Stade Malherbe Caen

Stade Malherbe Caen (French pronunciation: [stɑd malˈɛrb kɑ̃]; commonly referred to as SM Caen or simply Caen) is a professional French 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 25 May 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

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.

Stadiums

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

Players

Current squad

As of 4 January, 2012^[1]

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

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.

Reserves squad

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

As of September 2011 (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.

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