FC Nantes

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.

This article is about the men's football club. For the women's football club, see FC Nantes (women).

Nantes
Full nameFootball Club de Nantes
Nickname(s)La Maison Jaune (The Yellow House)
Les Canaris (The Canaries)[1]
Short nameFCN or Nantes
Founded21 April 1943 (1943-04-21)
GroundStade de la Beaujoire
Capacity35,322
OwnerWaldemar Kita
PresidentWaldemar Kita
Head coachAntoine Kombouaré
LeagueLigue 1
2020–21Ligue 1, 18th of 20
WebsiteClub website

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.[2] 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.

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[3] and again in 2000–01. In 2005, Nantes narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the season by defeating Metz 1–0.[4] 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.[5][6] 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.[7][8]

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.[9][10]

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.[11]

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

FC Nantes played at Stade Marcel Saupin from 1937 to 1984.[12] Nantes' moved to their current home ground Stade de la Beaujoire-Louis Fontenau in 1984, the stadium has a capacity of 38,128.[13] 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.[14][15][16]

Players

Current squad
As of 4 April 2022[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
1 GK  FRA Alban Lafont (captain)
2 DF  BRA Fábio
3 DF  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
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 GK  FRA Rémy Descamps
18 MF  COD Samuel Moutoussamy
19 FW  FRA Willem Geubbels (on loan from Monaco)
20 FW  FRA Jean-Kévin Augustin
21 DF  CMR Jean-Charles Castelletto
23 FW  FRA Randal Kolo Muani
24 DF  FRA Sébastien Corchia
26 FW  GHA Osman Bukari (on loan from Gent)
27 MF  NGA Moses Simon
29 MF  FRA Quentin Merlin
30 GK  SVN Denis Petrić

Out on loan

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 (on loan at Alessandria)
— FW  FRA Kader Bamba (on loan at Amiens)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— FW  FRA Bridge Ndilu (on loan at Quevilly-Rouen)

Reserve squad
As of 20 March 2022[18]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
33 MF  FRA Gor Manvelyan
— GK  FRA Lucas Bonelli
— GK  FRA Nassim Badri
— GK  FRA Anthony Robin
— DF  FRA Victor Daguin
— DF  FRA Yannis M'Bemba
No. Pos. Nation Player
— DF  FRA Wesley Moustache
— DF  FRA Ryan Sabry
— DF  GUI Abdoulaye Sylla
— MF  FRA Lohann Doucet
— MF  EQG Santiago Eneme
— MF  FRA Mathis Thévenin

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)[19][20]

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.

For a complete list of FC Nantes players, see Category:FC Nantes players {{columns-list|colwidth=16em|

Coaches

Honours

Domestic competitions

International competitions

References
  1. "#208 – FC Nantes : les Canaris" (in French). Footnickname. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  2. "FC Nantes". Soccerway. Perform. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  3. François Mazet and Frédéric Pauron (1 September 2016). "Yearwise list of the champions of France". France - List of Champions. RSSSF. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  4. uefa.com (28 May 2005). "Nantes survive relegation scare – UEFA.com". www.uefa.com.
  5. "FC Nantes might forfeit a win, but they're back where they belong". newstalk.com.
  6. "The French Leicester City? Ranieri enjoying a flying start at Nantes - Goal.com". goal.com.
  7. "FEATURE | Claudio Ranieri's spell at Nantes ends this evening; the story of how a Leicester-esque campaign turned sour | Get French Football News".
  8. "Tables - Ligue 1 Uber Eats - LFP".
  9. "Emiliano Sala's funeral held in Argentina". CNN. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  10. A. Pašić (5 May 2019). "Halilhodžić u Nantesu oborio rekord" (in Bosnian). sportsport.ba. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  11. "Nantes win relegation playoff to maintain place in Ligue 1 football". www.france24.com. 31 May 2021.
  12. "FC Nantes: 1984, quand les Canaris ont quitté le stade Saupin pour celui de la Beaujoire". www.20minutes.fr.
  13. "FC Nantes". LFP. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  14. "LES INTENTIONS ARCHITECTURALES" (in French). FC Nantes. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  15. "La construction du YelloPark de Nantes est annulée" (in French). SoFoot.com.
  16. "Nantes: Council agree to discuss land sale". StadiumDB.com.
  17. "Effectif" (in French). fcnantes.com. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  18. "EFFECTIF NATIONAL 2". fcnantes.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  19. "Nantes: Le numéro 9 qu'il a porté est retiré". FC Nantes Twitter. 8 February 2019.
  20. "Nantes retire No 9 shirt in honour of Emiliano Sala". BBC Sport. 8 February 2019.
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