FC Schaerbeek (Belgium)

Football Club Schaerbeek is an amateur football club from the Schaerbeek district of the Belgian capital of Brussels. Although the club lay claim to have been originally formed in 1934, there is far more than meets the eye; as is common with many mergers in the country.

The current club actually came into being in 2014 as Renaissance Club Schaerbeek, but there is a lot of history and heritage belonging to those clubs, as well as the current stadium, which are part of the story.

Royal Cercle Sportif de Schaerbeek

The major club in the district for many years were Royal Cercle Sportif de Schaerbeek, who had been formed on May 29^th 1912 progressing to the second level of national football for the 1922-23 season and playing at Crossingstadion or Stade du Crossing.

In 1926 Cercle found themselves in the Third Division before winning the league title in 1929-30 and winning promotion. The club maintained their Second Division place before being relegated once again in 1946-47.

In 1959-60 the club dropped down a further step before becoming champions of Vierde Klasse B to make the step up, before returning two campaigns later. At the completion of the  1967-68 the club dropped down to Brabant Provincial football.

A year later Cercle merged with Royal Crossing Club Molenbeek to become Royal Crossing Club de Schaerbeek and taking Crossing’s position in the league. RCC Molenbeek had been originally formed as Crossing FC Ganshoren in 1913.

Royal Crossing Club de Schaerbeek

Crossing had finished the 1968-69 season in second place in the Second Division; with the newly merged club finding themselves playing in the First Division at Crossingstadion; which was extended to accommodate the crowds.

The club struggled along in the top tier Division One before being relegated in 1972-73. Further relegations were suffered in 1974-75, 1979-80 and 1982-83 leaving the club playing in Brabant Provincial class football.

In the summer of 1983, Royal Crossing Club de Schaerbeek moved to the town of Elewijt to become known as Royal Crossing Elewijt. In 1991 Crossing would merge with another local club; VV Elewijt to become KVV Crossing Elewijt.

Racing Club de Schaerbeek

In 1968 Racing Club de Schaerbeek was born, playing in the lower divisions of Brabant provincial football until finding success from 2007. Promotions in 2006-07 and 2009-10 elevated Racing to the second level of Brabant Provincial football.

In 2011-12 yet another promotion arrived at the club to elevate the team into the 1ère Provinciale league. The side came close to promotion on a couple of occasions before being relegated in 2013-14, where the club merged with Renaissance Club Schaerbeek.

SK Terjoden-Welle

As was mentioned at the top of this page, Renaissance claim that their heritage goes back to 1934. However, that was the date that SK Terjoden was created in the district of Terjoden in Aalst.

The club played in Van Roystadion, which was shared with FCV Dender EH. The team played in the lower divisions of provincial football for many years, going on to win the fourth level provincial league before winning another promotion the following season.

A further elevation came as Terjoden secured a spot in the top tier of the area provincial competition in 2003. At that point a neighbouring club, SK Welle appeared on the scene and merged to form SK Terjoden-Welle.

In 2007-08 and 2008-09 the club came close to winning promotion to national football, but fell at the final hurdle in the play-offs. The team went on to win their league the following season to win promotion to the national fourth Vierde Klasse.

Finances became an issue for SK Terjoden-Welle at their higher grade. A merger with FCV Dender EH came close to going through before it was decided to sell the club license to RC de Schaerbeek in the Spring of 2014, who proceeded to moved Terjoden-Welle to Brussels and rename them Renaissance Club Schaerbeek.

Crossingstadion/Stade du Crossing – Gemeentestadion

While all the shenanigans involving closures, mergers and displacements was going on, the stadium that had been home to Royal Cercle Sportif de Schaerbeek and their successors Royal Crossing Club de Schaerbeek before laying empty from 1983.

It was used occasionally including a Bob Dylan concert in 1984, while several amateur sides sometimes played matches inside. However, the stands and buildings fell into decline because of a lack of maintenance since the mid 1970’s.

The stands were closed and the parts of the buildings were forbidden to use. In 2009 a plan was made for a large scale renovation. A modernized sports complex was built; of which two stands were maintained.

The other side opened open to the rest of the sports facilities in the park. The newly renamed Gemeentestadion was opened with a capacity of 7,500. On December 2nd 2012 the stadium was opened with Racing Club de Schaerbeek and Crossing Schaerbeek using the venue for home games.

Renaissance/Football Club Schaerbeek

Renaissance took the league placement of SK Terjoden-Welle in the fourth tier of national football before being relegated in 2014-15 to the 1ère Provinciale; the top level of provincial football in Brabant.

The club struggled in both 2015-16 and 2016-17 with two finishes just above the relegation zone while playing at the Gemeentestadion as Crossingstadion had been renamed before ending second from bottom in 2017-18.

In the summer of 2018 the club changed their title to FC Schaerbeek, going on to lift the Serie A title of 2ère Provinciale Brabant ACFF/BXL in 2018-19 before finishing the 2019-20 1ère Provinciale season in twelfth place when it ended early after the COVID-19 outbreak.


My visit

Saturday 19^th August 2017

I’d just arrived in Brussels from my visit to Liége for the Standard home game the previous evening. I’d prepared a list of venues that I wanted to visit over the long weekend and had considered heading straight to my hotel to check in. However, I had a Plan B.

As I was already at Centraal Station I thought it a bit of a waste not to set off and buy my 48 hour travel pass on a MOBIB card from the Metro station kiosk. I dropped my rucksack off in the left luggage lockers and set out on my adventures.

Fortunately for me, the buses departed from outside the Metro station. I soon located my stop and awaited the number 66 bus north east, past my hotel; giving me a handy sighter, and through the streets to Crossing.

I alighted on the corner of Avenue Louis Bertrand and Avenue Voltaire, where there was a police presence ahead of an event in the adjacent Parc Josaphat. Going over the railway bridge I was soon outside the large venue with its imposing end stand.

Both Crossing and Racing had separate offices and clubhouses in the rear of the stand, which looked like its upper tier had gone since the big match days. The gates weren’t open to head inside, but I wasn’t to be beaten.

A walk down the park side took me to a gate which offered an excellent view of an impressive stadium. The far end had terracing in front of the offices, while the far side had a raised seating deck running the full length of the pitch.

The artificial pitch continued behind the near goal to provide a practice area, while the open side had a few steps of open terracing, where I presume a stand once stood in the 70’s? The local authorities had dome a magnificent job of keeping the venue alive and fit for modern football.

I headed off through Parc Josaphat, where sound checks were underway as I looked to find the far end and take a look at the Stade Chazal home of FC Kosova Schaerbeck.