Royale Union Saint-Gilloise from Brussels and were founded in 1897.
Union usually plays their matches in the Joseph Marien Stadium, their house since the 1920s, although Newcastle United will meet them on Wednesday because of the UEFA restrictions in Lotto Park, the home of RSC Anderscht.
Although it was one of the most successful clubs in Belgian football, most of that success came in the early twentieth century when Union won eleven titles between 1904 and 1935.
At the height of their success, they started 60 league games unbeaten between 1933 and 1935, a national record that is still today.
Union tends to attract its support from working class communities in Brussels and their most important city rivement is with RWD Molenbeek, although Union also shares a long -term, although historically less frequent, rivalry with different adhesive. For the first time since 1979, a rivalry has fueled again during the Belgian Cup 2018, when Union defeated their neighbors with three goals against Nil.
Growing up in the 1970s, I can clearly remember two large Belgian sides, different and FC Bruges, both of which met the English opposition in the European final. Other attached defeated West Ham in the Cup winners Cup final of 1976 before he lost a dramatic penalty shoot against Tottenham in the UEFA Cup final of 1981. Three years in advance, Kenny Daglish had the winner for Liverpool against FC Bruges in the European Cup of Wembley.
Other teams such as Standard Liège, Lokers and Ghent would often fly with the flag for Belgium in Europe at that time, but I cannot remember that Royale Union Saint-Gilloise is ever on site. That is because the club staggered after the Second World War and in a long period of deterioration, bouncing between the first and second divisions in the 1960s before stopping from the first division in 1973 and did not return for 48 years.
On May 21, 2018, Tony Bloom, chairman of the English Premier League side, Brighton and Hove Albion was confirmed as the majority shareholder, and the club’s Renaissance started in 2021 to the Belgian Pro League and finished the top of the regular season table in their first campaign, a first for a new promotion. However, the competition title should wait, the complicated system of Belgium returns to a play-off arrangement in which points that are halved and a round Robin where those who have qualified are followed, in which Clubbrugge Union eradicated after back-to-back victories against the newly promoted side.
Nevertheless, the disappointment of finishing second place was sweetened with Union Saint-Gilloise who deserved a tilt the following season in the UEFA Champions League-qualifying phase, although every hope they had to compete in the lucrative group phase, the club of iBrux. This defeat meant that Union fell into the Europa League, where they reached the quarterfinals and lost to Bayer Leverkusen.
Although they missed the championship again in 2022, 2023 and 2024, Union Saint-Gilloise eventually obtained their Twelfth League title in 2025. After ending the regular season in the third place behind Genk and Club Brugge, they entered the championship play-offs in a strong form. Bruges, before the title was held on the last match day, after beating Ghent 3–1.
This ended a 90 -year -old championship drogte, one of the longest in European football, in which the 81 -year -old interval of Blackburn Rovers was surpassed between two titles in 1995, a performance that should not be lost on supporters of Newcastle United who can darken this undesirable record quickly.
Union Saint-Gilloise started strongly this season, won seven and two of their opening competitions, a run with those who have top, six points free from Clubbrugge. They also made an impressive start of their Champions League campaign and defeated PSV in Eindhoven with three goals for one, so don’t make a mistake, this will be a big test for NUFC against colleague Pot Four Opposition.
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