Olympic Charleroi

Sporting Charleroi is the reason Olympic once changed its name. In 1972, with Sporting on the rise, the club became Royal Olympic Club de Montignies-sur-Sambre, so that nobody would confuse the two. It took the original name back in 1982, and the Derby de Charleroi has been fought under it ever since.

Olympic's best season came well before that split. In 1946–47 the club finished second in the Belgian First Division, two points behind Anderlecht. It had been third in 1938–39. The Belgian Cup has never come its way; the semi-finals are as far as it has got.

The club's identity has been reshaped more than once by mergers. In 2000 it joined Royale Association Marchiennoise des Sports to form Royal Olympic Club de Charleroi-Marchienne. In 2019 it merged with Châtelet-Farciennes SC, and a year later it dropped that arrangement and went back to Royal Olympic Club Charleroi.

The recent years have swung hard. Olympic won the Belgian Division 1 ACFF in 2024–25 and went up to the Challenger Pro League, having won the Belgian Promotion, the fourth tier, only in 2015–16. The second tier did not go well. They finished last of 17 in 2025–26 with 16 points, and they were also in the Belgian Cup semi-finals that season. Relegation to the top amateur division for 2026–27 stood after the club protested over the under-23 quota rules and took its case to the Brussels Enterprise Court, which upheld the decision.

The Stade de la Neuville in Montignies-sur-Sambre has held about 8,000 people since the early 1920s. The club's story began further back, on 20 September 1911, when Jules Ponsaert founded Caroloregian Lodelinsart Club Olympique. It became Olympic Club de Charleroi the following year.