Pau FC

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Pau Football Club

Full name	Pau Football Club
Nickname(s)	Les Capbourruts Les Béarnais Les Pionniers
Founded	16 May 1959; 62 years ago (1959-05-16) as Football-Club de Pau
Ground	Nouste Camp
Capacity	4,031
Owner	Bernard Laporte-Fray
Chairman	Bernard Laporte-Fray
Manager	Didier Tholot
League	Ligue 2
2020–21	14th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Pau Football Club (French: [po futbol klœb], Bearnese [paw futˈbɔl klub]), commonly referred to as simply Pau FC, is a French professional association football club based in. a professional football club based in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, capital of Béarn, who compete in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football.

They were founded in as de Pau, although their official founding date is 1959 which is when Football-Club de Pau were first formed. Bleuets de Notre-Dame joined the highest amateur league in France in 1958 after success in the French South-West League (Ligue du Sud-Ouest). In the early years after the club's formation in its original home of Pau, they played their home games at many different grounds, until finally the club settled into its current location at the Nouste Camp.

The club's achievements include winning the Championnat National in 2020, twice winning the National 2 title in 1998 & 2016 and winning the French South-West League in 1958 and 1968.

Pau FC have long-standing rivalries with several other clubs in Southern France, in the Adour river basin. The most notable of these are Bayonne, Mont-de-Marsan & Tarbes.

History[]

Football in Pau and South-West France[]

Since the Belle Époque, football had to play second fiddle to basketball and especially rugby union in Pau. Nowadays, the popularity of both Pau's basketball and rugby union clubs – Section Paloise and Élan Béarnais, respectively – remains greater than that of Pau FC.^[1][2]

Historically and culturally, rugby was probably closer to the values of the place (Gascony), replacing the Béarnese and Basque rural sports in the hearts of the people of Béarn and Gascony.^[3]

Pau, ville Anglaise[]

In spite of the strong English and British community in Pau during the Belle Époque, football was rather to take hold in Béarn, contrary to what happened in Northern France.

However, at the end of the 19th century and after the Battle of the Pyrenees, wealthy Europeans, and especially the English, flocked to Pau and the Basque coast in large numbers. These wealthy tourists made Pau one of the leading winter destinations for thermal tourism, to take advantage of the curative virtues of the Béarn climate and the Pyrenean waters. As early as 1826, the English wintering in Pau had created the English Club of Pau, an association of notables discussing the current events in the city, while practising golf and horse riding. This Cercle Anglais still exists today in its premises at the Villa Lawrence.

Thus, despite the very strong British and English historical presence in Pau, especially during the Belle Époque, since the troops of General Wellington remained posted in Pau after his defeat at the Battle of Orthez (1814), football arrived relatively late compared to other French regions.^[4][5]

At that time, many rich American and English people flocked to Pau to enjoy the healing virtues of the Pau climate and Pyrenean waters, attracted by Dr. Alexander Taylor and his essay on medicine, "On the Curative Influence of the Climate of Pau, and the Mineral Waters of the Pyrenees On Diseases" which was hugely successful in England at the time.^[6][3] James Gordon Benett was a regular visitor to the Boulevard des Pyrénées.^[7]

These expatriates, including Henry Russell's father, launched the fashion of Pyreneism and also regularly attended Billère's golf course. Thus, in November 1856, Major Pontifex, Colonels Anstruther and Hutchinson, Archdeacon Sapte and Lord Hamilton formally founded in Pau the first continental golf course in France and Europe, outside of the British Isles, the Pau Golf Club.^[8][9]

(FR), of Irish descent became mayor of Pau in 1860. In the region in the nineteenth century, a Scotsman called J. J. Shearer contributed to the establishment of rugby in Bordeaux and Welshman Owen Roe to rowing and rugby in Bayonne.^[10]

At the beginning of the 20th century, however, formal teams appeared in Béarn and French Basque Country under the patronage of the parishes of the districts of towns and villages. A first championship was organized by the Pyrenean Union, local body of the Gymnastics and Sports Federation of the patronages of France (FGSPF). Ten patronages participate in this original edition: seven located around Bayonne and three patronages of the region of Pau: Alerte de Ségure (patronage of the Lycée which would later be renamed Louis-Barthou Pau), FA Bourbaki of Pau and Avenir Salisien.^[11]

Football has officially been practiced in Pau since 1902 and the first season of Football at the JAB Pau. This club, from the Saint Martin patronage, has trained many professional players like Jean-Michel Larqué, Jean-François Larios or .

Like many other football clubs in South West France and Béarn, this club is originally a Catholic patronage.

In 1904 took place the first season of the Football Association Bourbaki, whose colors are gray and purple. This patronage was founded in 1888 by the abbot Lafourcade, of the parish Saint-Jacques de Pau. The patronage is named after Charles-Denis Bourbaki, French general born in Pau in 1816 and known to have commanded the Armée de l'Est during the War of 1870.^[12]

Rugby's lasting impact in the 20th century[]

The adoption of football in Béarn has been quite late in comparison with the rest of France. However, rugby in Pau arrived much earlier, thanks to the numerous British expatriates that the city welcomed during Belle Époque.^[13]

Indeed, along with Bordeaux, Pau is the second city outside Paris to welcome rugby.^[14] As early as 1890, the Coquelicots de Pau played friendly matches against the Montagnards of Bayonne and the Pyrenean of Tarbes.

The first rugby club was the Stade Palois, founded in 1899.

Meanwhile, the very oldest golf course in Europe had been established in 1856 in Pau. From around 1830 to the World War I, many English expatriates were headed for the Bearnese capital, and the city became "la ville Anglaise".^[15]

Joseph Peyré, a writer from Béarn wore the jersey of Coquelicots de Pau.

The same phenomenon happened all over Southwestern France, and Gascony, including Béarn, became rugby hotbeds.

British expatriates played a major role in the establishment of this sport..

Section Paloise, which had abandoned the practice of Barrette promoted by local Doctor Tissié in 1905 after absorbing Stade Palois, focused on Football-Rugby, as was known the sport at the time. The club, capitalising on the influx of winterers, welcomed British players such as the Welshman Crockwell in 1907 and Tom Potter, a former army officer from the Harlequin Football Club in 1912.

These foreign talents and the pool of local players from Béarn helped Section Paloise become a stronghold of French rugby, with 3 French championship titles, a Challenge Yves du Manoir and a title in the European Challenge. This success of rugby in Béarn and Gascony may also be explained by the antagonism between the lay patronages of the Lay Abbeys, which commno-place in Béarn, and the Catholic patronages, which has certainly helped to promote the practice of rugby.

Protestant and aristocratic in England, French rugby will be geographically Occitan, politically republican as well as secular and sociologically non-elitist.^[16]

Indeed, the Catholic Church disapproved of the practice of rugby due to the frequent contacts between the players, and militated for the development of football or basketball. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Catholics of Béarn made football and basketball their flagship sports, as rugby was considered too republican and secular.

This context favoured the emergence of rugby clubs, and not Catholic patronages.

Rugby thus certainly represented a form of resistance against the Catholic Church, Béarn having historically been a Protestant land, the only Calvinist state in Southern Europe. When Louis XIII annexed Béarn, he re-imposed Catholicism as the state religion.

Finally, the linguistic imperialism imposed on the Bearnese people by the French Third Republic, reflected in the policy of forced francization, provoked a movement in defence of the Béarnese language (see Linguicide and Vergonha) in this former independent state, historically a precursor of modern democracy.^[17]

In the Belle Époque, Béarn was a rebellious land to the contralisaed, Jacobin state, fiercely in love with freedom, that the annexation to France and the affirmation of nation-states deprived of its key transpyrenean role, no doubt explaining the Anglomania of Pau at the end of the 19th century.

Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau (1920–1959)[]

The Catholic patronage of the Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau was officially founded in 1920 – even though the first mentions of the patronage date back to 1904– by the parish priest Jean-Paul Ramonguilhem, with the help of local entrepreneur Gaston Santé and mailman Louis Delnaz.

The Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau, founded in the aftermath of World War I, are so named because Bleuets or cornflower in English for this flower is the first to grow (along with poppies) after bombings on battle fields. The club was therefore meant to be a symbol of renaissance and reconstruction. In France the bleuet de France also happens to be the symbol of the 11 November 1918 armistice and, as such, a common symbol for veterans (especially the now defunct poilus of World War I), similar to the Remembrance poppies worn in the United Kingdom and in Canada.

This is the patronage of the parish Notre-Dame de Pau, attended by all the youth of the Mayolis district, which was then a popular district of the city of Pau. This district is nowadays called the Triangle, famous for its festive nightlife. At that time, the patronage enabled the local youth to practice many sports activities such as football, but also music, theater, gymnastics, athletics, or roller skating.

The practice of football dates back to from 1923, although the first meaningful season of a football team of Bleuets would take place in 1935–1936, at the creation of the District of the Pyrenees in 1936.

The Pau Football Club is the result of the split with Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau in 1959.

Rise in power (1950 to 1956)[]

Albert Lille (1899–1979), nicknamed "The sorcerer" was a firefighter and deputy secretary general of the city of Pau. He became vice-president of the Bleuets football section of Notre Dame de Pau in 1945 and would remain until 1958. He had previously left in 1932 the Bourbaki Football Association to join Bleuets . The patronage of the Blueberries had acquired in 1941 a ground of 12 000 m2, located road of Buros, to build its Stade des Bleuets, equipped with two lateral stands. It was originally a cowshed with a farm, the Bernès farm, where players would wash after matches.

Albert Lille played a vital role for the club and football in Béarn. Under his direction, the patro structured and progressed through the amateur league system. Lille is notably responsible for the constitution of a youth team with players from the district that would go on to help the club experience nine promotions in ten years and reach the highest amateur division, at a time when the leagues were closed.

If you did not give everything, you did not give anything.

— Albert Lille

Taking care of training, Albert Lille devoted himself more specifically to youth teams. Thus, he leads his group, championship titles of the Pyrenean Union in several age categories. This team would soon confirm by becoming champions of the League cadets and champions of France F.S.C.F. juniors in April 1950 against the "Vigilante de Saint-Étienne" in Montpellier on the score of 4 to 1, on the ground of the SOM.

Having started life in the lower leagues of the Pyrenees District in 1950–51, the Bleuets, seven years later in 1958, reached the highest amateur league in France, with a team made up of players largely coming from the Mayolis district of Pau. At that time the Bleuets took the ascendancy over the JAB of Pau, FA Bourbaki and Union Jurançonnaise.

Golden Age in Division Nationale (1956 to 1958)[]

The Bleuets are promoted to the Division Nationale, managing an honorable 6th place in the Southwest group for their first season at this level, confirming their status as "Pioneers" of football in Southwest France.

In 1958, the patronage of vice-president Albert Lille and coach Bela Herczecg won the South West Division Division Champion title. The football on display was English, physical and committed, more about strength and playing the ball forward as quickly as possible, reflecting the character of a rugby mad city.

The 1958–59 National Division season was the 11th edition of the championship, which was the first level in French amateur football. The competition was won that season by AS Saint-Étienne.

Therefore, Pau, still known under the name Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau reached the highest level of the French South-West regional football league for the first time in 1956. Under the guidance of coach Albert Lille at the beginning of the 50s, the Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau are growing as a football club with a Champion of France youth title in 1951.

This was the foundation of their run in the 1958 Coupe de France, when the first team played in the French third tier.

The Round of 64 of the 1957/1958 edition of the Coupe de France against FC Girondins de Bordeaux, then in the Division 2, that was lost 4–1 after extra-time in front of more than 6000 spectators at the stade de l'avenue de Buros is still one of the greatest matches of the club's history.

There was a split at the club in 1959, which resulted in the creation of Football Club de Pau, focused on the first team and Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau, which continued with the youth team. Indeed, the club was not willing to shed their amateur status and start remunerating their players, as the parsons argued that training professional players was not part of their attributions.

Football Club de Pau[]

Creation of the club – José Bidegain era (1959 to 1965)[]

Thanks to the Bleuets' run in 1957/1958 edition of the Coupe de France and this memorable match against the Girondins, the local demand for high-level football in Pau, Béarn and the South West was really at an all-time high.

The Bishop, responsible for the patronage of the Bleuets de Notre Dame de Pau felt it had reached the limits and looked for a new group of local leaders able to manage a senior team able to represent the city of Pau at the national level. Indeed, the French Championship of amateur football requires the implementation of means that exceed the possibilities and competence of the normal organization of a patronage, whose work is essentially educational.

The first team of the Bleuets Notre-Dame de Pau split and gave birth to the Football Club de Pau on 19 May 1959 with the motto "Vaincre ou Sourire", meaning "To win or smile", at the initiative of the young and dynamic local entrepreneur José Bidegain, to endow Pau, in full economic expansion thanks to the exploitation of the Lacq gas field since 1956, of an amateur football team worthy of its reputation as "Queen of Sports" City.

The creation was announced at a press conference held at the Café Majestic, an emblematic place located on the Place Royale. The club's Affiliation Number at the French Football Federation is 50168130 and it chose to retain the original colors worn by the Bleuets, Blue and White. The club has since its foundation had the concern to limit as much as possible the number of matches overlapping with those of the local rugby club.

The headquarters were established at the Hotel Beauséjour, while the club would play its home matches either at the Stade Des Bleuets or at the newly built Stade du Hameau from 13 February 1960.

FC Pau wants to honour football and its supporters.

— José Bidegain

An emblematic leftist industrialist, was the CEO of Bidegain SA, a company created in 1936 famous for the Babybottes. He embodied the modernist wing of the National Council of French Patronage of which he was vice-president, and pushed for a better dialogue with the unions.

A figure of social Christianity, Bidegain went on to become President of Action Against Hunger from 1991 until his death and joined the Ministry of Industry, under the second Rocard government. At the time of his death in 1999 following a car accident, Serge July devoted a stirring hommage to him in Libération. An enthusiastic speleologist, Bidegain was one of the rescuers during the tragedy of 14 August 1952 of the Gouffre de Pierre Saint-Martin where Marcel Loubens died during a large-scale expedition in which Haroun Tazieff participated. He is also the father of screenwriter Thomas Bidegain.

Right from the beginning, Football Club de Pau was meant to keep on building on what the Bleuets and other patronages of the city has achieved.

FC Pau became de facto the only club in the South West, with the exception of Toulouse and Bordeaux, to play in the national divisions.

The local press often refers to the club as FC Palois.

The club was ambitious, playing friendly matches against its Spanish neighbors of Real Sociedad and Club Fútbol Jacetano in 1959, to get prepared and more competitive before the start of the season.

The Palois lost to Andoni Elizondo's Real Sociedad on the score of 6–2.

For this inaugural season, FC Pau finished 7th in the South-West Group Amateur Football Championship Group. The new club's start to the season wasindeed difficult, but the Palois finally recovered in the second part of the season. They began the season with an inaugural defeat at the Stade de la Route de Buros against the outgoing champion Brive on 26 August 1959, and then recovered against Limoges the following week, winning on the score of 2 to 1.

The club slowly built on this promising season and began consolidating while attracting experienced players, such as midfielder Joseph Brotons – who would later play in Division 1 at OM. In addition, the young André Altuzarra built a solid reputation and became international junior in 196045 before leaving to try his luck at Girondins de Bordeaux.

Les Palois settled at the Stade du Hameau on 21 February 1960, winning the inaugural match against the Athletic Sport Rochefortais on the score of 5 to 1, thanks to a tactic in 2–3–5 and the confirmation of the form of Altuzarra.

However, recurrent infrastructure problems and the lack of a proper stadium, would continue to hinder the development of this young football club fighting for recognition and survival in the heartland of a Rugby union land, Béarn, and South-Western France as a whole.

Pau Football Club[]

New start (1995)[]

The club was renamed Pau Football Club during the 1995 – 1996 season when Football Club de Pau when it went to administration. Two projects were then in competition for the takeover: that of a former player in the person of Bernard Laporte-Fray132 and that of the former president of FC Pau from 1975 to 1991: Pierre Clède.

Mayor André Labarrère believes that the city of Pau could host three professional sport clubs "There is room for three top clubs in Pau. On the condition that they are well managed. "The decision was finally taken to save top-level football in Pau under the name "Pau Football Club" and not "Pau-Pyrénées Football Club", a name championed by the Clede team.

"Mr. Cléde is a quality man who did what was necessary for football in Pau, but he is a man of the past. »

— André Labarrère

Bernard Laporte-Fray, the 1983 goalkeeper, became president of the Pau Football Club twelve years after his debut for the club. All that remained was to obtain the approval of the liquidator and that of the FFF. Laporte-Fray was the goalkeeper during the 1982–1983 Division 4 season when FC Pau won his place in Division 3 1983–1984, and was the first to play at this level in Blois.

From now on, the emphasis is clearly on training young players and ending the star system. The former captain of the 1980s, Robert Péré-Escamps, who played for the club for thirteen seasons, was appointed to the position of coach with the task of maintaining the club in National 2 for the 1995–1996 season, the club having been relegated administratively the previous season.

But beware, we are not leaders in three-piece suits. Our aim is to save the club, not to show off or promote ourselves. So we are now working as a team. We are a team of friends, and we want to rediscover the values of our sport.

— Bernard Laporte-Fray

The wage bill was halved, from 375,000 francs to 175,000 francs. Frédéric Viseux, José Dalmao, Bob Senoussi and Pascal Plancque left the club.

The club's sporting policy was profoundly changed. No more high salaries, and the emphasis was placed on developing academy players so that they do not hesitate to hand them their first team debut in their teenage years.

Pau FC made the first page of their new history at the Hameau stadium against Dijon FCO, winning 1–0.

In 1997, the Pau FC offered René Girard his first coaching opportunity, whose mission was to obtain promotion to the National and eventually to League 2.

Stabilization, development and failure René Girard (1997–2001)[]

Pau FC entered the newly created national championship at the beginning of the 1998–1999 season under the leadership of René Girard, after having been promoted from the CFA.

"When I arrived at Pau FC, then in the fourth division, I thought that despite the competition from basketball and rugby, the city deserved a Ligue 1 club."

— René Girard

It was under René Girard's orders that Edouard Cissé made his debut, before being transferred to PSG in December 1997 for 35,000 francs.

Unfortunately, the results did not follow at the National level and Girard was dismissed in December 1997, complaining about Richard Allenda's influence behind the scenes and not having had a hand in recruitment, to keep Michel Sanchez, the team's star striker. He sued the club afterwards.

Joël Lopez and Richard Allenda took over the interim and gave the Capbourruts a victory over the Association sportive de Saint-Étienne in the eighth round of the Coupe de France in .

Pascal Plancque, former player of the club who had finished his career with the Basque club Arin luzien in the regional leagues, took over from Allenda in January 1998.

During the same 1997–98 season, Pascal Plancque guided the club to the 8th rounfd of the Coupe de France, when they were eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain.

Joël Bats, the PSG coach, had previously warned his troops, not at best at that time, against the "temperament of the South-West", considering that it was "a trap match ".

Some spectators had queued up to 4 hours to obtain seats.

The match against PSG was played in a packed Stade du Hameau in front of a then capacity crowd of 15,000 spectators. The only goal of the match was scored by the Seleçao captain Raí. The club's prodiugal son, Edouard Cissé came on as a sub, replacing Laurent Fournier. The match was physical and ended with a massive brawl that continued in the dressing rooms. Despite the defeat to a better team, the Palois were able to use "grinta" to thwart the plans of PSG coaches Ricardo Gomes and Joël Bats, who graduated at the academy of Pau FC's rivals Stade Montois. Two chances from Girardot and Baylac could have even allowed him to win.

The Capbourruts had three players sent off that day: Jacques Rémy, 73rd; Xavier Bécas, 113th and Laurent Vacher, 119th and consider that the referee was not up to the task144.

On that day, the PSG fielded an experienced team against amateurs (only Vacher and Rémy benefited from federal contracts) but only managed to win on the smallest of margins after extra time:

8th round of the 1997–98 Coupe de France

Pau FC (4–4–2)

Goalkeeper Christophe Baiocco

Defenders Laurent Bédani – Laurent Vacher (Cap) – Arthur Demirdjian – David Jauréguiberry

Eddy Bathie (Richard Goyet, 117th) Normand (Jean-Jacques Bécas, 66th), Alexandre Sallabery, Jacques Rémy

Forwards Raphaël Girardot (Gilles Guerri, 86th) – Denis Baylac

Paris SG (4–4–2)

Goalkeeper Vincent Fernandez

Defenders Jimmy Algérino, Bruno Ngotty, Alain Roche, Paul Le Guen

Milieux Laurent Fournier (Édouard Cissé, 68th), Pierre Ducrocq, Raí Jérôme Leroy

Forwards Marco Simone, James Debbah (Patrice Loko, 80th).

In 1998, Pau Football Club mourned the sudden death of the club's legend Paul Escudé. A stadium now bears his name in Pau, inaugurated by his two sons: Julien Escudé and Nicolas Escudé.

At the beginning of the 1999–2000 season, Pau FC now has a budget of 6.5 million francs, allowing the club to compete with National's big guns and generating growing interest. Bernard Laporte Fray, then a young president, who after the past escapades, was part of this new management team that has given back credibility to a club that was sorely lacking. But by regaining their discipline, the Palois have not lost their ambitions. The club is at the gates of Division 2 and the professional world the club had been wanting to join for years.

"We are aiming for D2 in the medium term, but if it comes this season, we will seize it. Because Ligue 2, and therefore professionalism, is the only way for us to establish our foundations and strengthen our training structures. We have a great potential of talented young players that we can only keep if we disposed of our academy. We're fed of being raided every year by bigger clubs! »

— Bernard Laporte Fray

The club is struggling, but lacks structure since the Capbourruts cannot effectively offer young locals a training centre, a preserve of professional structures. Moreover, the partnership with the Girondins de Bordeaux was not very productive, and Pau FC turned to the Toulouse Football Club at that time, with the arrival of Avezac.

Julien Poueys, alocal lad, who had worked his way up at Montpellier HSC, came back at the club in 1991.

Dark Times and relegation to the Fourth Division (2001–2008)[]

In 2001, the club went through a new troubled period following the conditional sentence of its president Bernard Laporte-Fray and its sports director Richard Allenda to prison for possession of cocaine. The presidency was for a time held by Jacques le Coadou, before a former player, Joel Lopez, took over.

During the 2005–06 season, Pau FC, led by Marc Lévy, returned to the club in a coaching role and was loaned by Lorient FC a young player named André-Pierre Gignac. At the age of 21, "Dédé Gignac" had scored eight goals in twenty games for the Capbourruts. The Béarnais club had finished 15th.

He built his reputation as a bon vivant, quickly becoming part of the team and sharing local food sausages on the team bus.

I never forget the years spent in Championnat National and Ligue 2. Today, it is an additional strength. It was not easy to come down even though I spent incredible moments in Pau. I have not only had high points in my career and it is part of me.

— André-Pierre Gignac

In 2002, the club continued to structure itself and appointed Jean-Marc Ferratge as head of the club's training unit153, before taking over the reins of the first team in 2003.

The average attendance was around 1,500 that season.

Behind the scenes, Jacques Le Coadou handed over the presidency of the club, a position he had held since 2001 to Joël Lopez. The club is in a poor state of repair in terms of training and no longer includes many regional players.

Pau Football Club remained at National level until the 2007–08 season, when it finished at the 17th place and was relegated to Group C of the 2008–09 French Amateur Football Championship. The following season, the club finished third, narrowly missing immediate promotion back to the Third Division. That season, David Vignes was appointed coach on 8 October 2007, in place of Jean-Luc Girard, of whom he was the assistant.

During this last National season, Joël Lopez made an uncompromising assessment of the state of football in Béarn, which, despite 6,000 licence holders, lacks "football culture", while regional competitions and levels of play are low, which hinders the club's ability to detect regional talent155.

Thus, following Tino Costa's signature, Pau FC forged links with the Argentine training centre in Las Flores, the city where Costa originated.

Pau Football Club (1998–99 to 2007–08) and AS Cannes (2001–02 to 2010–11) still co-host the record for longevity in National, with 10 consecutive seasons played.

Pau Football Club stayed in National until the 2007–2008 season when they finished 17th and were relegated to CFA. Pau Football Club (from 1998 to 1999 to 2007–2008) and AS Cannes (from 2001 to 2002 to 2010–2011) are the record holding clubs for the number of seasons spent in the French third tier, with 10 consecutive seasons

Pau FC is again promoted to National for the 2016–2017 season from the CFA after finishing first in the 2015–16 season. They entered the season and did not win any of their first 5 games (drawn 3, lost 2). However they steadily pulled themselves out of the relegation zone and after 22 games, appeared safe from relegation in 12th position. However, Pau went on a 10 match winless run (drawn 5, lost 5) and found themselves sitting in 17th position with 2 games remaining. However, victories over SAS Épinal and US Concarneau saved them from relegation and finished in 14th position, just 1 point out of the relegation zone.

When the 2019–20 Championnat National season was prematurely ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pau were top of the table, and were declared promoted to Ligue 2 by the FFF executive committee.^[18]

Pau FC managed a noteworthy 3–2 win after extra-time over Ligue 1 heavyweights Girondins de Bordeaux on Thursday to reach the last 16 of the Coupe de France.^[19][20]

Les Capbourruts the faced PSG in the Round of 16 of the Coupe de France, and played a better game than many Ligue 1 sides managed against the future Champions League finalists, only losing 2–0. Leandro Paredes and Pablo Sarabia scored, for the visitors at a sold out Stade du Hameau. Pau FC registered their highest attendance ever that day, with 16,707 persons witnessing the PSG victory.^[21]

The Parisian media had been particularly harsh regarding the field at Stade du Hameau before the game.^[22] Edinson Cavani and Thiago Silva both had been left out of the PSG squad.^[23]

Ligue 2[]

Pau FC finally reached their goal to get promoted to Ligue 2 at the beginning of the 2020–21 Ligue 2 season.^[24]

Key moments[]

1920: Foundation of Bleuets Notre-Dame de Pau.

1923: First Football season at Bleuets Notre-Dame de Pau.

1951: French Champion – youth team

1956: Reached the top level of the French South-West Regional football league.

1958: Champion of the French South-West Regional football league. Promotion to the third tier of French football.

1959: Split of Football Club de Pau and Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau.

1995: The club went to administration, reformed, changed their name to Pau football Club and were relegated to the fourth tier of French football.

1998: Pau football Club is champion of the Group C of the Championnat de France Amateur groupe C and are promoted to the Championnat National. The club also reached the Round of 16 of the Coupe de France, which they lost 0–1 a.e.t. to Paris Saint-Germain FC.

2008: Relegation to Championnat de France Amateur .

2016: Promotion to the Championnat National.

2020: Promotion to Ligue 2.

Colours and badge[]

In FC Pau's first years, the club kit was blue and white shirts, white shorts and blue socks, thus echoing the original Bleuets de Notre Dame strip.. The club soon switched to yellow shirts with blue sleeves and collars.

In 1991, Pau due to then president Alain Pitoun, switched back to blue and white shirts, white shorts and blue socks. In 1995, Pau changed again to yellow shirts with blue sleeves and collars.

Badge

The traditional badge of the club, revealed in 1959 at the creation of FC Pau during a press conference held at the Majestic on the Place Royale, is inspired by that of the town of Pau. The slogan, inherited from Bleuets de Pau, has been Vaincre ou Sourire ie, "Win or Smile" since 1920.

With the exception of some very unfortunate adventures in the 1990s and until 2009, with logos taking up that of the town and highlighting the Alfred de Vigny fountain located on the Boulevard des Pyrénées, Les Palois have remained faithful to the original logo.

The current coat of arms refers to the crown of Henri IV and the Bèth Cèu de Pau (Beautiful sky of Pau in Bearnese language). This logo highlights the attachment to the Pyrenees of mountains, and more particularly to the Pic du Midi d'Ossau as seen from the famous Boulevard des Pyrénées in the town of Pau. This unique panorama made Lamartine, a major figure of Romanticism in France: Pau is the most beautiful land view in the world as Naples is the most beautiful sea view.

The crown on top of the badge highlights the city's nickname of "Royal City" since Pau was the birthplace of Henry IV, or Nouste Henric for the people of Béarn. The city was the capital of Béarn, a former sovereign state, then a former French province following its attachment to the kingdom of France in 1620 after Louis XIII, Henry IV' son, imposed the union of the two crowns of France and Navarre by organising a military expedition to Béarn.

The club's supporters maintain a clear preference for the historical logo and its 2009 derivative, and continue to use this logo in their communications. In a Facebook post, the Community Manager of the club said in 2011 "I do not understand the logo change".

Stadium[]

The club's new football-specific stadium is named Nouste Camp.

The historic ground of the Bleuets Notre-Dame de Pau is the Stade des Bleuets, located at avenue de Buros in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

Pau FC's ground has long been the Stade du Hameau, completely renovated for the 2017 season, with a 18426 seating capacity.

Rivalries[]

Pau Football have long-standing rivalries with

• Aviron Bayonnais FC – Derby basco-béarnais
• Tarbes Pyrénées Football
• Stade Montois Football Derby lando-béarnai.

Regional rivalries

• Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux
• Jeanne d'Arc Dax
• Les Genêts d'Anglet Football
• Arin Luzien
• Jeanne d'Arc de Biarritz
• Élan béarnais d'Orthez Football
• Football Club du Luy de Béarn

Current squad[]

As of 16 August 2021.^[25][26]

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 Alexandre Olliero 4 MF  CIV Xavier Kouassi 5 MF  SEN Abdourahmane Ndiaye 6 MF  FRA Quentin Daubin 7 DF  CIV Erwin Koffi 8 DF  FRA Mahamadou Dembélé (on loan from Troyes) 9 FW  FRA Romain Armand 10 MF  SRB Jovan Nišić 11 FW  FRA Djibril Dianessy 12 FW  FRA Eddy Sylvestre (on loan from Standard Liège) 14 DF  FRA Kenji-Van Boto (on loan from Auxerre) 16 GK  SEN Massamba Ndiaye

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 DF  FRA Antoine Batisse 18 FW  GHA Ebenezer Assifuah 19 MF  FRA Victor Lobry 20 DF  FRA Louis Bury 21 MF  FRA Steeve Beusnard 24 MF  ALG Zakaria Naidji (on loan from Paradou AC) 25 MF  FRA Paul Meliande 26 DF  FRA Jean Lambert Evans 28 FW  GNB David Gomis 29 FW  FRA Samuel Essende 30 GK  FRA Benjamin Bertrand

Records[]

Appearances[]

Pau Football Club's highest appearance-maker is ex-captain with 260 appearances, followed by Nicolas Cami with 239 matches.

Goals[]

is Pau Football Club's all-time top goalscorer, with 59 goals.

Pierre Aristouy and Seydou Koné are respectively second and third with 29 and 22 goals.

Notable players[]

• Adrien Rabiot
• André-Pierre Gignac
• Julien Escudé
• Edouard Cissé
• Xavier Gravelaine
• Sékana Diaby
• Tino Costa
• Dany Nounkeu
• Billy Thompson
• Joël Lopez

Coordinates: 43°18′28″N 0°19′30″W / 43.307668°N 0.325073°W / 43.307668; -0.325073

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Pau Pyrenees Region^[27]
• Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes, Volume 85^[28]
• Selling the Yellow Jersey: The Tour de France in the Global ^[29]
• Dine, Philip (1 July 2001). French Rugby Football: A Cultural History. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84788-032-1^[16]
• Praviel, Armand (1927). Biarritz, Pau and the Basque Country. Medici society.^[30]
• Lowe, Benjamin; Kanin, David B.; Strenk, Andrew (1978). Sport and International Relations. Stipes Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-87563-162-2.^[31]

Sources[]