scenes, too, the club was recovering. In 1993, an agreement was struck between the club and the city for the construction of a brand new all-seater stand, including among others a cafeteria and a business section. On 26 March 1993, the old terracing stand was demolished. On 2 January 1994, the new structure was inaugurated during a friendly match between two renowned neighbouring clubs: Standard Liège and 1. FC Köln. Back in the third division, the club celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on this occasion, obtaining the "Royal" prefix on 28 September 1995. On the pitch, the club returned to the top of the division under head coach Claudy Chauveheid, who arrived in 1996. During this period, primarily young players from the region represent the first team, including Marc Chauveheid, son of the coach and scorer of 90 goals during his career at Eupen. Thanks in particular to this father-son connection, the club won another title and returned to the second division for the first time since 1977. Surprisingly, the club pushed on for promotion to the First Division, which they were close to reaching in the 2002–03 season, before eventually losing in the play-offs. After this run, Eupen's results worsened, and after the departure of Claudy Chauveheid, the club fell to the bottom of the second division in the winter of 2008. At that point, Italian investors, represented by Antonino Imborgia, took over at the Kehrweg. Many players from Italy and Switzerland, in particular, were signed to the club. The club started the spring season with Danny Ost as manager and managed to avoid relegation to the third tier. In the wake of this, the club started the 2009–10 season with increased ambitions and found themselves at the top of the second division a few rounds in. Eupen eventually qualified for the third time in its history to the play-offs for promotion to the Belgian Pro League (after 1974 and 2003). Although not deemed favourites before the play-offs, Eupen managed a historic promotion after a 2–1 victory over Mons to win in the final round. The promotion marked the first time, that a club from the German-speaking Community of Belgium reached the top tier. First season in first division Fully professionalised, requirement set by the Belgian First Division as part of the granting of the licence necessary to be able to play in the top division, notably involved the modernisation