Stade Malherbe Caen

SM Caen

Full name	Stade Malherbe Caen
Short name	SMC
Founded	17 November 1913 (17 November 1913)
Ground	Stade Michel d'Ornano, Caen, Normandie
Ground Capacity	21,500
Chairman	Jean-François Fortin
Manager	Patrice Garande
League	Ligue 1
2016–17	Ligue 1, 17th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Stade Malherbe Caen (French pronunciation: ​[stɑd malɛʁb kɑ̃]; commonly referred to as SM Caen or simply Caen) is a professional French football team, playing in the city of Caen in 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 remained 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 in the French football hierarchy. In 1985, Stade Malherbe adopted professional status. Three seasons later, it was promoted for the first time to the first division. In 1992, several months after it was narrowly saved from bankruptcy, the club finished fifth in Division 1 and qualified 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 achieve some sporting success, which allowed 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. In the 2008–09 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. In 2012, SM Caen were relegated for the third time in ten years, further to which manager Franck Dumas is replaced by his assistant Patrice Garande. The team made its return to Ligue 1 in 2014. The main rivalry is with Le Havre AC and is called "Lé Derby Nouormand" (Norman for "The Norman Derby".); another big rivalry is with RC Lens, which unfortunately has often seen clashes between fans and police involvement during the last decade.

History

Genesis (Before 1913)

Many football clubs were constituted in Caen at the end of 19th century : the Union sportive des étudiants de Caen, founded in 1892, and the Union Athlétique du Lycée Malherbe (UALM), founded in 1892^[1] or 1895, the Club Sportif Caennais, founded in November 1899. These clubs participated in the early editions of the football championship organised by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques.

In 1907, former members of UALM created the Club Malherbe Caennais, soon the best club in Lower Normandy.^[2] In 1909 and 1911, several friendlies matches were organised between a selection of players from Caen and the English club of St Albans City F.C..

First years and first professional adventure (1913–1947)

Stade Malherbe team in 1919

First professional team of Stade Malherbe, 1934–1935 season

The Stade Malherbe Caennais was officially founded on 17 November 1913 from the merger of Club Sportif Caennais and Club Malherbe Caennais. It was a multi-sport athletic club, which adopted the "Malherbe" and the striped jersey of the CMC, and the red and blue colours of CSC.^[3] The club had its own facilities – the Stade de Venoix – inherited from the CMC.

The football team of CMC, engaged in the league in Lower Normandy, changed its name just after the start of the season. By winning this competition, Stade Malherbe recorded his first title in its first year of existence. Qualified for the finals of the 1914 USFSA Football Championship, Caen was eliminated in 1/8 final by the Union sportive Servannaise : after a draw in the first game (3–3) it had to forfeit the second. The World War I stopped the competitions. Thirty-nine members of the club were killed in the fighting, including former captain Eugène Lesomptier.

In 1919, the USFSA championship was replaced by regional championships organised by the French Football Federation, called Division d'Honneur. Stade Malherbe, reinforced by the move to Caen of the former French international Eugène Maës, won six times the championship of Lower Normandy between 1920 and 1928,^[4] but was unable to compete the major Upper Normandy clubs, Le Havre AC and FC Rouen. Since 1919–20, Caen also participated in the Coupe de France but fell in round of 32 in 1921 and 1922. In 1929, the two Division d'Honneur leagues of Normandy were merged and Stade Malherbe was promoted to year after. His best final standing was 5th in 1933.

In 1934, one year after FC Rouen and Le Havre AC, Stade Malherbe acquired professional status and reached the French Division 2. The club finished in 11th out of 16 for its first season, then 6th in 1936 and 8th in 1937. But its financial situation deteriorated and Stade Malherbe left D2 in 1938, after four professional seasons.

The club then returned to Division d'Honneur of Normandy. It won the last edition before the World War II in 1938–39, and the two first after WW2 in 1946 and 1947.

An important amateur club (1948–1985)

In 1948, Stade Malherbe joined the newly founded Championnat de France amateur, the third level of the French football. Soonly considered as a "lord" in CFA, Caen was unable to win the championship, unlike the regional rival US Quevilly, despite successive calls to former French international players as coaches : Jules Vandooren, Jean Prouff, Andre Grillon, Jean Vincent and Oliver Celestin.

Stade Malherbe made itself known essentially by repeated feats in Coupe de France in the 1950s : French champion Stade de Reims (2–1) and top teams Racing Club de France (3–2) and RC Lens were defeated in January 1953, 1956 and 1961. In 1958, Caen pushed FC Nantes to play five games to decide : the first three games were resulting in 0–0 draws, the fourth was stopped, the fifth saw Nantes win 1–0. Through its success Caen won the "Challenge France-Football" rewarding the best amateur team in Coupe de France in 1956 and 1961. Undermined by the instability of its coaches and presidents and a precarious financial health, Stade Malherbe weakened gradually and was relegated twice (in 1962 and 1965) in Division d'Honneur, but regained its place in CFA.

In 1970, the CFA was removed and the Division 2 was enlarged to 48 teams. During the 1970s, Caen evolved between D3 and D2, where it failed to stabilise. Jacques Mouilleron became coach in 1973. In 1975, the club won its first national title : the West group of Division 3. Stade Malherbe was named best amateur club by France-Football, Jean-Paul Bouffandeau and Jean-Paul Pottier French amateur players of the year in 1975 and 1976. 3 years later, Caen fell back to D3.

Pierre Mankowski was hired as player-coach in 1983. He led Stade Malherbe from D3 to the top of D2 in a few seasons, and pushed it to adopt professional status in 1985.

From D2 to the European Cup (1985–1993)

SM Caen has been a professional football club since 1985. The stated objective of Mankowski was to bring Caen in first division. He helped the team improving, first in defence then in attack. Caen finished sixth of D2 in 1986 and second in 1987, with notable scorers Philippe Prieur and Éric Pécout. Caen did that season the stade de Venoix an inviolate place but bowed in front of AS Cannes in playoffs. Caen succeeded in the playoffs following season, dealing with Olympique Lyonnais and Chamois Niortais F.C., relegated from D1.

In 1988 Stade Malherbe discovered Division 1. Despite many departures, including coach Mankowski (replaced by Robert Nouzaret) and six first losses, Caen got its maintain in extremis, one point ahead of RC Strasbourg, with the advent of a promising striker Fabrice Divert. Stade Malherbe confirmed, not without difficulties, its performance the following season.

With a new coach, Daniel Jeandupeux, the team was largely restructured. In 1990–91, Caen took place in the first half of Division 1, thanks to the excellent results obtained in Venoix. However, the press revealed in late 1991 that the club was close to bankruptcy. Regional businesses and local government bail out the club, which carries a brilliant 1991–92 season. Stade Malherbe finished fifth and qualified for its first (and so far only) time for the UEFA Cup. Stéphane Paille scored 15 goals during the season. For the first round of 1992–93 UEFA Cup, Caen had to face up to Real Zaragoza. Normans won 3–2 the 1st leg but lost 2–0 in Spain. Despite the goals of Xavier Gravelaine, SM Caen finished season to a relatively disappointing eleventh rank.

Between First and Second Division (since 1993)

Tifo at Stade Michel d'Ornano for Normandy derby in 1995.

Coupe de la Ligue Final in 2005.

In the 2003–04 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 2008–09 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.

In the 2013–14 season, Caen were in Ligue 2, but won promotion to Ligue 1 for the 2014–15 season. As part of their promotion battle, they drew a crucial match with Nîmes in May 2014. This 1–1 result was also very favourable to Nîmes who were battling to avoid relegation. This result raised suspicions, and in November 2014, Caen chairman Fortin was arrested, amongst several others, on suspicion of match fixing.^[5][6] Finally, he was cleared in March 2015.^[7]

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 colours and symbols by adopting the CMC vertical stripes and CSC colours.

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, including within a shield in the 2006–07 season. In 2007, officials present a new logo. The new logo reflects the identity of the club, closely linked to the Norman period of William the Conqueror: the flag of Normandy, which is actually the historical Norman flag of the Two Lions, can be often seen in the Kop Normandy. In 2013 0 the official anthem of SM Caen "Normands, fiers et conquérants!" was made with a marked reference to the Norman identity:

"Représenter la Normandie est un honneur Derrière nos léopards nous chanterons en cœur! Décrire cette belle région Doit se faire à l'unisson Nous sommes Normands, fiers et conquérant! Portons les couleurs du Stade Malherbe de Caen, et c'est à d'Ornano que nous allons chantant Nous sommes de la même famille, Tous unis à domicile, Nous sommes Normands fiers et conquérants!"

English: "Represent Normandy is an honour, We are gonna support our leopards with our chants, Describe this beautiful region must unite us together We are Normans, proud and conquerors! We wear the colours of SM Caen And we go singing to d'Ornano We are from the same family, All united in a home, We are Normans, proud and conquerors!"

SM Caen crests
1913–30  1934–88  1989–07  2007–12  2013–16  2016–

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. The new stadium is around 500 meters away from the Stade de Venoix.

Players

Current squad

As of 29 July 2017.^[8]

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Rémy Vercoutre 3 DF Florian Le Joncour 4 MF Ismaël Diomandé 5 MF Baïssama Sankoh 6 MF Jonathan Delaplace 7 FW Yann Karamoh 8 MF Stef Peeters 11 MF Vincent Bessat 12 FW Ronny Rodelin 13 FW Christian Kouakou 14 FW Jeff Louis 15 DF Emmanuel Imorou 17 MF Jordan Nkololo 18 MF Durel Avounou

No. Position Player 19 MF Jordan Leborgne 20 FW Hervé Bazile 21 DF Frédéric Guilbert 22 DF Adama Mbengue 23 DF Mouhamadou Dabo 24 DF Alexander Djiku 25 MF Julien Féret (captain) 26 FW Ivan Santini 27 MF Valentin Voisin 28 DF Damien Da Silva 29 DF Romain Genevois 30 GK Brice Samba 40 GK Matthieu Dreyer

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player — GK Paul Reulet (on loan to Boulogne) — DF Chaker Alhadhur (on loan to Châteauroux)

No. Position Player — FW Pape Sané (on loan to Auxerre)

Notable former players

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

Managerial history

References

External links

• Official website (in French)