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| Full name | Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Les Lionceaux (The Lions Cubs)[1] Les Jaunes et Bleus (The Yellow and Blues) | ||
| Founded | 14 June 1928; 97 years ago (14 June 1928) | ||
| Ground | Stade Auguste Bonal, Montbéliard | ||
| Capacity | 20,025 | ||
| Owner | FCSM 2028 | ||
| Chairman | Jean-Claude Plessis | ||
| Manager | Vincent Hognon | ||
| League | Championnat National | ||
| 2024–25 | Championnat National, 12th of 17 | ||
| Website | fcsochaux.fr | ||
 Current season | |||
Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (French pronunciation:[sɔʃomɔ̃beljaʁ]; commonly referred to asFCSM[2] or simplySochaux) is aFrench association football club based in thecommune ofMontbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays inChampionnat National, the third tier ofFrench football, after having been administratively relegated fromLigue 2 in the2022–23 season, despite a 9th place finish. Sochaux plays its home matches at theStade Auguste Bonal, located within Montbéliard.
Sochaux was founded by Jean-Pierre Peugeot, a prominent member of thePeugeot family, and is one of thefounding members of the first division of French football. The club has won bothLigue 1 and theCoupe de France twice and have also won theCoupe de la Ligue. Sochaux's last honour came in 2007 when the club, under the guidance ofAlain Perrin, defeated favouritesMarseille 5–4 on penalties in the2007 Coupe de France Final. Sochaux's colours are gold and navy blue.
Sochaux is known for its youth academy, which has regularly finished in the top ten rankings of youth academies in France (fourth in 2010).[3] The most successful team in the academy is the under-19 team, which has won theCoupe Gambardella twice, in 1973 and 2007. In 2010, Sochaux finished runners-up toMetz in the2010 edition of the competition. The academy has produced several notable talents, such asYannick Stopyra,El-Hadji Diouf,Jérémy Ménez,Bernard Genghini andBenoît Pedretti, among others. The club were a regular in the top flight, until relegation in 2014.
Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard was founded on 14 June 1928 under the nameFootball Club Sochaux by Jean-Pierre Peugeot, a director ofPeugeot, a French car manufacturing company.[4]Peugeot sought to create a football club for the leisure time of the company's workers. He installed Louis Maillard-Salin as the club's first president, and made Maurice Bailly the club's first manager.[citation needed] Bailly was also a member of the team. Sochaux played its first match on 2 September 1928 against the reserve team of local clubAS Montbéliard. The club was inserted into the lowest level of league football in theFranche-Comtéregion and played its first league match three weeks later winning 12–1.[citation needed]
Peugeot was among the first to advocate for the professionalisation of French football and, in 1929, went as far as to admit to paying his players, which was strictly forbidden during this time.[citation needed] The subsequent recruitment of several French internationals and players from abroad led to Sochaux gaining a stranglehold on the region easily disposing of local rivalsAS Montbéliard andAS Valentigney. In June 1930, Montbéliard decided to merge with Sochaux to form the club that exists today.[5] The following month, the National Council of theFrench Football Federation voted 128–20 in support of professionalism in French football. With Peugeot being a strong advocate for professionalism, Sochaux were among the first clubs to adopt the new statute and, subsequently, became professional.[citation needed] In theleague's inaugural season, Sochaux finished 3rd in its group.[citation needed]The club's final position was later moved to 2nd afterAntibes, the champions of the group, was disqualified from the league for suspected bribery.[citation needed]
In the1934–35 season, Sochaux captured its first league title finishing one point ahead ofStrasbourg.[6] Led by Uruguayan manager Conrad Ross, as well as captainÉtienne Mattler, known asLe Lion de Belfort, and strikersRoger Courtois andBernard Williams, Sochaux dominated the league losing only four times.[citation needed] Two seasons later, the same team, with the addition ofgoalkeeperLaurent Di Lorto and the Swiss duo ofAndré Abegglen and Maxime Lehmann, Sochaux won its firstCoupe de France title.[7] The club faced league rivals Strasbourg in the final and defeated theAlsatians 2–1 courtesy of goals from Williams and theArgentineMiguel Angel Lauri. Ross finished his career at Sochaux by winning another league title in1938.[citation needed]
After the1938–39 season, Ross and several players departed the club to play and manage abroad due to the onset ofWorld War II. The non-deserters were, subsequently, called into action to fight with theFrench Army, which ultimately caused the club to limit its aspiring ambitions.[citation needed]
During war-time, in an effort to survive financially, Sochaux formed an interim merger with local rivalsAS Valentigney. The club, known asFC Sochaux-Valentigney, participated in the war-time championships from 1942 to 1944. Following the conclusion of the war, Sochaux dissolved the merger, turn professional again, and returned to its original name. The club, however, failed to get back to its form prior to the war and, subsequently, made the decision to forgo entering bidding wars for players, which was becoming the norm and, instead, focus on keeping the team's budget even. As a result,in the first season after the war, Sochaux suffered relegation after finishing in last place with only 15 points. Sochaux spent only one season in the second division and returned to Division 1 for the1947–48 season.
The club spent the next 13 seasons playing in Division 1 with its best finish coming during the1952–53 season when the club finished runner-up to championsStade Reims. In the same season, Sochaux won its first honour since 1938 after winning theCoupe Charles Drago. In 1959, the club returned to the Coupe de France final, however, the outcome was not in Sochaux's favour, with the club losing 3–0 toLe Havre in a replay after a 2–2 draw.[citation needed]
In the early 1960s, despite playing in Division 2, Sochaux won the Coupe Drago in back-to-back seasons.[citation needed] The club made its return to Division 1 in 1964, and remained in the league for over 20 years, regularly finishing in the top ten before falling down to Division 2 in the1987–88 season. During Sochaux's 24-year run in the first division, the club played in European competitions four times.[citation needed] In the 1980–81 season, Sochaux surprised many by reaching the semi-finals of theUEFA Cup. In the round, the club was defeated by Dutch clubAZ 4–3 on aggregate. The club's successful play during this stint was predominantly due to the creation of the club's academy in 1974, which paid immediate dividends. Player such asBernard Genghini,Yannick Stopyra,Joël Bats andPhilippe Anziani were among the inaugural graduates who were instrumental in Sochaux's domestic success.[citation needed]
After hovering between the first division and the second division in the 1990s, Sochaux returned to the first division, now called Ligue 1, at the start of the new millennium.[citation needed] The club surprised many by finishing in the top ten in its first three seasons back. Also included in that three-year run was an appearance in theCoupe de la Ligue final and, in the ensuing year, a league cup title.[citation needed] In the2003 final, Sochaux, led by managerGuy Lacombe and academy graduatesPierre-Alain Frau,Jérémy Mathieu, andBenoît Pedretti, were defeated 4–1 byMonaco.[citation needed] In the following season, a more experienced Sochaux returned to the final, where the club facedNantes. Sochaux defeated Nantes 5–4 on penalties to win its first major title since winning the Coupe Drago 40 years previously. It did not take the club another 40 years to claim its next title as Sochaux were surprise winners of the Coupe de France in the2006–07 season after defeating Marseille on penalties.[citation needed] Marseille were heavy favourites heading into match, mainly due to its 4–2 thrashing of Sochaux just 12 days before. However, Sochaux, led byAlain Perrin, stunned the nation and claimed its first Coupe de France title since 1937.[citation needed]
In July 2015, Peugeot sold the team to Hong Kong company Ledus. In 2018 it was announced that Spanish clubAlavés (whose owners had a stake in Ledus) was starting a partnership with Sochaux;[8] however the agreement lasted only a few months, ending abruptly in December of the same year.[9]
WithOmar Daf as coach, FCSM win the last game of season againstGrenoble Foot 38 and save hisLigue 2 place. Club finish 16th in Ligue 2 but is demoted to National by theDNCG (National Directorate of Management Control), for not having presented balanced accounts.
Chinese real estate groupNenking, who unofficially take the reins of the club, following the economic problems encountered by Tech Pro, inject money into the coffers to save him from relegation. Nenking also appoint Samuel Laurent to the position of general director.[10]
In April 2020, the Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard SASP (Société Anonyme Sportive Professionnelle) officially became the property of theNenking Group. "This sale to the group whose founding president is Mr. Zhong Naixiong comes in accordance with the agreements previously made with Ledus"[11] and Frankie Yau become president.
On 28 June 2023, the DNCG confirmed the administrative relegation of Sochaux to Championnat National due to their financial crisis.
Sochaux plays its home matches at theStade Auguste Bonal in Montbéliard. The stadium was constructed in 1931 and opened on 11 November of that same year. The facility was previously known asStade de la Forge.[citation needed] In July 1945, the club changed the stadium's name to its current version.[citation needed] It is named after Auguste Bonal, the former sports director of the club, who after refusing to co-operate with theGermans during World War II, was murdered.[citation needed]
The Stade Auguste Bonal has undergone renovations twice: in 1973 and 1997. In 1997, the majority of the stadium was completely overhauled, and practically a new stadium was built.[citation needed] The stadium still hosted matches during the renovation period, but with a limited capacity. The renovation cost ₣114 million, and took nearly three years to complete.[citation needed] TheNouveau Bonal was officially inaugurated on 22 July 2000 in aTrophée des champions match between FC Nantes and AS Monaco. The stadium's current capacity is 20,005.[citation needed]
The following table lists the honours of FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, updated as of January 1, 2010, in various official competitions at the national and international levels, as well as in youth competitions. In friendly tournaments, the club won theCoupe Peugeot in 1931 and was a finalist in theTrophée Joan Gamper in 1989.
| National Competitions | International Competitions |
French Ligue 2 (2) French Cup (2) Coupe Peugeot (1)
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Mohammed V Cup (1)
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Below are the notable former players who have represented Sochaux inleague and international competition since the club's foundation in 1928. To appear in the section below, a player must have played in at least 200 official matches for the club.
For a complete list of Sochaux players, seeCategory:FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players
Cedric Bakambu
Philippe Anziani Eugène BattmannOlivier Baudry
Mehmed Baždarević Éric Benoît Serge BourdoncleRoger CourtoisLaurent Croci
Omar Daf
Abdel Djaadaoui Thierry FernierMaxence FlachezPierre-Alain FrauRené GardienBernard GenghiniFaruk HadžibegićFabrice HenryMichaël Isabey
Zvonko IvezićPierre LechantrePhilippe Lucas Erwan Manac'h Bernard MaravalJérémy MathieuVojislav MelićJérémy Ménez
MirandaStéphane PailleBenoît Pedretti
Ivan PerisicRomain PitauJean-Pierre PoscaMaxence PrévotClaude QuittetAlbert RustJean-Luc Ruty
Adolphe SchmitLaszlo SelešFranck SilvestreYannick StopyraJoseph TellechéaJean-Christophe Thomas Marcel Wassmer
Jaouad Zairi
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
