FC Mulhouse

FC Mulhouse

Full name	Football Club de Mulhouse
Founded	1893 (1893)
Ground	Stade de l'Ill, Mulhouse
Ground Capacity	11,300
Chairman	Alain Dreyfus
Manager	Gharib Amzine
League	CFA Group B
2011–12	CFA Group A, 8th
Home colours Away colours

Football Club de Mulhouse (pronounced: [myluz]; commonly referred to as FCM or simply Mulhouse) is a French association football club based in Mulhouse. The club was founded in 1893 and currently play in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football. Mulhouse plays its home matches at the Stade de l'Ill located within the city. The team is managed by former football player Laurent Croci and is captained by defender Christophe Meirsman.

Mulhouse was founded under the name Fussball-Club Mülhausen in what was then Mülhausen, Alsace-Lorraine in Germany. The club's location has been dependent on the control of the Alsace region between France and Germany. Mulhouse has played in French football since the re-acquisition of the region after World War II and is the second-oldest football club in France after Le Havre AC. The club has achieved minimal honours in its history having spent most of its existence playing in the amateur divisions of France. However, Mulhouse have spent seven seasons in Ligue 1 and 27 seasons in Ligue 2. The club's highest honour to date in France was winning the Division d'Honneur in 1928. Regionally, Mulhouse has won the Alsace Division d'Honneur seven times. During the club's stint in Germany, it won the Gauliga Elsaß three times.

Mulhouse has served as a springboard for several football players and managers, most notably Arsène Wenger and Raymond Domenech. Wenger started his playing career at the club before entering the managerial role. He is known for his current role as manager of English club Arsenal, but prior to that, had successful stints at Nancy, AS Monaco, and Nagoya Grampus. Domenech also played for Mulhouse and the club served as his first managerial role. He later went on to manage the France national team from 2004–2010.

History

Football Club de Mulhouse was founded in 1893 under the name Fussball Club Mülhausen by two young Englishmen enrolled at the Mulhouse Chemistry School in Mülhausen, Alsace-Lorraine in Germany. The students introduced the sport to their fellow students and a club was, subsequently, formed. In 1901, they were joined by a group of footballers known as the "Young Boys" from the Oberrealschule Gymnasium. The team was a member of the VSFV (German: Verband Süddeutscher Fussball Vereine or Federation of South German Football Clubs) by 1904. The club suffered through a financial crisis in 1905–06 but survived to play on.

After World War I France reclaimed the territory of Alsace from Germany and FC Mülhausen became part of the regional top flight Division d'Honneur – Alsace as FC Mulhouse where the club captured the division title in 1921 and finished as vice-champions in 1926. Mulhouse then put together a string of five consecutive division titles from 1928 to 1932. The 1932 regional title was parlayed into a win in the Coupe Sochaux, also known as the Challenge Peugeot, one of the predecessors of the national championship competition first staged the following season.

After the re-organization of French football into a national system FCM played a single season in the First Division/Group A before being relegated. They played their way back to the top flight in 1934 until again being relegated in 1937.

Historical logo of FC Mulhausen.

With the onset of World War II and re-conquest of Alsace by Germany FCM returned to that country's football competition in the regional first division Gauliga Elsaß in 1941. They quickly became the dominant side there capturing titles in 1941, 1943, and 1944, but were not able to follow up with any success in the German national championship playoff rounds, being eliminated in the early going on each occasion. Play in the Gauliga was suspended part way through the 1944–45 season as Allied armies advanced into Germany.

Following the war FCM was once again returned to French football to play a single season in the second division before slipping to amateur level play where they would remain until 1970. The club struggled through six seasons in the second division over the course of the decade. However, their performance improved in the '80s and Mulhouse became a solid second division side earning single season turns in the top flight in 1982–83 and 1989–90. Through the early 90s the club played as FC Mulhouse Sud-Alsace and continued to play second tier football until relegated in 1998. A financial crisis followed and the club was bankrupted in 1999, then re-organized as an amateur side the following season. In 2005 the club was promoted from the CFA 2 (V) to the fourth division CFA (Championnat de France Amateurs), the country's highest amateur class, where they play today.

Stadium

Since 1979, FC Mulhouse has played its home games at the Stade de l'Ill. Between 1906 and the end of World War I the team played in the Stade Vélodrome and, after the war, in the Stade de Bourtzwiller.

Current squad

As of 30 September 2015^[1]

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

No. Position Player GK Kevin Sommer GK Melvin Adrien DF Samir Kecha DF Yannick Konki DF Said Sakhri DF Arnaud Gherardi DF Matthieu Gausselan DF Benoît Haaby DF Alexis Dutot DF Francisco Donzelot DF Milovan Sikimić MF Romain Reichstadt

No. Position Player MF Said Dardouri MF Papa Malick Ba MF Marco Rosenfelder MF Farez Brahmia MF Benjamin Genghini MF Benoît Patin MF Nestor Kodjia MF Mohamed Lamine FW Brahim Djafaar FW Maxime Ras FW Josué Balamandji FW Papa Ibou Kébé FW Jordan Gele

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Mulhouse.

Coaches

References

• Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag ISBN 3-89784-147-9
• Historical French domestic league results Jérôme Faugera's football page (French)
• Historical German domestic league results Das Deutsche Fussball-Archiv (German)

External links

• Official website (French)