Racing 92

Full name	Racing 92
Nickname(s)	Le Racing Les Racingmen Les Ciel et Blanc (TheSky Blue andWhites)
Founded	1890; 135 years ago (1890) (Racing Club de France) 2001; 24 years ago (2001) (Métro Racing 92)
Location	Nanterre, France
Ground	Paris La Défense Arena (Capacity: 30,681)
Chairman	Jacky Lorenzetti
President	Laurent Travers
Coach	Patrice Collazo
Captain	Henry Chavancy
Most appearances	Henry Chavancy (415)
Top scorer	Maxime Machenaud (1,307)
Most tries	Juan Imhoff (112)
League	Top 14
2024–25	10th
1stkit 2ndkit
Official website
www.racing92.fr

Racing 92 (French pronunciation:[ʁasiŋka.tʁə.vɛ̃.duz]) is a French professionalrugby union club based in theHauts-de-Seine department,Paris' western innersuburbs, that competes inTop 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacitydomed stadiumParis La Défense Arena, located near theLa Défense business district.

Founded in 1890 as the rugby union section of the Paris sports clubRacing Club de France, Racing 92 is one of the oldest rugby clubs in France and has traditionally worn a sky blue and white hooped home kit since its inception. The club in its current form is the result of a merger with US Métro in 2001, having been rebrandedMétro Racing 92 and thenRacing Métro 92 from 2005 to 2015 when the club took its current name.92 refers to the number of the Hauts-de-Seine department that henceforth supports the team. After a stint in thesecond division, Racing Métro 92 returned to the first division in2009 and very quickly emerged as a flagship club thanks to ambitious recruitment and significant financial resources. Since the promotion, Racing 92 has always taken part in the Top 14 playoffs and won theBouclier de Brennus on one occasion in 2016. The following year, the club left its forever homeStade Yves-du-Manoir for its new stadium, the Paris La Défense Arena.^[1]

Throughout its history, Racing 92 has won a total of six league titles including the inaugural edition of the French championship in1892, onePro D2 title and oneCoupe de l'Espérance. The club also reached theEuropean Rugby Champions Cup final three times in2016,2018 and2020 but has never won the trophy. Racing 92 has a long-standing rivalry with nearby clubStade Français.

Racing Club was established in 1882 (it became Racing Club de France in 1885) as an athletics club, one of the first in France. New sections were regularly added thereafter (17 as of 2006, accounting for some 20,000 members). A rugby section was founded in 1890, which became an immediate protagonist of the early French championship to which, until 1898, only Parisian teams were invited. On 20 March1892 theUSFSA organised the first-ever French rugby championship, a one-off game between Racing andStade Français. The game was refereed byPierre de Coubertin and saw Racing win 4–3.^[2] Racing were awarded theBouclier de Brennus, which is still awarded to the winners of theFrench championship today.

Both clubs would contest the championship game the following season as well, though in 1893 it would be Stade Français who would win the event, defeating the Racing Club 7–3. Stade went on to dominate the following years and the Racing Club would make their next final appearance in the 1898 season, where they met Stade yet again. However the title was awarded after a round-robin with six clubs. Stade Français won with 10 points, Racing came in second with 6.

Racing contested the 1900 season final against theStade Bordelais club, as provincial clubs had been allowed to compete in 1899. Racing easily won the match, defeating Stade Bordelais 37–7. The two clubs would meet again in the 1902 championship game, where Racing would again win, 6–0. A decade passed until Racing Club made another championship final, which would be on 31 March 1912, where they would playToulouse inToulouse. They lost the match 8–6.

Due to World War I the French championship was replaced with a competition called theCoupe de l'Espérance. The Racing Club won the competition in 1918, defeatingFC Grenoble 22 points to 9. Normal competition resumed for the 1920 season. That season the Racing Club made their first final since 1912, though they lost 8 to 3 toStadoceste Tarbais, a club from the Pyrénées.

After the 1920 season, the Racing Club would not win any championships for a number of years. In 1931 they created theChallenge Yves du Manoir competition. In the 1950s the club had some success, making their first championship final in 30 years, losing toCastres Olympique, 11 points to 8, becoming runners-up in the Challenge Yves du Manoir and winning the Challenge Rutherford in the 1952 season. After losing the 1957 final toFC Lourdes, the club then won the championship in the 1959 season, defeatingMont-de-Marsan 8 points to 3.

The Racing Club would next play in the championship final in the 1987 season, where they metToulon atParc des Princes in Paris. Toulon won the match 15 points to 12. Three seasons later the Racing Club defeatedAgen 22 to 12 in Paris, capturing their first title since the 1959 season.

But in the wake of the 1990 title, Racing Club had a hard time adapting to the professional era and started to decline, until they were relegated to Division 2 at the end of the 1995–96 season. They jumped back to the top tier in 1998 but went down again in 2000 and played in Division 2 for most of the next decade. In 2001 the rugby section split off from the general sports club to merge with the rugby section ofUS Métro, the Paris public transport sports club, to form the current professional concern, known as Racing Métro 92. Both Racing Club de France and US Métro retained their other amateur general sports sections.

Racing 92's president is Jacky Lorenzetti, who heads a giant real estate company called Foncia. When Lorenzetti took over in 2006, the board set goals of bringing Racing into theTop 14 within the next two years and into theHeineken Cup by 2011. They missed their Top 14 goal by one year, not entering the top flight until 2009, but achieved their Heineken Cup goal by qualifying for the 2010–11 edition.

After 2003 the Challenge Yves du Manoir has been taken over by Racing Club as a youth competition for under 15s clubs. Racing Club de France provided 76 players to the national team, including 12 captains. It is second only toStade Toulousain (almost 100) in that category. ThreeRacingmen played in France's first international match against theAll Blacks on 1 January 1906.Laurent Cabannes, a France flanker, also played forHarlequins.

At the end of the2014–15 season, the team's name was shortened from Racing Métro 92 to simply Racing 92.^[3]

In France, early organised sport was a matter for rich people. Racing Club became the epitome of the exclusive athletics club, located in the heart of theBois de Boulogne in the affluent western district of Paris. As the club's name, Racing, indicates, it was modelled after fashionable English sports organisations,^{[citation needed]} whose ideal ofmens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body) appealed very much to its members. Many of them were actually aristocrats, and four nobles took part in the first championship final. Although fewer aristocrats belong to the club now, it is still very complicated to join it, and the identity and image is one of exclusivity.

Racing Club has also always defended the amateur spirit of the game and of sports in general. The creation of theChallenge Yves du Manoir responded to this ideal in a period (late 1920s–early 1930s) where French rugby was marred by violence and undergoing creeping professionalism.Yves du Manoir symbolised the romantic side of rugby, its carefree dimension,le jeu pour le jeu (playing for the fun of playing).

In a very different vein, much later, in the 1980s, a talented generation of players revived the club's spirit. They carried it back to the top of French rugby thanks to their performances on the pitch, but they also wanted to bring the fun back into the game, to take rugby out of its Parisian anonymity. They did so through a combination of serious football, humour and self-mockery. Their famous antics were invented by the club's backs (including France flyhalfFranck Mesnel and France wingJean-Baptiste Lafond) who once played a game inBayonne withberets on their heads as a tribute to the tradition of the attacking play of the Basque clubAviron Bayonnais (11 Jan 1987). As members of a gang which they calledle show bizz, they played other matches with black make-up on (10 April 1988 atStade Toulousain), hair dyed yellow, bald caps (26 Feb 1989 againstBéziers), wigs and even dressed up aspelote players (white shirts, black jackets and berets, again) in March 1990 atBiarritz Olympique. In April 1989, they wore long red and white striped shorts to celebrate thesans-culotte who took theBastille on14 July 1789. They wore long white trousers to look like players of old in the French championship semi-final on 26 April 1987—and won. Their best prank was in the next game though: they played the 1987 final againstToulon with a pink bow tie (2 May). Just before kick-off, Lafond presented French presidentFrançois Mitterrand, who always attended the national final, with one of those bow ties. They lost that match but went on to play the 1990 final with the same bow ties. At half-time, they had a drink of champagne on the pitch to recover from the efforts of the first half—and won what proved to be the club's last top-flight title for a quarter-century.

They were also famous for their love of nightlife, which attracted a lot of criticism, especially because so many of them had international duties with France. All this contributed to the image of Racing Club as an eccentric institution, but these players have also been seen as trail blazers forStade Français's presidentMax Guazzini, who a few years later, took up the provocative (such as the use of the pink colour) and imaginative spirit to boost his club's image and shake off the conservative traditionalism of French rugby.

As the club hit the front pages, five players capitalised on the success and went on to start a sportswear clothing business called Eden Park (after the famous Auckland stadium) in late 1987. Their development was boosted when the French Federation chose them as official suppliers of France's formal wear in 1998. The company has 270 outlets throughout the world. One of them is inRichmond as Eden Park developed a partnership withHarlequins. Others are to be found inNorthampton,Leeds,Belfast, Dublin andCardiff. In 2003, Eden Park became the official supplier of theWelsh Rugby Union's formal wear for the World Cup in Australia. Eden Park is also directly involved in the Racing 92 club since one of its founders, Eric Blanc—who happens to be Franck Mesnel's brother-in-law, is the club's vice-president.^{[citation needed]}

This particular period ended in the early 1990s when those players left the club. Racing then spent several years in the second division, but retained plenty of ambition. In2007–08, Racing finished second on the ladder to equally ambitiousToulon, but fell short of promotion with an extra-time loss toMont-de-Marsan in the Pro D2 promotion playoff final.The following year saw Racing's ambitions realised with a romp to the Pro D2 crown, clinching promotion with four rounds to spare.

In their return to the top flight in2009–10, Racing finished sixth on the regular-season table, two spots ahead of their Parisian rivals, securing the final spot in the newly expanded playoffs—despite actually being outscored by their opponents on the season. This finish also gave Racing a place in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup. Their season ended with a 21–17 first-round loss at eventual championsClermont. The2010–11 season saw Racing emphatically, though only temporarily, reestablish themselves as the top club in Paris, finishing second on the regular-season table to Stade Français' 11th.^[4]

Lorenzetti's model for success has been to combine young French talent with big-name imports. More significantly, while he largely bankrolled the team during the first years of his tenure as president, he is committed to making the club self-supporting. To that end, he financed the construction of a new 32,000-seat stadium for the club in the Paris suburb ofNanterre, nearLa Défense. The new ground, known at its October 2017 opening as U Arena and renamed Paris La Défense Arena in June 2018, has been Racing's home since December 2017. It is also designed to host major concerts, potentially providing Racing with substantial non-match revenue.

Racing made headlines in December 2014, announcing that it had signedAll Blacks fly-halfDan Carter, the all-time leading points scorer in international rugby, to a three-year deal effective after the2015 Rugby World Cup. The contract reportedly made Carter the first player in rugby history to make £1 million (€1.3 million at late-2014 exchange rates) a season,^[5] with reports of his annual salary as high as £1.3 million (€1.7 million).^[6] When the signing was announced, Lorenzetti said, "Carter will be the best-paid player at Racing but also the least expensive because of the economic benefits."^[6] Carter filled the void at fly-half left by the return ofJohnny Sexton toLeinster Rugby at the end of the 2014–15 season.^[6]

Still more recently, Racing became the first Top 14 side to establish a satellite club in theUnited States, signing a partnership agreement in 2016 withAustin Huns, a club fromAustin, Texas that planned to turn fully professional. The partnership includes youth player development, player exchanges, Racing 92 exhibitions in Austin, and marketing.^[7]

• French championship Top 14
  • Champions (6):1892,1900,1902,1959,1990,2016
  • Runners-up (7):1893,1898,1912,1920,1950,1957,1987
• European Rugby Champions Cup
  • Runners-up (3):2016,2018,2020
• Challenge Yves du Manoir
  • Runners-up (1): 1952
• Coupe de l'Espérance
  • Champions (1): 1918
• Division One Group A2/Rugby Pro D2
  • Champions (2): 1998,2009

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Spectators
14 May 2016	Saracens	21–9	Racing 92	Grand Stade de Lyon,Décines	58,017
12 May 2018	Leinster	15–12	Racing 92	San Mamés Stadium,Bilbao	52,282
17 October 2020	Exeter	31–27	Racing 92	Ashton Gate Stadium,Bristol	0

The Racing 92 squad for the2025–26 season is:^[8][9]

Note: Flags indicate national union underWorld Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Diego Escobar Hooker Chile Feleti Kaitu'u Hooker Australia Janick Tarrit Hooker France Demba Bamba Prop France Guram Gogichashvili Prop Georgia Giorgi Kharaishvili Prop Georgia Hassane Kolingar Prop France Taniela Tupou Prop Australia Jonny Hill Lock England Junior Kpoku Lock England Thomas Lainault Lock France Will Rowlands Lock Wales Lekima Tagitagivalu Lock Fiji Romain Taofifénua Lock France Maxime Baudonne Back row France Soumaila Camara Back row France Ibrahim Diallo Back row France Hacjivah Dayimani Back row South Africa Nathan Hughes Back row England Jordan Joseph Back row France Shingi Manyarara Back row Zimbabwe Fabien Sanconnie Back row France Noa Zinzen Back row France

Player Position Union Léo Carbonneau Scrum-half France Kleo Labarbe Scrum-half France Antoine Gibert Fly-half France Gerónimo Prisciantelli Fly-half Argentina Ugo Seunes Fly-half France Gaël Fickou Centre France Sam James Centre England Joey Manu Centre New Zealand Josua Tuisova Centre Fiji Vinaya Habosi Wing Fiji Wilfried Hulleu Wing France Wame Naituvi Wing Fiji Selestino Ravutaumada Wing Fiji Max Spring Fullback France

The Racing 92 Espoirs squad is:^[10]

Note: Flags indicate national union underWorld Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Yanis Basse Hooker France Robin Couly Hooker France Elia Masi Hooker France Mathis Bourdeau D'Argonne Prop France Herman Coetzee Prop Namibia Luca Emery Prop France Edouard-Junior Jabea Jocke Prop France Lehopa Leota Prop Australia Martin Deschalliers Lock France Gagui Margvelashvili Lock France Pietro Turrisi Lock Italy Auguste Albuisson Back row France Anicet Batbedat Back row France Gaston Lagneau Back row France Alex Mattioli Back row Italy Yanis Nama Back row France Noam Zebus-Delage Back row France

Player Position Union Antoine Latrasse Scrum-half France Axel Jolet Fly-half France Alessandro Ragusi Fly-half Italy Nolann Donguy Wing France Vladi Ashvetia Centre Georgia Arthur Espeut Centre France Gaspard Lievens Centre France Noham Valeu Centre France Paul Rocher Wing France Matanu Fernando Fullback France Come Nitharum Fullback France Arthur Roche Fullback France

The following members were part of Racing 92 coaching staff for the 2024–25 season.Patrice Collazo replacedStuart Lancaster as head coach on 1 February 2025.^[11]

Position	Name
Head coach	Patrice Collazo
Forwards coach	Dimitri Szarzewski
Backs coach	Frédéric Michalak
Skills coach	Joe Rokocoko
Head of physical performance	Paul Stridgeon
Team manager	Tom Whitford

This articlemay containunverified orindiscriminate information inembedded lists. Please helpclean up the lists by removing items or incorporating them into the text of the article.(August 2015)

• List of rugby union clubs in France
• Rugby union in France

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