FC Nantes

Nantes
Full name Football Club de Nantes
Nickname(s) Les Canaris (The Canaries)
Founded 1943
Ground La Beaujoire-Louis
Fonteneau, Nantes
(Capacity: 38,285)
Chairman Flag of PolandFlag of France Waldemar Kita
Manager Flag of France Elie Baup
League Ligue 1
2007-08 Ligue 2, 2nd
Team colours Team colours Team colours
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Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
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Away colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
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Third colours

Football Club de Nantes is a French football team, based in the city of Nantes, currently playing in Ligue 1.

The team has one of the most impressive histories in French football with 8 Ligue 1 titles and 3 Coupe de France. On the European level, the club reached the semi-finals of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1979-80 and UEFA Champions League 1995-96.

FC Nantes is also famous for its jeu à la nantaise, a tactic based on one touch, mainly used by coaches José Arribas, Jean-Claude Suaudeau and Raynald Denoueix, and for its youth system, which has produced players such as Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps and Christian Karembeu.

Contents

History

Early beginnings

In 1943, Nantes had five football clubs (Saint-Pierre, Stade Nantais U.C., A.C. Batignolles, A.S.O. Nantaise and Mellinet). However, Mellinet’s manager, Marcel Saupin, realised that Nantes could have a better chance of sporting success if they merged: he declared “Today we are a small team, but we will become a great team if we work together one day”.

Following the club’s first season which was average, Saupin went to Paris along with other club members where many young footballers were emigrating into the provinces in order to avoid having to carry out forced labour in Germany due to the Service du travail obligatoire. Here he found the club a Professional trainer as well as several quality players, after which Saupin became the Club chairman in 1944.

Following the group’s success, its healthy finances and by the fact that Saupin was a personal friend of Gabriel Hanot, FC Nantes became part of the Groupment of Authorised Clubs, and subsequently a professional team when the war ended in July 1945.

Period 1945-1963

The first match FC Nantes played as a professional team took place at the Stade Olympique de Colombes against CA Paris, where FC Nantes triumphed 2-0. The first home match was a defeat of the same score against AS Troyes (2600 supporters attended, making the club a total of 118,045 old francs). The club finished fifth at the end of this first season following which the club’s manager Aimé Nuic left the club following a dispute, and was succeeded by Antoine Raab who took over as a manager-player. After winning 16 consecutive matches, Nantes bowed down 9-0 to Sochaux, the top team of the moment. In 1963 the town council decided to give substantial subsidies to the club to give it a leg-up to climb into the next division.

Period 1963-1973

On the first of June 1963, the club won its place in the first division against Sochaux. Marcel Saupin died on the 10th of June and would never see the club he created amongst the elite. FC Nantes went on to win the 1964-65 and 1965-66 championships with a well polished game, partly thanks to José Arribas, a fan of a more offensive game strategy who was making his first contributions to that which would become known as the jeu à la nantaise.

Period 1973-1983

It was during this period that the famous jeu à la nantaise, made up of well-oiled and offensive tactics, makes its appearance. In the summer of 1976, manager José Arribas leaves his role to Jean Vincent at the top of the French Division 1. The former player from the Stade de Reims team would remain the team’s manager until 1982 when Jean-Claude Suaudeau, another fan of the jeu à la nantaise and who was also coached by José Arribas in the 1960s, replaced him.

Apart from the titles of French Champion which the Football Club de Nantes held in 1973, 1977, 1980 and 1983, the canaries won their first Coupe de France in 1979 against AJ Auxerre with 4 goals to 1 after extra time, and after a hat trick from Eric Pécout. Then in June 1983 the Nantes team battled out a Coupe de France final against Paris Saint-Germain, with a memorable goal from José Touré (nicknamed “the Brazilian” after this glorious feat), but which nevertheless didn’t stop Paris Saint-Germain from winning the game 3 goals to 2, preventing FC Nantes from obtaining the double French Cup-French Championship title.

FC Nantes really spread its wings throughout the 1982-83 season, and even it’s most dangerous rival (Girondins de Bordeaux) ceded underneath the offensive pressure exerted by the club, and left the game at Nantes home Marcel Saupin stadium defeated at 4-0, partly thanks to a well-oiled match and the golden touch of the Yugoslavian player Vahid Halilhodžić, responsible for a total of 27 goals, and who finished best striker of the championship.

Period 1983-1992

After been at the top of the table for several years, then coming second in the 1984-5 championship (behind Bordeaux) and in 1985-6 (behind Paris Saint-Germain), FC Nantes went through a much more difficult period. In 1988, Jean-Claude Suaudeau’s place at the head of the first team was taken over by Miroslav Blazevic. His results were not, however, in line with the clubs ambitions – Nantes coming 7th in 1988-9 and 1989-90 and gaining a pitiful 15th place in 1991, having no title to add to their record during these three seasons. In July 1991 the club re-instated Jean-Claude Suaudeau, and in July 1992, the after spending a fortnight in the second division due to an administrative decision by the DNGG (French Football’s financial regulator), FC Nantes is renamed FC Nantes Atlantique, and is able to take its place in the 1st Division back.

Supporters at an away match

Period 1992-1997

In 1992, the jeu à la nantaise made its comeback. The club subsequently made the finals of the French Championship in 1992-3; semi-finals of the French Cup in 1993-4; won the 1994-5 Championship and was Semi finalist in the Champion’s league of 1995-6. This period saw the development of a host of players such as Japhet N'Doram, Patrice Loko, Reynald Pedros, Nicolas Ouédec, Claude Makélélé, and Christian Karembeu.

Between 1995 and 1997 the club underwent financial difficulties and the best players left one after the other with mixed futures: Loko, Ouedec and Pedros quickly forgotten and dropped from the Equipe de France shortly after Euro 96; Japhet N’Doram fought against persistant injuries at AS Monaco; whilst Karembeu and Makelele fared better, managing to succeed abroad (notably at Real Madrid) and both become active members of the French team.

Tired of the transfers of his best players at the end of each season, Jean-Claude Suaudeau quit the footballing world in 1996 and handed over the ropes to Raynald Denoueix, previously the second team’s coach.

Period 1997-2005

After a catastrophic beginning to the 1996-7 season, the team finished 3 place in the championship after playing 30 games without a single defeat. They were deprived of qualification in the champion’s league by AS Monaco (with a score of 2-1). After this, FC Nantes Atlantique stagnated in the middle of the table for a few seasons but finally found a buyer after becoming champion once more in 2001: It was bought out by Socpresse (a media group) who designated a chairman who was completely oblivious to the footballing world: Jean-Luc Gripond.

On the 11th of March 2004, Groupe Dassault became the new owner of the club after buying out the Socpresse group. Dassault didn't intervene in the running of the club and left the executive team as it was, thus showing that it never really wanted to own the football club, and whose only aspiration was to not lose money from it. In the 2003/4 season, Nantes is defeated by Sochaux after its captain and goalkeeper Mickaël Landreau misses a goal during a penalty shoot-out, thus depriving the team of the League Cup, and a spot in the UEFA Cup.

The following season was the worst the club ever had since it rose into ligue 1, with Nantes narrowly missing relegation. During this season the club had an unprecedented crisis, with the revolt of the players lead by Landreau, calling for the sacking of their manager Loïc Amisse; the team’s supporters also joined in the revolt, notably at a match at Sochaux where they ripped out over 150 seats and injured 4 stewards in a vain attempt to stir up Chairman Gripond.

Before the start of the 2005/6 season, Serge Dassault’s team asks executives Robert Budzynski and Kléber Bobin as well as the players Mickaël Landreau and Frédéric Da Rocha to leave. At the same time Vahid Halilhodzic is approached to become manager, even though Serge Le Dizet had only been in place for six months. Jean-Luc Gripond was also finally replaced by Rudi Rousillon on the 28th of June 2005 following an Extraordinary meeting of the Dassault group.

Period 2006-2008

On the 20th of September 2006, Georges Eo replaced Serge Le Dizet as club manger. He would only hold this position for five months however, being replaced by the duo Michel Der Zakarian / Japhet N'Doram on the 12th of February 2007. On the 9th of May of the same year, despite their victory against Bordeaux (1-0), FC Nantes was mathematically relegated to the league below. The Yellows would therefore get ready to dispute their 19th Ligue 2 season in the club’s history. This season would be smitten by the coming and going of a record number of assistant managers, by the arrival and the departure of Fabien Barthez and by the crowds invading the pitch at the last home match of the season against Toulouse in the 86th minute. The most controversial of these events was undoubtedly Fabien Barthez’s entry into and exit from the club’s history.

On the 30th of July 2007, the club played its first Ligue 2 match since 1963. The summer was marked by a busy Mercato, and by the handing over of the club to a new owner. During the first part of the season, the players adopted their role as division favourites with perfection, despite the “Boulogne Incident” (a 4-0 defeat). Waldemar Kita continued to renovate the club: the club changed both its name and its insignia, returning to the three letters FCN, dropping the “Atlantique”. Nevertheless, the start of 2008 was the most difficult with 2 defeats (Clermont and Le Havre), and the elimination from the Coupe de France (after penalty shoot out against Sedan, the first at this stage for 6 years). Three consecutive wins against Brest, Bastia and Sedan (with 4 goals from new recruit Filip Djordjevic) stop Nantes from falling backwards, and allow them to conclude the championship a little more at their ease.

On the 25th of April 2008, FC Nantes climbed back into Ligue 1 following a 1-1 match against Montpellier, thanks to a goal from David de Freitas. At the same time, position 4 Troyes can’t do any better than 2-2 against Boulogne-sur-Mer. As no-one could now catch up against FC Nantes, it was mathematically assured of its place in Ligue 1. The club would join the elite once more, just one year after having left them. The next season will be FC Nantes’ 45th in Ligue 1.

Strip

The Green and Yellow of the club's strip were chosen with reference to the racing horse stables of Jean le Guillou, one of the club's founders. As well as les canaris, FC Nantes is also nicknamed les jaunes et verts (the green and yellows) and la maison jaune (the yellow house)

Stadia

Honours

They also reached the semi-finals of the European Champion's League in 1996 (where they were beaten by Juventus).

They also hold the record for consecutive seasons played in Ligue 1, with 44, but played in Ligue 2 for the 2007-2008 season after being relegated on May 9 2007. They got promoted to play Ligue 1 at the end of the 2007-2008 season after having finished at the 2nd position in Ligue 2.

Current squad

The team warming up in April 2007

As of July 3, 2008[1]

No. Position Player
1 Flag of France GK Tony Heurtebis
2 Flag of Senegal DF Ibrahim Tall
3 Flag of Brazil DF Douglão
4 Flag of France DF Kévin das Neves
5 Flag of Haiti DF Jean-Jacques Pierre
6 Flag of France DF Guillaume Moullec
7 Flag of France MF Djamel Abdoun
8 Flag of France MF Frédéric Da Rocha (captain)
9 Flag of Togo MF Thomas Dossevi
10 Flag of Mali FW Mamadou Bagayoko
11 Flag of France MF Aurélien Capoue
12 Flag of Serbia FW Filip Đorđević
13 Flag of France FW Nicolas Goussé
15 Flag of France DF Rémi Maréval
16 Flag of France GK Jérôme Alonzo
17 Flag of Croatia FW Ivan Klasnić
18 Flag of France MF David de Freitas
No. Position Player
19 Flag of Serbia MF Stefan Babović
20 Flag of Cameroon FW Christian Bekamenga
21 Flag of France MF William Vainqueur
22 Flag of Senegal MF Guirane N'Daw
23 Flag of France MF Ricardo Faty (on loan from A.S. Roma)
24 Flag of France DF Loïc Guillon
25 Flag of France DF Karim El Mourabet
26 Flag of France DF Yoann Poulard
28 Flag of Romania FW Claudiu Keserü
29 Flag of Denmark DF Michael Gravgaard
31 Flag of France DF Mathias Coureur
32 Flag of France DF Éric Cubilier
33 Flag of France MF Kévin Barré
40 Flag of Cameroon GK Guy Rolland N'dy Assembe
-- Flag of Réunion MF Ronny Rodelin

Out on loan

No. Position Player
Flag of Guinea-Bissau MF Bocundji Ca (at Tours FC)

Junior Squad

No. Position Player
Flag of France GK Erwin Zelazny
33 Flag of France DF Kévin Barré
Flag of France DF Aimé Lavie
Flag of France DF Soilhyo Mete
Flag of France DF Loïc Négo
Flag of France DF Aristote Lusinga
No. Position Player
Flag of France DF Vincent Sasso
Flag of France MF Olivier Bonnes
Flag of Tunisia MF Anter Bouzidi
Flag of Réunion MF Ronny Rodelin
Flag of France FW Sofiane Hanni

Former famous players

For a complete list of former FC Nantes Atlantique players with a Wikipedia article, see here.

France

  • Flag of France Loïc Amisse
  • Flag of France Sylvain Armand
  • Flag of France William Ayache
  • Flag of France Bruno Baronchelli
  • Flag of France Fabien Barthez
  • Flag of France Jean-Paul Bertrand-Demanes
  • Flag of France Bernard Blanchet
  • Flag of France Maxime Bossis
  • Flag of France Robert Budzynski
  • Flag of France Eric Carrière
  • Flag of France Benoît Cauet
  • Flag of France Marcel Desailly
  • Flag of France Didier Deschamps
  • Flag of France Jean-Michel Ferri
  • Flag of France Bernard Gardon
  • Flag of France Nicolas Gillet
  • Flag of France Philippe Gondet
  • Flag of France Christian Karembeu
  • Flag of France Antoine Kombouaré
  • Flag of France Guy Lacombe
  • Flag of France Mickaël Landreau
  • Flag of France Paul Le Guen
  • Flag of France Roger Lemerre
  • Flag of France Patrice Loko
  • Flag of France Claude Makélélé
  • Flag of France Henri Michel
  • Flag of France Olivier Monterrubio
  • Flag of France Oscar Muller
  • Flag of France Jean-Claude Osman
  • Flag of France Nicolas Ouédec
  • Flag of France Éric Pécout
  • Flag of France Reynald Pedros
  • Flag of France Fabrice Poullain
  • Flag of France Patrice Rio
  • Flag of France Claude Robin
  • Flag of France Omar Sahnoun
  • Flag of France Jean-Claude Suaudeau
  • Flag of France Jérémy Toulalan
  • Flag of France José Touré
  • Flag of France Thierry Tusseau

Argentina

  • Flag of Argentina Ángel Bargas
  • Flag of Argentina Victor Trossero
  • Flag of Argentina Jorge Burruchaga
  • Flag of Argentina Mauro Cetto
  • Flag of Argentina Nestor Fabbri
  • Flag of Argentina Angel Marcos
  • Flag of Argentina Ramon Muller
  • Flag of Argentina Julio Olarticoechea
  • Flag of Argentina Enzo Trossero

Armenia

  • Flag of Armenia Michel Der Zakarian

Nigeria

  • Flag of Nigeria Samson Siasia

Belgium

  • Flag of Belgium Franky Vercauteren

Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Vahid Halilhodžić

Cameroon

  • Flag of Cameroon Eric Djemba-Djemba
  • Flag of Cameroon Salomon Olembé
  • Flag of Cameroon Alioum Saidou

Chad

  • Flag of Chad Japhet N'Doram

Colombia

  • Flag of Colombia Mario Yepes

Denmark

  • Flag of Denmark Johnny Mølby

Germany

  • Flag of Germany Erich Maas

Guinea-Bissau

  • Flag of Guinea-Bissau Bocundji Ca

Morocco

  • Flag of Morocco Noureddine Naybet

Paraguay

  • Flag of Paraguay Julio Cesar Caceres

Poland

  • Flag of Poland Robert Gadocha
  • Flag of Poland Roman Kosecki

Romania

  • Flag of Romania Viorel Moldovan

Scotland

  • Flag of Scotland Mo Johnston

Tunisia

  • Flag of Tunisia Adel Sellimi

United States

  • Flag of the United States Nick Sakiewicz

Former managers

References

External links