Nîmes Olympique

Nîmes
	File:LogoNO-2018.png
Full name	Nîmes Olympique; Football Club
Nickname(s)	Les Crocodiles
Founded	10 April 1937; 87 years ago
Ground	Stade des Costières,; Nîmes
Capacity	18,482
Chairman	Rani Assaf
Manager	Bernard Blaquart
League	Ligue 1
2017–18	Ligue 2, 2nd (promoted)
Website	http://www.nimes-olympique.com/

Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was formed on 10 April 1937 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first level of French football. The club's most important achievements were winning Ligue 2 in 1950 and the Championnat National in 1997 and in 2012. Nîmes plays its home matches at the Stade des Costières located within the city. The team is managed by Bernard Blaquart.

History

The Sporting Club Nîmois (SCN) was founded in 1901 by Henri Monnier, who, at the age of 21, had just returned from a two-year trip to England. He decided to start a new team in Nîmes, his home town. Originally, the team was for young Protestants only.

In 1908, the SCN played FC Sète for the title of 'Champions of Languedoc'. Nîmes won, qualifying for the final phase of the French championship, which they lost to Marseille in the first round.

The club suspended activities due to World War I. After war, it resumed its activities on 15 April 1919. In 1922, SCN absorbed a local rival, F.A. Nîmois.

The new team, still under the name of Sporting Club Nîmois, were runners-up in the South-East championship in 1925. In 1927, les Nîmois won a place in the highest championship, then known as the Division d'Honneur.

In October 1931, the then-president of the Republic of France, Gaston Doumergue, inaugurated the Jean Bouin stadium.

Due to financial problems, SCN abandoned their professional activities in 1937. Following efforts from local businessmen, the club moved to the district of Lozère-Gard in Nîmes, and was reformed as Nîmes Olympique.

The team moved to the Stade des Costières on 15 February 1989. The first league match at the stadium was on 4 March 1989, against Montceau in a Ligue 2 game, with 3,647 spectators in attendance. The record attendance to date was 25,051, which was recorded in the 1991–92 season, in a Ligue 1 game against Marseille.

The French national team also played an international game against Greece, just before Euro 96, with an attendance of 23,420. On this occasion, France won 3–1 with two goals by Patrice Loko and one by Zinedine Zidane on 21 February 1996.

In December 1991, during a match for Nîmes, Eric Cantona threw the ball at the referee, having been angered by one of his decisions. He was summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the French Football Federation and was banned for one month. Cantona responded by walking up to each member of the hearing committee in turn and calling him an idiot. His ban was increased to two months, and Cantona subsequently announced his retirement from international football on 16 December 1991.

In 1995–1996, Nîmes reached the final of the French Cup, allowing them to compete the following year in the Cup Winners' Cup. In September 1996, in the Round of 32, Nîmes beat Budapest Honvéd ((1–2) (0–2)), before losing to AIK Stockholm in the next round ((3-1 to AIK at Nîmes and 1-0 to Nîmes at Stockholm)).

On 5 May 2018, Nimes secured promotion back to Ligue 1 for the first time since the 1992–1993 season after finishing second in Ligue 2.^[1]

Players

Current squad

As of 31 August 2018.^[2]

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	Baptiste Valette
2	MF	SEN	Mustapha Diallo
5	DF	FRA	Loïck Landre
7	FW	MAR	Rachid Alioui
8	MF	FRA	Pierrick Valdivia
9	FW	FRA	Clément Depres
10	MF	GAB	Denis Bouanga
11	MF	FRA	Téji Savanier
12	MF	FRA	Faitout Maouassa (on loan from Rennes)
14	MF	FRA	Antonin Bobichon
15	DF	FRA	Gaëtan Paquiez
16	GK	FRA	Martin Sourzac
17	FW	GRE	Panagiotis Vlachodimos


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	MF	FRA	Theo Valls
19	FW	TUR	Umut Bozok
20	FW	FRA	Renaud Ripart
21	DF	ALG	Féthi Harek (captain)
22	FW	FRA	Sada Thioub
23	DF	FRA	Anthony Briançon (vice-captain)
24	FW	MAR	Sami Ben Amar
25	FW	BEL	Baptiste Guillaume (on loan from Angers)
26	DF	FRA	Florian Miguel
27	DF	CIV	Hervé Lybohy
28	MF	MAR	Abdel Malik Hsissane
29	DF	FRA	Sofiane Alakouch
30	GK	FRA	Paul Bernardoni (on loan from Bordeaux)

Notable players

Below are the notable former players who have represented Nîmes in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1937. To appear in the section below, a player must have played in at least 80 official matches for the club or represented the national team for which the player is eligible during his stint with Nîmes or following his departure.

For a complete list of Nîmes Olympique players, see Category:Nîmes Olympique players

France