Club History
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise is a Belgian football club from Saint-Gilles in Brussels. The Union was founded in 1897 and has played in Joseph Marien Stadium since 1920. The club is affiliated to the Royal Belgian Football Union under number 10 and the club's colours are yellow and blue. Before the Second World War, the Union was the strongest Belgian football club, winning the national championship title eleven times. A brief historical overview of the Old Lady of Belgian football.
Union was most successful at the beginning of the last century. A few years after its creation, the Union quickly turned into a superpower: the Unionists won their first Belgian championship title in 1904. In 1920, the pride of Brussels also produced the largest number of internationals for the team that won the Olympic Games at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp.
But the best time was yet to come: Union Soixante. Our team, under the leadership of captain Jules Pappaert, went on a run of no less than 60 games undefeated. This record still holds to this day. They won three Belgian championship titles in three seasons ('32-'33, '33-'34 in '34-'35).
Photo of Union SG - Crossing Schaerbeek match on January 11, 1970 in Parc Duden.
Then, the club started to decline. Union missed the renewal within Belgian football and oscillated between D1 and D2. In 1972-1973, Union left D1 for a long time. After 48 years in lower divisions, down to the edge of D4, USG moved back up to D1 after winning the D1B title in 2020-2021.
During its first season in D1, Union Saint Gilloise surprised everyone. Coach Felice Mazzù's team started the Champions' play-offs at the top of the table, but during these play-offs, Club Brugge managed to overtake Union and take the league title.
One of the photos of the team of the invincible Union Soixante.
The following season, the Unionists made their comeback on the European stage after a 59-year hiatus. Union Saint Gilloise lost to Rangers FC in the Champions League knockout rounds, but that was only a bad start to a memorable Europa League course.
In the group stage of the Europa League, Union knocked out its opponents. In the opening match against Union Berlin, in Berlin, Union won 0-1. Against Malmö FF, at home (in Leuven because Joseph Marien Stadium is not suitable for European matches) and Braga SC, Union was also victorious.
Union Saint-Gilloise after the 3-0 victory against Union Berlin in the knockout stages of the Europa League.
With 9 points out of 9, they went on to defeat Braga at home and qualified for the next round by winning against Malmö. In the last of the group matches, they lost to Union Berlin.
Union Saint-Gilloise therefore moved into the knockout stages, where they once again faced Union Berlin (second in their group). After drawing 3-3 in Berlin, they won the second leg 3-0 and qualified for a historic quarter-final!
In the quarter-finals, Leverkusen ended up being too strong and that was the end of our European dream (1-1 and 1-4), for that season at least.
