Le Havre AC

Le Havre Athletic Club
	Logo
Full name	Le Havre Athletic Club ; Football Association
Nickname(s)	Le club doyen, Les Ciel et Marine
Founded	1872 (rugby club)
Ground	Stade Jules Deschaseaux, ; Le Havre
Capacity	16,382
Chairman	Jean-Pierre Louvel
Manager	Cédric Daury
League	Ligue 2
2009–10	Ligue 2, 7th
Website	Club website
Home colours	Away colours

Le Havre Athletic Club Football Association (French pronunciation: [lə avʁ]; commonly referred to as Le HAC, HAC, or simply Le Havre) is a French association football club based in Le Havre. The club was founded originally as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, thus making it the oldest association football and rugby club registered in France.^[1] Le Havre currently plays in Ligue 2, the second level of French football and plays its home matches at the Stade Jules Deschaseaux located in the city.

Le Havre made its football debut in France's first-ever championship in 1899 and, on its debut, became the first French club outside of Paris to win the league. The club, subsequently, won the league the following season in 1900. Le Havre has yet to win the current first division of French football, Ligue 1, but has participated in the league 24 times; its last stint being during the 2008–09 season. The club's highest honor to date was winning the Coupe de France in 1959. Le Havre is managed by Cédric Daury and captained by midfielder Hassane Alla.

History

It was in 1872 that a group of British residents formed Le Havre Athletique.^[2] which played a hybrid form of football, a cross between rugby and soccer, called "combination". Le Havre can therefore be said to be origin of rugby union in France.

Association football began being played on a regular basis in 1894, so technically FC Mulhouse could be considered the first French football team being established in 1893 (however, they were a German team at the time). Le Havre currently play in Ligue 2 of the French league and their home stadium is Stade Jules Deschaseaux.

In 1899, Le Havre became the first club from outside Paris to become French football champions. At the time the championship was organised by the USFSA. After being awarded a win over Iris Club Lillois in the semi-final by walkover, they were awarded the title after also receiving a walkover in the final ^[3].

The club is famous for its notable youth investment program which develops and nurtures young (often local) talent, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show enough promise. A vast amount of good young talent has gone on to make an impact at international level including Ibrahim Ba, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Lassana Diarra and Vikash Dhorasoo.

The club was on the receiving end of some high-profile illegal transfers, by which Charles N'Zogbia, Matthias Lepiller and Paul Pogba were signed by other clubs, allegedly without the proper compensation being paid. The first two were arbitrated by FIFA, who ordered Newcastle United and ACF Fiorentina to pay training compensation.

Le Havre is known as 'les ciel et marine' in France, which translates as 'the sky and navy blues'. These colours were chosen by the club's English founders as they were those of their alma maters, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Players

Current squad

As of 4 February 2011^[4]

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
2	MF	FRA	Gueïda Fofana
3	DF	FRA	Florent Hanin
4	DF	FRA	Mody Traoré (on loan from Valenciennes)
5	DF	FRA	Clevid Dikamona
6	MF	FRA	Julien François
7	MF	FRA	Jean-Pascal Fontaine
9	FW	MLI	Mamadou Diallo
10	FW	ALG	Walid Mesloub
11	FW	FRA	Yohann Rivière
14	DF	FRA	Loïc Nestor
15	MF	CPV	Ryan
16	GK	HAI	Johnny Placide


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
17	MF	FRA	Alexandre Bonnet
18	DF	SEN	Abasse Ba
19	DF	FRA	Benjamin Genton
20	DF	FRA	Benjamin Police
21	DF	FRA	Maxime Le Marchand
24	MF	MAR	Hassane Alla
25	FW	FRA	Brice Jovial
27	MF	FRA	Pierrick Rakotoharisoa
28	DF	FRA	Jonathan Rivierez
29	MF	ALG	Selim Bouadla
30	GK	BEL	Mike Van Hamel
40	GK	FRA	Zacharie Boucher

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
11	MF	FRA	Mohamed Youssouf (at Créteil)
12	FW	FRA	Ben Nabouhane (at Vannes)

Reserve squad

Head Coach: Johann Louvel

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	Zacharie Boucher
—	GK	FRA	Romain Lejeune
—	DF	CGO	Olivier Kavungu
—	DF	FRA	Maxime Legrand
—	DF	FRA	Kévin Mendy
—	DF	CMR	Franck M'Bende
—	DF	FRA	Elhadji Yaya Soumaré
—	MF	FRA	Stephane Chovet
—	MF	MLI	Abdelaye Diakite
—	MF	FRA	Dylan Domarin
—	MF	FRA	Alexandre Dupas
—	MF	FRA	Jordan Dupray


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	COM	Ali Allaoui Issilam
—	MF	FRA	Joris Leclerc
—	MF	COD	Fortunat Kisamba
—	MF	REU	Matthieu Lagarriague
—	MF	FRA	Thomas Pallier
—	MF	FRA	Pierre Vincent
—	FW	CIV	Stéphane Abale
—	FW	TUN	Youness El Baillal
—	FW	TUN	Nassim Guendouz
—	FW	FRA	Thomas Martin
—	FW	REU	Yvan Samaria

Notable players

For all Le Havre AC players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:Le Havre AC players.

Honours

File:Le Havre Athletic Club logo.svg

former logo

Ligue 2
- Winners (5) : 1938, 1959, 1985, 1991, 2008
- Runners Up (1) : 1950
Coupe de France
- Winners (1) : 1959
- Runners Up (1) : 1920
USFSA Championnat
- Winners (3) : 1899, 1900, 1919
Challenge international du Nord
- Winners (1) : 1900
Coupe Nationale
- Winners (2) : 1918, 1919
Normandy Division d'Honneur
- Winners (13) : 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1909, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1926
Challenge des Champions
- Winners (1) : 1959

Managerial history

George Kimpton (1921–26)^[5]
Mac Burgess (1934–35)
George McLachlan (1935–36)
Josef "Pépi" Schneider (1936–39)
George Kimpton (1945–46)
Jean Cornelli (1946–47)
Roger Magnin (1948–49)
Jules Bigot (1950–52)
Elek Schwartz (1952–53)
René Bihel (1953–54)
Edmond Delfour (1954–55)
Roger Magnin (1955–56)
Théo Bisson (1956–57)
Lucien Jasseron (1957–62)
Eduardo Di Loreto (1962–63)
Arie Devroedt (1963–64)
Christian Villenave (1964–66)
Max Schirschin (1970–71)
Corlani (1971–72)
Fredo Garel (1972–73)

Léonce Lavagne (1973–74)
Edmond Baraffe (1974–76)
Léonce Lavagne (1976–82)
Yves Herbet (1982–83)
Didier Notheaux (1983–88)
Pierre Mankowski (1988–93)
Guy David (1993–96)
René Exbrayat (1996–97)
Denis Troch (1997–October 98)
Joël Beaujouan (October 1998–99)
Francis Smerecki (1999–00)
Joël Beaujouan (2000)
Thierry Uvenard, Philippe Sence and Bruno Baronchelli (December 2000)
Jean-François Domergue (December 2000–04)
Philippe Hinschberger (2004–April 05)
Thierry Uvenard (April 2005–07)
Jean-Marc Nobilo (2007–08)
Frédéric Hantz (2008–09)
Cédric Daury (2009–)

References

^ http://www.lemonde.fr/sports/article/2009/05/15/avec-louvel-le-havre-est-devenu-un-club-de-ligue-2-selon-les-supporters_1193671_3242.html
^ "Historical Rugby Milestones – 1870s". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
^ www.rsssf.com
^ Current squad
^ "France – Trainers of First and Second Division Clubs on RSSSF". Retrieved 23 July 2007.

External links

Official site Template:Fr icon

[1] ttp://www.lemonde.fr/sports/article/2009/05/15/avec-louvel-le-havre-est-devenu-un-club-de-ligue-2-selon-les-supporters_1193671_3242.html

[1870s-2] "Historical Rugby Milestones – 1870s". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2006.

[3] www.rsssf.com

[4] Current squad

[5] "France – Trainers of First and Second Division Clubs on RSSSF". Retrieved 23 July 2007.

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v t e Division 2 / Ligue 2 seasons
Division 2 (1933–2002)	1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Ligue 2 (2002–present)	2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
List of French second division champions