Standard Liège

Standard Liège

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Full name	Royal Standard de Liège
Nickname(s)	Les Rouches (The Reds)
Founded	1898 (1898)
Ground	Stade Maurice Dufrasne
Ground Capacity	28,272
Manager	Yannick Ferrera
League	Belgian Pro League
2014–15	Belgian Pro League, 4th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (pronounced: [stɑ̃daʁ ljɛːʒ]; Dutch: Standard Luik [ˈstɑndɑrt ˈlœy̯k]; German: Standard Lüttich [ˈstandaʁt ˈlʏtɪç] or [ˈʃtandaʁt ˈlʏtɪç]), is a Belgian football club from the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won the Belgian league on ten occasions, most recently in 2007–08 and 2008–09. They have been in the top flight without interruption since 1921, longer than any other Belgian side. They have also won six Belgian Cups, and in 1981–82 they reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup, which they lost 2–1 against Barcelona.

Standard players are nicknamed the "Rouches" because of their red jerseys. The French word for red, rouge, when pronounced with a Walloon accent, sounds like "rouche."

Flag waving in the Stade Maurice Dufrasne

History

On the first day of school in September 1898, the pupils of Collège Saint-Servais in Liège started a football club, which they called Standard of Liège in reference to Standard Athletic Club of Paris. Standard, whose official name is Royal Standard Club of Liège, was based in Cointe and Grivegnée before settling permanently in 1909 in Sclessin, an industrial neighbourhood in Liège. Standard initially joined the Belgian First League in 1909 before returning to the lower leagues a few years later. The club then gained promotion back to the top division in 1921 and has never been relegated since.

Shortly after World War II, Roger Petit, a former player and team captain, became general secretary of the club. Petit worked alongside President Henrard Paul to establish Standard among the elite of Belgian football. In 1954, Standard won their first club trophy, the Belgian Cup, which was soon followed by a first national title in 1957–58.

At European level, in the 1960s, the club reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1961–62, falling to beaten finalists Real Madrid 0–6 on aggregate, and the same stage of the Cup Winners' Cup in the year 1966–67, losing to eventual champions Bayern Munich. The 1960s and early 1970s brought much success to the club, as Standard won six Belgian First Division titles, two Belgian Cups and a League Cup.

Standard fan group, Ultras Inferno 96, celebrating their 15-year anniversary in July 2012.

Driven by the Austrian Ernst Happel, Standard won the Belgian Cup again in 1981. The following year, Raymond Goethals took control of the team. Playing by the "Raymond Science" philosophy of football, the club was twice the champions of Belgium, twice winners of the Belgian Supercup (in three appearances) and reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1982. Standard played against Barcelona in the final at the Camp Nou on 12 May 1982, losing the match 1–2 to the Spaniards.

In 1984, these exploits were tainted by the revelation of the Standard-Waterschei Affair. Just days before the match against Barcelona, to secure the championship of Belgium and guard against injuries last minute, Standard had approached Roland Janssen, the captain of Thor Waterschei, to ensure that Thor players' threw the final game of the season. This scandal involved several players, including Eric Gerets, and coach Raymond Goethals, who fled to Portugal to escape suspension. In compensation the Standard players gave their game bonuses to the Waterschei players. Following the scandal, Standard was deprived of many of its playing staff due to long-term suspensions and it took the club several years to recover from the incident.

On 6 June 1993, Standard won the Belgian Cup for the fifth time in its history, defeating Robert Waseige's Charleroi at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels. This led to another appearance in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, ending in a record 10–0 aggregate defeat to Arsenal— having lost 3–0 at Highbury in London, Standard were humiliated 0–7 in the second leg at home.

Following the scandal of 1982, it took 25 years before Standard won the Belgium Championship again, lifting the title on 20 April 2008. The club won the Belgian league again the following year, securing the club's tenth league title on 24 May 2009 after a home-and-away game against rivals Anderlecht. Standard won the national cup once more in 2011, defeating Westerlo 2–0 in the final at the King Baudouin Stadium on 21 May 2011. The club was bought by businessman Roland Duchatelet on 23 June 2011, who then took over English club Charlton in December 2013, creating an affiliation between the two clubs.

On 20 October 2014, Guy Luzon resigned as manager of Standard with the club sitting in 12th position in the Pro League standings and having taken only two points from three UEFA Europa League matches. Luzon later became head coach of Charlton. Assistant and former midfielder Ivan Vukomanović took over as caretaker-manager.

Name history

• 1898: Standard Football Club (Standard FC)
• 1899: Standard FC Liégeois (Standard FCL)
• 1910: Standard Club Liégeois (Standard CL)
• 1923: Royal Standard Club Liège (R. Standard CL)
• 1952: Royal Standard Club Liégeois (R. Standard CL)
• 1972: Royal Standard de Liège

Golden Shoe

On nine occasions, Standard players have won the Belgian Golden Shoe as the best player in the domestic league. Jean Nicolay won the award in 1963, Wilfried Van Moer in 1969 and 1970, Christian Piot in 1972, Eric Gerets in 1982, Sérgio Conceição in 2005, Steven Defour in 2007, Axel Witsel in 2008 and Milan Jovanović in 2009.

Honours

Domestic

• Belgian League

Champions (10): 1957–58, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1981–82, 1982–83, 2007–08, 2008–09

Runners-up (12): 1925–26, 1927–28, 1935–36, 1961–62, 1964–65, 1972–73, 1979–80, 1992–93, 1994–95, 2005–06, 2010–11, 2013–14

• Belgian Cup

Champions (6): 1953–54, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1980–81, 1992–93, 2010–11

Runners-up (9): 1964–65, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1983–84, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2006–07

• Belgian League Cup

Champions (1): 1975

• Belgian Supercup

Champions (4) 1981, 1983, 2008, 2009

Runners-up (3) 1993, 1982, 2011

International

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Runners-up (1): 1981–82

• UEFA Intertoto Cup

Runners-up (1): 1996

Other

• Amsterdam Tournament:

Runners-up (1): 1981

European record

As of 3 August 2011.

Competition	A	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
European Cup / UEFA Champions League	11	46	23	6	17	76	54
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	6	36	19	5	12	68	49
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	14	70	30	18	22	99	88
UEFA Intertoto Cup	3	20	8	10	2	25	16

A = appearances, GP = games played, W = won, D = drawn, L = lost, GF = goals for, GA = goals against.

Summary of best results

From the quarter-finals upwards:

(2 finals)

• European Cup/UEFA Champions League:

semi-finalists in 1962

quarter-finalists in 1959, 1970 and 1972

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1):

finalists in 1982

semi-finalists in 1967

quarter-finalists in 1968

• UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League:

quarter-finalists in 1981 and 2010

• UEFA Intertoto Cup (1):

finalists in 1996

semi-finalists in 2000

UEFA club coefficient ranking

(As of 22 November 2012), Source: uefa.com website

Current squad

As of 30 July 2015

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

No. Position Player 2 DF Reginal Goreux 3 MF Ahmed El Messaoudi (on loan from Lierse) 5 DF Jorge Teixeira 6 DF Martin Milec 8 MF Gabriel Boschilia (on loan from Monaco) 9 FW Renaud Emond 10 MF Jean-Luc Dompé 11 FW Benjamin Tetteh 12 MF Beni Badibanga 13 DF Alexander Scholz 14 MF Christian Brüls (on loan from Rennes) 15 MF Julien De Sart 16 GK Yohann Thuram-Ulien 17 MF Mathieu Dossevi (on loan from Olympiacos) 18 FW Ivan Santini 20 DF Samy Mmaee

No. Position Player 21 MF Eyong Enoh 22 MF Edmilson Junior 23 MF Adrien Trebel 24 DF Corentin Fiore 25 MF Rochinha 26 GK Senne Vits 27 DF Darwin Andrade 28 GK Guillaume Hubert 30 MF Jonathan Legear 33 DF Miloš Kosanović 36 DF Dino Arslanagić 37 DF Jelle Van Damme (Captain) 60 MF Sambou Yatabaré (on loan from Olympiacos) 97 FW Ryan Mmaee 98 MF Fadel Gobitaka DF Collins Fai

Notable players

Former players

Main article: List of Royal Standard de Liège players

Player stats

Appearances

#	Player	Standard career	Appearances
1	Guy Hellers	1983–00	474
2	Gilbert Bodart	1981–96, 1997–98	469
3	Guy Vandersmissen	1978–91	465
4	Léon Semmeling	1959–74	449

Goals

#	Player	Standard career	Goals (App.)
1	Jean Capelle	1929–44	245 (285)
2	Roger Claessen	1956–68	161 (229)
3	Maurice Gillis	1919–35	124 (275)

Captains

Player's name in bold when Standard won the title

1939–43: Roger Petit 1943–53: Fernand Massay 1953–54: Fernand Blaise 1954–55: 1955–56: 1956–57: 1957–62: Denis Houf 1962–63: 1963–64: Marcel Paeschen 1964–65: Jean Nicolay 1965–66: Lucien Spronck 1966–72: Léon Semmeling

1972–74: Jean Thissen 1974–76: Wilfried Van Moer 1976–77: 1977–78: 1978–79: 1979–80: 1980–83: Eric Gerets 1983–84: 1984–85: 1985–86: 1986–87: 1987–88:

1988–90: Guy Vandersmissen 1990–91: 1991–92: 1992–96: Gilbert Bodart 1996–99: Guy Hellers 1999–02: Didier Ernst 2002–04: Ivica Dragutinović 2004–05: Eric Deflandre 2005–07: Sérgio Conceição 2007–11: Steven Defour 2011–: Jelle Van Damme

Coaches

Dates Name July 1912 – June 16 Charles Bunyan, Sr. July 1916 – June 22 Camille van Hoorden July 1922 – June 24 Lamport Pierre Kögel July 1924 – June 30 Percy Wilding Hartley July 1930 – June 32 Maurice Grisard July 1932 – June 35 Percy Wilding Hartley July 1935 – June 36 Jean Dupont July 1936 – March 37 Percy Wilding Hartley April 1937 – Nov 38 Emile Riff Dec 1938 – June 39 Jean Dupont July 1939 – June 40 Maurice Grisard July 1940 – June 42 René Dohet July 1942 – June 45 Fernand Wertz July 1945 – June 50 Marcelin Waroux July 1950 – June 51 Antoine Basleer July 1951 – June 53 Maurice Grisard

Dates Name July 1953 – June 58 André Riou July 1958 – June 61 Géza Kalocsay July 1961 – June 63 Jean Prouff July 1963 – Nov 64 Auguste Jordan Dec 1964 – June 68 Milorad Pavić July 1968 – June 73 René Hauss July 1973 – Oct 73 Vlatko Marković Nov 1973 – June 74 Ned Bulatović July 1974 – Dec 75 Cor van der Hart Jan 1976 – June 76 Maurice Lempereur Lucien Leduc July 1976 – June 79 Robert Waseige July 1979 – June 81 Ernst Happel July 1981 – Feb 84 Raymond Goethals March 1984 – June 84 Léon Semmeling July 1984 – April 85 Louis Pilot May 1985 – Feb 87 Milorad Pavić

Dates Name Feb 1986 – June 87 Helmut Graf July 1987 – Sept 87 René Desaeyere Oct 1987 – March 88 Milorad Pavić April 1988 – June 88 Jozef Vliers July 1988 – June 89 Urbain Braems July 1989 – June 91 Georg Kessler July 1991 – Dec 93 Arie Haan Jan 1994 – June 94 René Vandereycken July 1994 – June 96 Robert Waseige July 1996 – June 97 Jos Daerden Jul 1997 – Oct 97 Aad de Mos Nov 1997 – March 98 Daniel Boccar April 1998 – June 98 Luka Peruzović July 1998 – Sept 99 Tomislav Ivić Oct 1999 – Dec 99 Željko Mijač Jan 2000 – May 00 Jean Thissen Henri Depireux

Dates Name May 2000 – Dec 00 Tomislav Ivić Dec 2000 – Jan 01 Dominique D'Onofrio Christian Labarbe Jan 2001 – June 02 Michel Preud'homme Jun 2002 – Oct 2002 Robert Waseige Oct 2002 – Jun 2006 Dominique D'Onofrio Jul 2006 – Sep 2006 Johan Boskamp Sept 2006 – June 08 Michel Preud'homme June 2008 – Feb 10 László Bölöni Feb 2010 – June 11 Dominique D'Onofrio July 2011 – May 12 José Riga May 2012 – Oct 12 Ron Jans Oct 2012 – May 13 Mircea Rednic May 2013 – Oct 14 Guy Luzon Nov 2014 – Feb 15 Ivan Vukomanović Feb 2015 – Jun 15 José Riga Jun 2015 – Aug 15 Slavoljub Muslin Sep 2015– Yannick Ferrera

Cultural references

Standard Liège are mentioned in the song "This One's for Now" by the band Half Man Half Biscuit on the album Urge for Offal.

External links

• Official website (French) (Dutch) (English) (German)
• Standard Liège at UEFA.COM (English)
• Standard Liège at National Football Teams.com