher when the 2019-20 season was called off early owing to the outbreak of COVID-19. Once things returned to normal, David Jannsen took charge of the team for the 2021-22 season, before he was replaced by Didier Wittebole, as eleventh place was achieved.
Relegation was avoided on goal difference the following season, for Ixelles to retain its sixth-tier status, which was improved upon in 2023-24. However, the side was relegated twelve months later to the 2 Provinciale, as Laurent Vantilborgh took over as manager.
Royal Ixelles Sports Club will play in the 2 Provinciale A Brabant in the 2020-21 season.
My visit
Sunday 20th August 2017
My Sunday morning in Brussels had got away to a smooth start as I’d already visited the fine Stade Guy Thys home of RRC Etterbeek before I walked down the road to take the number 7 tram at the Arsenal stop to Gare Etterbeek.
Crossing the road, I soon found the bus stop for the number 95 service on Avenue de la Couronne. The bus took me south before I alighted at Relais. A short walk down Rue Volta took me to the entrance of the grandly named Centre Sportif Albert Demuyter.
It was a fantastic sports venue, with a large indoor sports centre as well as outdoor facilities for hockey and numerous clay tennis courts. The home of Ixelles was an artificial pitch with a fine grandstand down one side.
There was also a little open terracing down the stand side, as well as some hard flat standing areas on the opposite side and behind the far goal. The near end had a children’s playground behind a high wire fence. There was something there for everyone.
I returned via the same route to catch the number 95 a few stops further south, where I would be in for a real treat at the Stade Trois Tilleuls.
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