AS Nancy Lorraine

Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (French pronunciation: [asɔsjɑsjɔ̃ spɔʁtiv nɑ̃si lɔʁɛn]), known as AS Nancy Lorraine, and more commonly as Nancy, is a French football club founded in 1967 and based in Nancy, Grand Est. The club plays its home matches at the Stade Marcel Picot located in Tomblaine in the inner suburbs of Nancy, and currently competes in the Championnat National, the third tier of French football.

Nancy
Full nameAssociation Sportive Nancy Lorraine
Nickname(s)Les Chardons (The Thistles)[1]
Founded1967 (1967)
GroundStade Marcel Picot
Capacity20,087
OwnerChien Lee
Krishen Sud
[2]
ChairmanNicolas Holveck[3]
ManagerBenoît Pedretti
LeagueChampionnat National
2022–23Championnat National, 13th of 18
WebsiteClub website

The club was founded in 1910 by Maurice de Vienne under the name of Union sportive Frontière, then was later renamed Association sportive Lorraine in 1928. In 1967, following the collapse of FC Nancy, the club created a professional section and as such changed its name to become Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine. The club currently plays at the Stade Marcel-Picot, a 20,000 seats capacity stadium located in the town of Tomblaine, where its head office is also located. The infrastructures of the training center are located within the forest of Haye business park, in Bois-de-Haye.

The club has won 7 titles until this day: the Coupe de France (1978), the Coupe de la Ligue (2006) and five Ligue 2 champion titles (1975, 1990, 1998, 2005 and 2016). The club also has three participations in European competitions to its credit: one participation in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1979 and two participations in the UEFA Europa League in 2007 and 2008.

In December 2020, Chien Lee, PMG, Partners Path Capital and Krishen Sud acquired AS Nancy Lorraine and Chien Lee became the chairman of the board,[4][5] replacing Jacques Rousselot who had been in charge since 1995.

ASNL is renowned as a club with a good training center. One of the club's most notable players is Michel Platini, the former president of UEFA. Platini began his career at the club in 1972, playing eight seasons with Nancy. He scored the only goal in the aforementioned Coupe de France final and won two French Player of the Year awards whilst playing with the club. Platini also established himself as a French international while at the club and went on to achieve numerous team and individual accolades after his departure from Nancy. He is considered to be, arguably, the club's greatest player ever and, upon entering the section of the club's official website showing Nancy's greats, a picture of a young Platini is displayed.[6] Can also be cited great players such as Mustapha Hadji, African Ballon d'Or in 1998, his brother Youssouf Hadji, counting more than 300 matches under the colors of the club, Olivier Rouyer and Tony Vairelles. Other players have emerged or illustrated at the club, such as Tony Cascarino, Jean-Michel Moutier, Roger Lemerre, Aleksandr Zavarov, Bernard Zénier, Clément Lenglet and Michaël Cuisance.

History
See also: FC Nancy

Prior to the creation of AS Nancy, the city of Nancy was host to football by FC Nancy and US Frontière. FC Nancy was formed in 1901, while US Frontière was founded in 1910. Both clubs were a part of the Ligue de Lorraine. FC Nancy continued to play football through the professional transition. The club achieved very little during its 64 years of existence only winning the second division twice in 1946 and 1958. FC Nancy did reach the final of the Coupe de France in 1953 and 1962, however, on both appearances, the club lost to Lille and Saint-Étienne, respectively. In 1965, with the club enduring financial difficulties during the 1963–64 season, mainly due to the club's being abandoned by the city's municipality and its supporters according to its president, Nancy folded shortly before the new season.

Supporters in the Nancy stands

The idea of a new professional club in the city was thought of by Claude Cuny in spring 1964 based on amateur Association sportive Lorraine, formerly known as Union sportive Frontière. Cuny had previously worked with FC Nancy, but left the club prior to its destruction. Cuny is considered one of the leaders of French football mainly because of his innovative ideas and strategies. After forming Nancy, he created the first youth academy of French football. Prior to the club beginning its life as a football club, Cuny devised a strategy to immerse the club into the city's public. First, he sent out over 18,000 letters and petitions to draw interest to the team. Once the public gained notice, Cuny organised friendly matches to raise funds for the club. After accruing enough money, Cuny sought to turn the club professional, and, despite several setbacks, on 16 June 1967, Nancy were granted professional status and inserted into Division 2, the second level of French football. The club's first manager was René Pleimelding, a former French international who played for FC Nancy. Nancy, subsequently, recruited several former FC Nancy players such as Antoine Redin, as well as players from the region such as Michel Lanini, Gérard Braun and Roger Formica.

Michel Platini spent eight seasons with the club.

In Nancy's inaugural season of football, the club finished tenth in the league table and reached the Round of 16 in the Coupe de France. Two seasons later, the club earned promotion to Division 1 and finished in 13th place in its first season in the league. In 1972, Michel Platini arrived at the club, initially with the club's reserve team. His first full season as a player came in the 1974–75 season whilst the club was playing in the second division, having suffered relegation from Division 1 the previous season. The season was a success for both club and player: Nancy achieved its first major honour winning Division 2, while Platini appeared in 32 league matches and scored 17 goals. In the ensuing three seasons in Division 1, Nancy, led by Platini, Jean-Michel Moutier, Carlos Curbelo, Paco Rubio and Philippe Jeannol, finished in the top ten. Platini won the French Player of the Year award in two of those seasons. In 1978, Nancy achieved its highest honour to date after winning the Coupe de France. In the final, the club faced Nice and defeated its southern foes 1–0 with Platini scoring the lone goal. President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing presented Platini with the trophy to cap off the victory. Nancy's Coupe de France triumph saw the club qualify for European competition for the first time in its short history. The club participated in the 1978–79 edition of the European Cup Winners' Cup and were eliminated in the second round after losing 4–3 on aggregate to Swiss club Servette. The club played most of the season without Platini who was injured.

Platini left the club after the season, however most of the club's nucleus remained. In the team's first season without Platini, Nancy finished in 11th place. In the next three seasons, Nancy finished in the top ten. After the 1984 season, Moutier and Rubio became the last of the club's influential players to depart and Nancy suffered a free-fall finishing in the next three seasons. The implosion concluded after the 1986–87 season when Nancy finished in 19th place, thus falling back to Division 2. The only ray of sunshine for the club during this declining stint was the testimonial match held for Platini on 23 May 1988 following the players' club and international retirement. That evening, fans were treated to an exhibition that featured Platini, Pelé and Diego Maradona.

In the 1988–89 season, Nancy earned promotion back to the first division. However, the club spent the entire decade rotating between Division 1 and Division 2. The club won two second-division titles during this stint and finally earned promotion back to the first division, now called Ligue 1, for the 2005–06 season after winning Ligue 2. In Nancy's first season back in Ligue 1, the club won the Coupe de la Ligue defeating Nice 2–1 in the final. Nancy supporters arrived at the Stade de France courtesy of 11 special trains, while more than 300 buses and thousands of cars from the city also arrived in Paris. The cup victory allowed Nancy to participate in the UEFA Cup with the club eventually making it to the Round of 32 before losing to Shakhtar Donetsk. The first half of the 2007–08 season for Nancy was the club's best ever start to a season in the top division with 35 points after 19 games and sitting in second place. On 4 November 2007, in a match against Bordeaux, the club celebrated its 40th anniversary of existence with a special event involving many of the club's former players, club officials, presidents, and coaches. After a good second half start, Nancy sat in third place on the final match day of the season. However, the club finished one spot short of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, losing 3–2 to Rennes, while fourth-placed Marseille defeated Strasbourg 4–3 to claim the spot. Nancy still managed to claim the league's best defence, alongside Nice. The 30 goals conceded equalled the club's record achieved in the 1976–77 season. After managing mid-table performances during the following 4 years at the top-flight, the club got relegated in May 2013, finishing only 2 points behind 17th place Ajaccio.[7]

Following their relegation, the club nearly got promoted back to the first division, finishing 4th and 3 points shy behind Caen and a spot to the top-flight. Nancy remained a strong candidate for promotion during the entire 2014–15 season, but ultimately finished 5th, 6 points behind 3rd place Angers.[8]

Season by season ranking of ASNL and FC Metz

AS Nancy is the rival of Metz, a city in Lorraine. The match between the two teams is one of the most dangerous encounters in the French football, often classified at the highest level of risk matches because of clashes between supporters of the two camps. This match is a regional derby for the supremacy of a city.

The following year, the club still was a strong candidate for promotion. Finally, on 25 April 2016, after 3 years of absence, the club assured promotion to Ligue 1 with 3 games to spare by beating Sochaux 1–0 on match day 35. On match day 37, they beat Evian 1–0 to clinch the Ligue 2 title, their fifth second division crown after 1975, 1990, 1998 and 2005.[9]

In June 2023, AS Nancy's shareholding was consolidated between two of the owners, Krishen Sud and Chien Lee, who now own almost 100% of the Club.[10]

40.000 fans of Nancy in Stade de France during the 2006 Coupe de la Ligue final

Home Stadium

Opened on August 8, 1926, the Stadium originally known as the University Stadium or Essey Bridge Sports Park, was originally intended for the Lorrain University Stadium. Fully devoted to the cause of FC Nancy, Marcel Picot, a hatter installed in the 1930s in the city centre, will become president of the club and leave his name to the compound. The complete renovation of the Marcel Picot stadium, led by the Bernt-Morillon-Thouveny agency on behalf of the Urban Community, took place between 1999 and 2003. It increased the capacity of the stadium to 20,087 seats and covered. Another expansion project is planned, bringing the stadium's capacity to 32,000 seats.[11][12]

Players

Current squad
As of 15 August, 2023[13]

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 DF France FRA Baptiste Aloé
3 DF France FRA Gwilhem Tayot
4 DF Mali MLI Alassane Diaby
5 MF France FRA Maxime Nonnenmacher
6 MF France FRA Teddy Bouriaud
7 MF France FRA Benjamin Gomel
8 FW France FRA Walid Bouabdeli
9 FW France FRA Cheikh Touré
10 FW Guadeloupe GLP Lenny Nangis
11 MF Senegal SEN Mamadou Camara
15 DF Senegal SEN Prince Mendy
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 GK France FRA Martin Sourzac
17 DF France FRA Maxence Carlier
21 DF France FRA Lucas Pellegrini
22 DF France FRA Shaquil Delos
23 MF France FRA Louis Carnot
24 DF France FRA Gaëtan Bussmann
28 FW Martinique MTQ Kévin Farade (on loan from Annecy)
29 FW France FRA Lamine Cissé
30 GK France FRA Marco Giagnorio
33 MF Guinea GUI Kerfala Sylla
34 DF France FRA Bilal Er Rafif

Notable former players

Below are the notable former players who have represented Nancy in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1967. 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 Nancy players, see Category:AS Nancy Lorraine players

Club officials

Managerial history
Arsène Wenger was Nancy Manager from 1984 to 1987
Dates[14] Name Notes
1967–70 René Pleimelding Nancy's first official coach.
1970–79 Antoine Redin Led the club to the first division and won the Coupe de France
1979–82 Georges Huart
1982–84 Hervé Collot
1984–87 Arsène Wenger
1987–90 Robert Dewilder
1990–91 Aimé Jacquet
July 1991 – Oct 91 Marcel Husson
Oct 1991 – June 94 Olivier Rouyer
July 1994 – June 00 László Bölöni First manager outside France to coach the team.
July 2000 – 3 June Francis Smerecki
July 2002 – 2 Nov Moussa Bezaz
Nov 2002 – 11 June Pablo Correa Led the club back to Ligue 1 and won the Coupe de la Ligue
June 2011 – 13 Jan Jean Fernandez Drove the club into relegation standing. Left in the winter as a free agent, unable to lead the team out of a losing spiral.
Jan 2013 – 13 Oct Patrick Gabriel
Oct 2013 – 17 Aug Pablo Correa
Aug 2017 – 18 Jan Vincent Hognon
Jan 2018 – 18 Apr Patrick Gabriel
Apr 2018 – 18 Oct Didier Tholot
Oct 2018 – May 2019 Alain Perrin
May 2019 – May 2021 Jean-Louis Garcia
May 2021 – Sep 2021 Daniel Stendel
Sep 2021 – Jan 2022 Benoît Pedretti Caretaker manager
Jan 2022 – Present Albert Cartier

Honours

Domestic

References
  1. "#886 – AS Nancy Lorraine : les Chardons" (in French). Footnickname. 23 October 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  2. "AS Nancy Lorraine: the three things to remember from the open letter published by Krishen Sud and Chien Lee"
  3. "AS Nancy Lorraine is pleased to announce the appointment of Nicolas Holveck as Executive Chairman”
  4. “AS Nancy acquired by Chinese-American consortium”
  5. “AS Nancy Lorraine : Chien Lee officiellement président du conseil d’administration”
  6. "Tous les anciens joueurs de l'ASNL". AS Nancy. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  7. "LFP.fr - Ligue de Football Professionnel - Ligue 1 - Classement officiel, général, domicile ,extérieur, attaque, défense". www.lfp.fr. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  8. "LFP.fr - Ligue de Football Professionnel - Ligue 2 - Classement officiel, général, domicile ,extérieur, attaque, défense". www.lfp.fr. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  9. "LFP.fr - Ligue de Football Professionnel - Rapport Après-Match - Ligue 2 - 2015/2016 - 37ème journée". www.lfp.fr. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  10. "AS Nancy Lorraine: the three things to remember from the open letter published by Krishen Sud and Chien Lee"
  11. “Stade Marcel Picot”
  12. “THE MARCEL-PICOT STADIUM”
  13. "L'équipe professionnelle". asnl.net. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  14. "France – Trainers of First and Second Division Clubs". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 8 February 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
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