Stade Malherbe Caen

Stade Malherbe Caen

Full name	Stade Malherbe Caen Calvados Basse-Normandie
Founded	November 17, 1913
Ground	Stade Michel d'Ornano, Caen (Capacity: 21,500)
Chairman	Jean-François Fortin
Manager	Franck Dumas Patrice Garande
League	Ligue 1
2009–10	Ligue 2, 1st (promoted)
Home colours Away colours

Stade Malherbe Caen (French pronunciation: [stɑd malˈɛrb kɑ̃]; commonly referred to as SM Caen or simply Caen) is a French professional football team, playing in the city of Caen, Normandy. The club was founded on 17 November 1913 following the merger of Club Malherbe Caennais and Club Sportif Caennais. The team takes its name from Lycée Malherbe, named after François de Malherbe (1555–1628), a poet, critic and translator, who was a native of Caen.

For the longest part of its history, SM Caen remains one of the leading amateur club in France, playing upon its foundation at stade de Venoix. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the rise of Stade Malherbe into French football hierarchy. In 1985, Stade Malherbe adopted professional status. Three seasons later, it was promoted for the first time in first division. In 1992, several months after it was narrowly saved from bankruptcy, the club ends at fifth place of Division 1 and qualifies for the UEFA Cup. In 1993, the club moved to the modern stade Michel d'Ornano, but was relegated two years later. Despite a second division title won in 1996, SM Caen quickly fell back into the anonymity of the second division.

The late 2000s saw Stade Malherbe regain some sporting success, which allows it to play several seasons in Ligue 1 and reach the final of the Coupe de la Ligue in 2005. The club has been chaired by Jean-François Fortin since 2002, and the team managed since 2005 by Franck Dumas, assisted by Patrice Garande since 2009. In the 2008/2009 season, the team was once again relegated to Ligue 2 after losing 1–0 at home to Bordeaux, but were promoted back at the first attempt.

History

SM Caen has been a professional football club since 1988. Some years later, the club qualified for the first round of the UEFA Cup 1992–93 but was eliminated by Real Zaragoza.

In the 2003/2004 season, Caen finished 2nd in Ligue 2, gaining promotion to Ligue 1. They were relegated on the last day of the 2004/05 Ligue 1 season, finishing in 18th place despite some positive results, including a surprise 3–2 away win at Marseille. But the main highlight of their season was making it into the final of the Coupe de la Ligue for the first time in their history. Their chance at a major trophy eluded them however, as they lost 2–1 to Strasbourg in the final.

On May 25, 2007, SM Caen obtained promotion to Ligue 1 after a victory in last game at Libourne (1–2). In the 2008/2009 season, the team was once again relegated to Ligue 2 after losing 1–0 at home to Bordeaux, but won championship next season and thus came back to Ligue 1.

In the 2010/11 season, Caen got off to a highly impressive start by defeating defending champions Marseille 2-1 away on the first day of the season, then following it up with a 3-2 home win over the previous season's Champions League semi-finalists Lyon.

Honours

* denotes promotion without winning the championship.

Club crest and colours

SM Caen Shirts (1992, 2002 and 2005).

Club Malherbe Caennais wore a black and white vertical stripes jersey, while Club Sportif Caennais used blue and red horizontal stripes. Following the merger of two clubs in 1913, the officials decided to mix colors and symbols by adopting the CMC vertical stripes and CSC colors.

Stade Malherbe used for over fifty years nearly the same diamond shaped logo, designed for the first professional period in 1934

In 1989, a new logo was designed, with a longship floating on the waves, winks at the Viking origin of Normandy, and three arrows of the city of Caen. It is used in various versions for eighteen seasons. In 2007, officials present a new logo.

SM Caen crests

1913–30   1934–88   1989–07   since 2007

Stadiums

Venoix

d'Ornano

Caen stadium pictures

Stade de Venoix was the club's home from 1913, even if first stand was built only in 1925, until 1993. Venoix could hold over 15,000 spectators at its peak, and has now a capacity of 5,000.

In 1993 a new 21,500-capacity stadium was built, named Stade Michel d'Ornano, at about 500 meters of Stade de Venoix.

Managerial history

Years Manager 1934–35 François Konya 1935–36 Jean Gast 1936–38 Maurice Cottenet 1938–44 Jean Gast 1944–46 Karoly Mayer 1946–47 Armand Deruaz 1947–49 Charles Carville 1949–52 Jules Vandooren 1952–53 Jean Prouff 1953–55 Eugène Proust 1955–58 André Grillon 1958–59 Marcel Leperlier 1959–61 Louis Requier

Years Manager 1961–62 Albert Eloy 1962–64 Marcel Mouchel 1964–67 Jean Vincent 1967–72 Célestin Oliver 1972-Dec. 1972 Bernard Lelong Dec. 1972 Guy Lunel (interim) Dec. 1972–Nov. 1973 Émile Rummelhardt Nov. 1973–79 Jacques Mouilleron 1979–83 Alain Laurier 1983–88 Pierre Mankowski 1988–Dec. 89 Robert Nouzaret Dec. 1989–94 Daniel Jeandupeux 1994–96 Pierre Mankowski

Years Manager 1996–97 Guy David 1997–Nov. 97 Gabriel Calderon Nov. 1997 Daniel Jeandupeux (interim) Nov. 1997–sept. 00 Pascal Théault Sept. 2000 Christophe Desbouillons (interim) Sept. 2000–01 Jean-Louis Gasset 2001–02 Hervé Gauthier 2002–May 5 Patrick Remy May 2005 Franck Dumas (interim) 2005–09 Franck Dumas et Patrick Parizon since 2009 Franck Dumas et Patrice Garande

Players

Current squad

As of 20 July 2010^[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Alexis Thébaux 2 DF Nicolas Seube (captain) 3 DF Romain Inez 5 DF Thomas Heurtaux 6 DF Branko Lazarević 7 MF Anthony Deroin 8 MF Damien Marcq 10 MF Benjamin Nivet 11 FW Livio Nabab 15 MF Youssef El-Arabi 16 GK Damien Perquis 17 MF Rajiv van La Parra

No. Position Player 18 FW Kandia Traoré 19 DF Jérémy Sorbon 20 MF Romain Hamouma 21 DF Pablo Barzola 22 MF Alexandre Raineau 23 DF Grégory Tafforeau 24 DF Grégory Leca 25 FW Sambou Yatabaré 26 MF Yohan Mollo (on loan from Monaco) 29 MF Ismaïla N'Diaye 30 GK Thomas Bosmel

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 14 FW Julien Toudic (on loan at Stade Reims until the end of the 2010–11 Ligue 2 season)

Reserves squad

Caen's B squad plays in the Championnat de France amateur Group D.

As of November 2009 (includes main squad players who played more for the B team than the main squad).

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Thomas Bosmel DF Claude Dielna DF Emeric Dudouit DF Romain Inez DF Thibault Moulin DF Oumar N'Diaye DF Dilan Pivard DF Mustapha Traoré DF Molla Wagué MF David Biaou MF Sylvestre Guyonnet MF Jean-Marc Hatchi

No. Position Player MF Anthony Mélet MF Dimitri Milon MF Ismaïla N'Diaye MF Guillaume Quellier MF Yacouba Sylla MF Rajiv van La Parra MF Diako Wague MF Mickaël Zami FW Jean Alassane Mendy FW Livio Nabab FW Alexandre Vardin

Notable former players

For a complete list of SM Caen players, see here.

Eugène Maës (1920s et 1930s), Jean Prouff (1952–53), Jean-Paul Pottier (1970–79), Alain Douville (1973–85), Pascal Théault (1974–86) and Jean-Paul Bouffandeau (1974–78) are some of the notable amateur former players of Stade Malherbe Caen.

Between 1988 and 1995, SM Caen played for the first time in first division. To strengthen a team composed mostly of players coming from Normandy, including high-potential youngsters Franck Dumas and Fabrice Divert, the club recruited a few famous players, more or less successfully :

• Jean-François Domergue (1988–89)
• Brian Stein (1988–90)
• Graham Rix (1988–91)
• Piet den Boer (1990–91)
• Jesper Olsen (1990–92)
• Gabriel Calderón (1992–93)
• Célio Silva do Nascimento (1993–94)
• Alexander Mostovoi (1993–94)
• Kennet Andersson (1994–95)

The golden age of club runs from 1990 to 1993. Managed by Daniel Jeandupeux, goalkeeper Philippe Montanier, defenders Christophe Point, Yvan Lebourgeois (captain), Franck Dumas and Hippolyte Dangbeto, midfielders Michel Rio, Edwin Gorter and Benoît Cauet, the Danish international winger Jesper Olsen, forwards Xavier Gravelaine and Stéphane Paille formed a team who finished at fifth place in first division in 1992 and thus qualifies for the European Cup ^[2].

The Stade Malherbe youth academy opened in 1989, after Divert and Dumas became professional players. Managed by Pascal Théault during 1990s, the academy formed a lot of professional players as William Gallas, David Sommeil, Jérôme Rothen, Frédéric Née, Bernard Mendy, Mathieu Bodmer, Ronald Zubar and Yoan Gouffran.

References

External links

• (French) Official website