Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz
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Royal Excel Mouscron (, ), commonly known as Mouscron or familiarly as REM, was a Belgian professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...
. The team was formed as ''Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz'' in the spring of 2010 as a result of the merging between
bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...
R.E. Mouscron and R.R.C. Peruwelz. It won promotion to the
Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...
in 2014 and changed its name in the summer of 2016, being relegated in 2021 and filing for bankruptcy a year later. The club was owned by nearby French club
Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lille, Northern France competing in Ligue 1, the top division of Football in Franc ...
from 2012 to 2015, and by a Maltese consortium linked to Israeli agent
Pini Zahavi Pinhas "Pini" Zahavi (; born 1955Jackson, Jamie"Profile: Pini Zahavi, football's first and only super-agent" The Observer, 26 November 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-12) is an Israeli football agent. Zahavi was involved in the change of ownership of Po ...
from 2015 to 2018, Pairoj Piempongsant of Carabao Energy Drink from 2018 to 2020, and Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman Gérard López from 2020 to 2022. The club was investigated by the Belgian federal judiciary over alleged financial offences relating to Zahavi.


History


Foundation and promotions

Following the liquidation and break-up of R.E. Mouscron, whose registration number was removed by the
Royal Belgian Football Association The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, th ...
, the city of
Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...
began negotiations with leaders of R.R.C. Peruwelz about a possible merge. After weeks of hesitation and uncertainty, an agreement was reached. The agreement was officially signed and announced on 11 March 2010. Debts of about
€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...
100,000 in R.R.C. Peruwelz's name were cleared while the city agreed to maintain the training center known as "Futurosport". The newly merged club, Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz, took on the history of R.R.C. Peruwelz, receiving matricule number 216 and keeping red and blue as its main colors. In its first season, it participated in Belgian Promotion A, the 4th level of Belgian football. They were promoted to the
Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division (, ) was the third highest level in Football in Belgium, Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each (Belgian Third Division A, A and Belgian Third Division B, B) at the same level. This competition, originall ...
for the 2011–12 season, playing in Division A, while reaching Round 6 of the 2011–12 Belgian Cup before losing to
Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...
club Beerschot on penalties 4–3. They finished first in their division in league play, and thus were promoted to the
Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...
. The next season Mouscron-Péruwelz finished 2nd and qualified for the promotion play-offs but lost; in the cup, they reached Round 6 again, losing 3–2 after extra time to
Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...
. In 2013–14, Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz came fourth and made the playoffs, where they won promotion on the final day with a 4–2 win at
Sint-Truidense V.V. Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV () or by their nickname De Kanaries (), is a Belgian professional association football, football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden in Limburg (Belgium) ...
while
K.A.S. Eupen K.A.S. Eupen (short for Königliche Allgemeine Sportvereinigung Eupen, English: ''Royal General Sports Association Eupen'', simply referred to as Eupen) is a Belgian professional association football club located in Eupen, Liège (province), Prov ...
lost 2–1 at
Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian professional football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it i ...
. The result restored top-flight football to the city of Mouscron four years after the decline of Royal Excelsior Mouscron.


Top-flight years and dissolution

In 2015, after their first season in the top flight, the club saw the termination of its partnership with neighbouring French
Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...
club
Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lille, Northern France competing in Ligue 1, the top division of Football in Franc ...
, which had been the majority shareholder for the past three years. This was because Belgian businessman Marc Coucke had invested in Lille while being owner of Belgian top-flight team
K.V. Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, was a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Ostend, West Flanders. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and had Football in Belgium#Matr ...
, and could not own interests in two teams in the same league. After the separation from Lille in 2015, the club was bought by a Maltese company involving Israeli agent
Pini Zahavi Pinhas "Pini" Zahavi (; born 1955Jackson, Jamie"Profile: Pini Zahavi, football's first and only super-agent" The Observer, 26 November 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-12) is an Israeli football agent. Zahavi was involved in the change of ownership of Po ...
, then transferred to another Maltese consortium controlled by his nephew Adar, to avoid
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
's rules on agents owning clubs. The club had its best finish in the Belgian Cup in 2015–16, making the quarter-finals before a 2–1 loss at K.R.C. Genk. In June 2016, the club changed its name to Royal Excel Mouscron, which it would remain until its bankruptcy. In March 2018, Thai businessman Pairoj Piempongsant of the Carabao Energy Drink bought 90% of the club's shares, with 10% remaining in local hands. Eleven months later, the club was put in administration by the Belgian federal judiciary, due to alleged
money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
by Pini Zahavi. In June 2019, a court in Mons ordered the club to restore the name ''Péruwelz'' due to an agreement between the two united clubs and the possession of that club's matricule number; the two clubs agreed not to restore the name. Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman Gérard López took over the club in May 2020, restoring its partnership with Lille, another one of his properties. He was ousted from Lille in December 2020. The club's seven-year stay in the top flight ended with relegation in 2020–21. In June 2021, former Belgium international
Enzo Scifo Vincenzo "Enzo" Daniele Scifo (; born 19 February 1966) is a retired Belgian football midfielder. He has also managed the Belgium national under-21 football team and several Belgian club sides. He played for clubs in Belgium, France and Italy, w ...
was bought in as manager with Mbo Mpenza as
director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...
and his brother Émile Mpenza as Scifo's assistant, but all three were dismissed in October. In May 2022, the club were relegated two tiers to the fourth, after being refused a professional licence due to financial irregularities and a debt of around €10 million. On 31 May, the club filed for bankruptcy.


References


External links

*
Royal Excel Mouscron
at Soccerway * {{DEFAULTSORT:Excel Mouscron Defunct football clubs in Belgium Association football clubs established in 1922 Association football clubs disestablished in 2022 1922 establishments in Belgium Sport in Mouscron Belgian Pro League clubs 2022 disestablishments in Belgium