FC Nantes

Nantes

Full name	Football Club de Nantes
Nickname(s)	La Maison Jaune (The Yellow House) Les Canaries (The Canaries)
Short name	FCN or Nantes
Founded	21 April 1943; 78 years ago (1943-04-21)
Ground	La Beaujoire-Louis Fonteneau
Capacity	35,322
Owner	Waldemar Kita
President	Waldemar Kita
Head coach	Antoine Kombouaré
League	Ligue 1
2020–21	Ligue 1, 18th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Football Club de Nantes (Breton: Naoned; Gallo: Naunnt), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (IPA: [nɑ̃t] (listen)), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as a result of local clubs based in the city coming together to form one large club. From 1992 to 2007, the club was referred to as FC Nantes Atlantique before reverting to its current name at the start of the 2007–08 season. Nantes play in Ligue 1, the first division of Football in France. Nantes is one of the most successful clubs in French football, having won eight Ligue 1 titles, three Coupe de France wins and attained one Coupe de la Ligue victory.

The club is famous for its jeu à la nantaise ("Nantes-style play"), its collective spirit, mainly advocated under coaches José Arribas, Jean-Claude Suaudeau and Raynald Denoueix and for its youth system, which has produced players such as Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps, Mickaël Landreau, Claude Makélélé, Christian Karembeu and Jérémy Toulalan. As well as Les Canaris (The Canaries), Nantes is also nicknamed Les jaunes et verts (The Green and Yellows) and La Maison Jaune (The Yellow House).

History[]

The club was founded in 1943.^[1] The first match played by Nantes as a professional team took place at the Stade Olympique de Colombes against CA Paris, where Nantes triumphed 2–0. The first home match was a defeat of the same score against Troyes. 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 in a player-coach role. After winning 16 consecutive matches, Nantes lost 9–0 to Sochaux.^{[citation needed]}

Supporters at an away match.

In July 1991, the club re-instated Jean-Claude Suaudeau, and in July 1992, after spending a fortnight in the second division due to an administrative decision by the DNCG (French Football's financial regulator), FC Nantes was renamed FC Nantes Atlantique, and was able to take its place in the first division back. They won the French championship in 1994–95^[2] and again in 2000–01. In 2005, Nantes narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the season by defeating Metz 1–0.^[3] In 2007 Nantes finished last in Ligue 1 and were relegated to Ligue 2 after spending 44 consecutive seasons in Ligue 1. In 2008, Nantes were promoted back to Ligue 1 at the first attempt but the following season they were relegated back to Ligue 2 after finishing 19th on the table. After spending 3 seasons in Ligue 2, Nantes were once again promoted to Ligue 1 in 2013. In their first season back in the top division, Nantes avoided relegation finishing 13th on the table. After two years of stability, in the 2016–17 Ligue 1 season, Nantes finished a highly respectable 7th on the table. For the 2017–18 season, former Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri took over as manager and after 10 games in charge had Nantes sitting 3rd on the table just behind big spending Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco.^[4][5] In the second half of the 2017–18 season, Nantes managed to only win 3 more games and finished 9th on the table. Claudio Ranieri also announced his departure from the club after only one season.^[6][7]

In the 2018–19 season, Nantes appointed Vahid Halilhodžić as their new manager. In January 2019, the club was rocked by the news that, just days after selling him for £15 million, former player Emiliano Sala had died in a plane crash over the English Channel. Nantes would end up finishing the season in 12th place. The club enjoyed a mixed campaign with the highlight being an upset victory over Paris Saint-Germain and also claiming wins over Marseille and Lyon.^[8][9]

In the 2019–20 season, Nantes finished 13th on the table. In the 2020–21 season, Nantes finished in 18th place on the table which meant they needed to play a two-legged promotion/relegation playoff against Ligue 2's Toulouse FC. After winning the first leg 2–1, Nantes were defeated 1–0 in the second leg but avoided relegation due to away goal rules.^[10]

Stadiums[]

Stade de la Beaujoire, also known as the Stade de Nantes.

FC Nantes played at Stade Marcel Saupin from 1937 to 1984.^[11] Nantes' moved to their current home ground Stade de la Beaujoire-Louis Fontenau in 1984, the stadium has a capacity of 38,128.^[12] A new stadium dubbed 'YelloPark' was expected to be built and replace the Stade de la Beaujoire-Louis Fontenau as Nantes' home ground in 2022, but the project was abandoned on 26 February 2019 following refusal by the Nantes Metropolitan Council to sell lands needed for development of the site.^[13][14][15]

Players[]

Current squad[]

As of 12 August 2021^[16]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FRA Alban Lafont (captain) 2 DF  BRA Fábio 3 MF  BRA Andrei Girotto 4 DF  FRA Nicolas Pallois (vice-captain) 5 MF  ESP Pedro Chirivella 6 MF  FRA Roli Pereira de Sa 7 FW  MLI Kalifa Coulibaly 8 MF  FRA Wylan Cyprien (on loan from Parma) 10 MF  FRA Ludovic Blas 11 FW  FRA Marcus Coco 12 DF  FRA Dennis Appiah 14 DF  MLI Charles Traoré 16 GK  FRA Rémy Descamps 17 FW  BEL Anthony Limbombe 18 MF  COD Samuel Moutoussamy 19 MF  FRA Abdoulaye Touré

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  FRA Jean-Kévin Augustin 21 DF  CMR Jean-Charles Castelletto 22 FW  FRA Bridge Ndilu 23 FW  FRA Randal Kolo Muani 24 DF  FRA Sébastien Corchia 26 MF  GHA Osman Bukari (on loan from Gent) 27 FW  NGA Moses Simon 28 FW  BEL Renaud Emond 29 FW  FRA Quentin Merlin 30 GK  SVN Denis Petrić 32 FW  FRA Kader Bamba 40 GK  FRA Charly Jan 52 DF  FRA Yannis M'Bemba 60 GK  FRA Lucas Bonelli 63 MF  ARM Gor Manvelyan

Other players under contract[]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  FRA Abou Ba — MF  EQG Santiago Eneme

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  GUI Abdoulaye Sylla — DF  MLI Molla Wagué

Reserve squad[]

As of 13 January 2021^[17]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  FRA Nassim Badri — GK  BIH Adem Husejnovic — GK  FRA Anthony Robin — DF  FRA Victor Daguin — DF  FRA Nathan Gassama — DF  FRA Aristote Lusinga — DF  FRA Wesley Moustache — DF  PER Percy Prado — DF  FRA Ryan Sabry — DF  FRA Sekou Traore

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  FRA Teddy Bouriaud — MF  FRA Theo Chendri — MF  CMR James Eto'o-Eyenga — MF  FRA Taylor Luvambo — MF  FRA Bryan Mavinzi — MF  FRA Mathis Thévenin — FW  FRA Hakim Abdallah — FW  MLI Amadou Coulibaly — FW  FRA Akram Tsague

Retired numbers[]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 9 FW  ARG Emiliano Sala (posthumous honour)[18][19]

Notable players[]

Below are the notable former players who have represented Nantes in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1943. To appear in the section below, a player must have played in at least 100 official matches for the club.^{[citation needed]}

For a complete list of FC Nantes players, see Category:FC Nantes players

Coaches[]

^{[citation needed]}

Honours[]

Domestic competitions[]

• Ligue 1
  • Winners (8): 1964–65, 1965–66, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1982–83, 1994–95, 2000–01
• Coupe de France
  • Winners (3): 1978–79, 1998–99, 1999–2000
• Coupe de la Ligue
  • Winners: 1964–65
• Trophée des Champions
  • Winners (3): 1965, 1999, 2001

International competitions[]

• UEFA Champions League
  • Semi-finalists: 1995–96
• UEFA Cup
  • Quarter-finalists: 1994–95
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
  • Semi-finalists: 1979–80
• Cup of the Alps
  • Winners: 1982

References[]

External links[]

• FC Nantes at UEFA
• Official website (in French)