Nîmes Olympique

Nîmes Olympique
Full name	Nîmes Olympique;
Nickname(s)	Les Crocodiles (The Crocodiles)
Founded	10 April 1937
Ground	Stade des Costières,; Stade Nemausus (future)
Capacity	18,482
President	Rani Assaf
Head coach	Vacant
League	Ligue 1
2019–20	Ligue 1, 18th
Website	Club website

Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was founded 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 currently without a manager after sacking Jérôme Arpinon

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 the war ended, it resumed its activities on 15 April 1919. In 1922, SCN united with another club from Nîmes, F.A. Nîmois, becoming a single club.

The new team, still under the name of Sporting Club Nîmois, was runner-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.

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. In turn, Cantona responded by walking up to each member of the hearing committee and calling them idiots. His ban was increased to two months, and Cantona subsequently announced his retirement from international football on 16 December 1991.

In 1995–96, Nîmes reached the final of the French Cup, allowing them to compete the following year in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In September 1996, in the Round of 32, Nîmes beat Budapest Honvéd (4–1 on aggregate), before losing to AIK Stockholm in the next round (2-3 on aggregate).

On 5 May 2018, Nimes secured promotion back to Ligue 1 for the first time since the 1992–93 season after finishing second in Ligue 2.^[2] In the 2018–19 season, Nimes enjoyed a happy return to Ligue 1 finishing 9th on the table.^[3] In the shortened 2019–20 season, the team finished 18th and narrowly avoided relegation.

Players

Current squad

As of 18 January 2021^[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	DF	FRA	Kelyan Guessoum
3	DF	NOR	Birger Meling
4	DF	FRA	Pablo Martinez
5	DF	FRA	Loïck Landre
6	MF	SEN	Sidy Sarr
7	MF	SWE	Niclas Eliasson
8	MF	FRA	Lucas Deaux
9	FW	FRA	Clément Depres
10	MF	ALG	Zinedine Ferhat
11	MF	BEN	Mattéo Ahlinvi
12	MF	FRA	Lamine Fomba
13	FW	ALG	Karim Aribi
14	MF	FRA	Antoine Valério
15	DF	FRA	Gaëtan Paquiez


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	GK	FRA	Lucas Dias
17	MF	BIH	Haris Duljević
18	MF	PAR	Andrés Cubas
19	FW	FRA	Lucas Buadés
20	FW	FRA	Renaud Ripart (vice-captain)
21	DF	FRA	Patrick Burner
22	MF	MAR	Yassine Benrahou
23	DF	FRA	Anthony Briançon (captain)
24	FW	MAR	Sami Ben Amar
25	FW	FRA	Nolan Roux
26	DF	FRA	Florian Miguel
27	DF	JPN	Naomichi Ueda (on loan from Cercle Brugge)
28	FW	SEN	Moussa Koné
29	DF	FRA	Sofiane Alakouch
30	GK	FRA	Baptiste Reynet

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
—	DF	FRA	Théo Sainte-Luce (on loan to Red Star until 30 June 2021)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	FW	MKD	Vlatko Stojanovski (to Chambly until 30 June 2021)

Reserve squad

As of 4 November 2019^[5]

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	Côme Charrier
—	GK	FRA	Valentin Rabouille
—	DF	FRA	Alexandre Ferreira
—	DF	FRA	Jérémy Iafrate
—	DF	FRA	Enzo Fontanelli
—	DF	FRA	Matéo Maillefaud
—	DF	FRA	Julien Megier
—	DF	FRA	Mickaël Gas
—	DF	FRA	Adilson Malanda
—	MF	FRA	Kléri Serber


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	FRA	Simon Calancha
—	MF	FRA	Nacim El Hassani
—	MF	FRA	Quentin Gregorio
—	MF	FRA	Hugo Huriez
—	MF	FRA	Houssine Labiad
—	FW	FRA	Luca Valls
—	FW	FRA	Axel Urie
—	FW	FRA	Timothy Cardona
—	FW	FRA	Marco Majouga

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.

France