La Louviere

R.A.A. Louvieroise, sometimes referred to as La Louviere or RAAL, was a Belgian football club located in the city of La Louviere, in the province of Hainaut. It had been playing its latest run in the Belgian First Division from 2000–01 to 2005–06 included. Two players have been called to the Belgium national football team while at La Louviere: Guy Dardenne (6 caps when at La Louviere, 11 caps in all) and Silvio Proto (5 caps when at La Louviere). The matricule of the club was the number 93. In June 2009, it merged with R.A.C.S. Couillet to form Football Couillet La Louviere. This club has since 2017 been named RAAL La Louviere.

History

The club was founded on January 26, 1913 during a meeting at the Place Maugretout in La Louviere. It was named A.A. Louvieroise. After one season in a provincial league, the football stopped due to the War. The club did not play official matches until 1921 as it had no stadium. Between 1921 and 1937 Louvieroise played in the provincial leagues. In 1937 the club changed its name to R.A.A. Louvieroise and it reached the Promotion. The next year a Belgian international player (namely August Hellemans who played in the 1930 World Cup) was transferred at La Louviere.

The club had its first spell in the first division between 1977 and 1979. In 1984 it was relegated to the third division and it played at that level for 10 years. Between 1994 and 2000 it played in the second division.

In 2006 the club was one of the most frequently mentioned in a gambling scandal that rocked Belgian football. It was alleged in the Belgian press that several players, board members and manager Gilbert Bodart had accepted large sums of money from Chinese businessman Zheyun Ye, who wanted to influence the results in matches so he could manufacture high profits in gambling. At first the club strongly denied the allegations, but on February 21, 2006 Bodart resigned as manager.

His assistant, former La Louviere forward Frederic Tilmant replaced him at the helm of

This page also has a version in other languages :  Ла-Лувьер (russian)