FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (French pronunciation: [soʃo mɔ̃beljaʁ]; commonly referred to as FCSM or simply Sochaux) is a French association football club based in the city of Montbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays in Championnat National, the third tier of French football, after having been administratively relegated from Ligue 2 in the 2022–23 season, despite a 9th place finish. Sochaux plays its home matches at the Stade Auguste Bonal, located within the city.
Full name | Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | Les Lionceaux (The Lions Cubs) Les Jaunes et Bleus (The Yellow and Blues) | |||
Founded | 1928 | |||
Ground | Stade Auguste Bonal, Montbéliard | |||
Capacity | 20,025 | |||
Owner | FCSM 2028 | |||
Chairman | Jean-Claude Plessis | |||
Manager | Oswald Tanchot | |||
League | Championnat National | |||
2022–23 | Ligue 2, 9th of 20 (relegated) | |||
Website | Club website | |||
| ||||
Sochaux was founded by Jean-Pierre Peugeot, a prominent member of the Peugeot family, and is one of the founding members of the first division of French football. The club has won both Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France twice and have also won the Coupe de la Ligue. Sochaux's last honour came in 2007 when the club, under the guidance of Alain Perrin, defeated favourites Marseille 5–4 on penalties in the 2007 Coupe de France Final. Sochaux's colours are gold and navy blue.
Sochaux is known for its youth academy, which has regularly finished in the top ten rankings of youth academies in France (fourth in 2010). The most successful team in the academy is the under-19 team, which has won the Coupe Gambardella twice, in 1973 and 2007. In 2010, Sochaux finished runners-up to Metz in the 2010 edition of the competition. The academy has produced several notable talents, such as Yannick Stopyra, El-Hadji Diouf, Jérémy Ménez, Bernard Genghini and Benoît Pedretti, among others. The club were a regular in the top flight, until relegation in 2014.