Formed: 1898
Nickname: Les Rouches (The Reds)
UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: (1982)
Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 10 (2009)
• Belgian Cup: 5 (1993)
• League Cup: 1 (1975)
History
• The side was founded by students from St Servais College as Standard Football Club, a tribute to then successful French team Standard AC Paris. The moniker evolved to Standard FC Liégeois, then Standard Club Liégeois, adding 'Royal' to mark their 25 years anniversary. Finally, in 1972, they settled on Royal Standard de Liège.
• Standard won promotion to the top tier in 1909, dropping out in 1914, but then returned in 1921 and have remained there ever since. Longevity did not initially bring success, though, as the club had to wait until 1958 for their first championship.
• A second followed in 1961, and the following season Les Rouches reached the European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals, losing 6-0 on aggregate to Real Madrid CF. With midfielder Wilfried Van Moer instrumental, Standard dominated Belgian football in the late-1960s and early-1970s, winning three successive titles.
• The lean period that followed ended when Standard won back-to-back championships in 1982 and 1983 under coach Raymond Goethals. Yet they endured further heartache on the continental stage as FC Barcelona – playing on their home ground – defeated a team featuring Arie Haan, Erik Gerets and Michel Preud'homme 2-1 in the 1982 European Cup Winners' Cup final.
• Preud'homme led the club to their ninth championship in 2008 – a quarter of a century after their eighth – with successor Laszlo Bölöni bringing up double figures the following season after a nail-biting play-off victory over RSC Anderlecht. It earned Les Rouches a place in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time.
Club records
Most appearances: Guy Hellers (476)
Most goals: Jean Capelle (245)
Record victory: R. Standard de Liège 12-0 v FC Winterslag (Division 1, 29 October 1979)
Record defeat: RC Bruxelles 16-1 R. Standard de Liège (Division 1, 17 September 1911)
* Last updated on 3 August 2010
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