AS Nancy

AS Nancy

Full name	Association Sportive Nancy-Lorraine
Nickname(s)	ASNL, Les Chardons (The Thistles)
Founded	1967
Ground	Stade Marcel Picot, Tomblaine (Capacity: 20,087)
Chairman	Jacques Rousselot
Manager	Jean Fernandez
League	Ligue 1
2010–11	13th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Association Sportive Nancy-Lorraine (French pronunciation: [a.sɔ.sja.sjɔ̃ spɔrtɪv nɑ̃si-lɔʁɛn], commonly known as AS Nancy-Lorraine, AS Nancy, ASNL, or simply Nancy) is a French association football club based in Nancy. The club was founded in 1967 and currently play in Ligue 1, the top level of French football. Nancy plays its home matches at the Stade Marcel Picot in Tomblaine, a commune located in the Arrondissement of Nancy. The team is coached by Jean Fernandez and captained by goalkeeper Gennaro Bracigliano.

Nancy was founded as the successor to FC Nancy, which collapsed in 1965. The club has spent its entire life playing in either Ligue 1 or Ligue 2. Nancy has never won the first division, but has won the second division on four occasions. Nancy biggest achievement came in 1978 when the club won the Coupe de France defeating Nice in the final. The club has also won the Coupe de la Ligue in 2006. Nancy is presided over by Jacques Rousselot. Rousselot serves as a vice-president of the French Football Federation and is also a member of the federation's Federal Council.^[1]

One of the club's most notable players is Michel Platini. Platini began his career at the club in 1972 and 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 in while playing with the club. Platini also established himself as a French international while at the club and went on to achieved 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 which shows Nancy's greatest players, a picture of a young Platini is displayed.^[2]

History

See also: FC Nancy

Prior to the creation of AS Nancy, the city of Nancy was given host to football by FC Nancy and US Frontière. FC Nancy was formed in 1901, while Frontière was founded in 1910. Both clubs were a part of the Ligue de Lorraine. Frontière dissolved in 1935, while 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 reached 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 being abandoned by the city's municipality and its supporters according to its president, Nancy folded shortly before of the new season.

The idea of a new club in the city was thought of by Claude Cuny in the spring of 1964. 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 organized friendly matches in order to raise funds for the club. After accruing enough money, Cuny sought to turned 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 Rene 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 10th 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, a player named Michel Platini arrived at the club and, initially, started out on the club's reserve team. Platini's first full season as a player came in the 1974–75 season while the club were playing in the second division having suffered relegation from Division 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, who were 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 capped 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 not only Platini, but also 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 title 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 defeated 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 Ukrainian 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 2nd place position. 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 3rd 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 4th place Marseille defeated Strasbourg 4–3 to claim the spot. Nancy still managed to claim the league's best defense, alongside OGC Nice. The 30 goals conceded equaled the club's record achieved in the 1976–77 season.

Players

Current squad

As of 16 September 2011^[3]

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Guy N'dy Assembé 2 DF Helder 3 DF Joël Sami 4 DF Jordan Lotiès 5 DF André Luiz (captain) 6 MF Thomas Mangani (on loan from Monaco) 7 MF Aatif Chahechouhe 8 MF Fouad Rachid 9 FW Benjamin Moukandjo 10 FW Benjamin Jeannot 11 FW Djamel Bakar 12 MF Bakaye Traoré 13 DF Jean Calvé

No. Position Player 14 FW Alo'o Efoulou 16 GK Damien Gregorini 17 DF Massadio Haïdara 18 MF Lossémy Karaboué 19 FW Jung Jo-Gook (on loan from Auxerre) 20 FW Daniel Niculae (on loan from Monaco) 21 MF Samba Diakité 22 MF Alexandre Cuvillier 23 MF Jonathan Brison 24 MF Distel Zola 25 DF Reynald Lemaître 26 DF Salif Sané (on loan from Bordeaux) 30 GK Rémi Pillot

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player FW Marama Vahirua (at Monaco) MF Pascal Berenguer (at Lens) FW Paul Alo'o (at Le Havre)

Reserve squad

As of 14 January 2011^[4]

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

No. Position Player 8 MF Fouad Rachid 10 FW Benjamin Jeannot 17 DF Massadio Haïdara 33 MF Ziri Hammar GK Kévin Crepel GK Tom Quedeville DF Robin Bellanger DF Benjamin Brat DF Rudy Camacho DF Ilyas Cherchar DF Julian Jeanvier

No. Position Player DF Fodé Kébé DF Damien Ogier DF Cachito Wanduka MF Loïc Baal MF Paul Tchoukriel MF Achraf Drif MF Jérémy Lauratet MF Christian Mudongo FW Junior Joachim FW Yannick Makota Ngalle FW Gaëtan Sidney

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 players

Éric Bertrand Frédéric Biancalani Stéphane Capiaux Bernard Caron Albert Cartier Didier Casini Jean-Claude Cloët Carlos Curbelo Gaston Curbelo Paul Fischer Roger Formica Charles Gasperini Franck Gava Bruno Germain

Vincent Hognon Philippe Jeannol Cédric Lécluse Éric Martin Sylvain Matrisciano Laurent Moracchini Youssef Moustaid Jean-Michel Moutier Pierre Neubert Jean Palka Jacky Perdrieau Didier Philippe Michel Platini Sébastien Puygrenier

Éric Rabésandratana Jean-Pierre Raczinski Olivier Rambo Olivier Rouyer Paco Rubio Tony Vairelles Mustapha Hadji Monsef Zerka Tony Cascarino Issiar Dia Pape Diakhaté Oleksandr Zavarov Pablo Correa Rubén Umpiérrez

Management and staff

Club officials

Senior club staff^[5][6]

• President: Jacques Rousselot
• Board of Directors: Bernard Bastien, Albert Bensadoun, Christian Chiaravita, Jean-Louis Colle, Michel Wunderlich
• General Secretary: Pascal Rivière
• General Director: Nicolas Holveck
• Commercial Director: Romain Terrible
• Security Director: Louis Begey

Coaching and medical staff^[7]

• Manager: Jean Fernandez
• Assistant Manager: Paul Fischer
• First-team Coach: Lauren Moracchini
• Goalkeeper Coach: Christophe Miranda
• Fitness Coach: Arnaud Lesserteur
• Doctor: Frédéric Muel
• Kinesiotherapy: Philippe Saffroy & Pierre Vespginani
• Osteopath: Olivier Javelle

Managerial history

Dates[8]	Name	Notes
1967–1970	René Pleimelding	Nancy's first official coach.
1970–1979	Antoine Redin	Led the club to the first division and won the Coupe de France
1979–1982	Georges Huart
1982–1984	Hervé Collot
1984–1987	Arsène Wenger
1987–1990	Robert Dewilder
1990–1991	Aimé Jacquet
1991	Marcel Husson
1991–1994	Olivier Rouyer
1994–2000	László Bölöni	First manager outside of France to coach the team.
2000–2002	Francis Smerecki
2002	Moussa Bezaz
2002–2011	Pablo Correa	Led the club back to Ligue 1 and won the Coupe de la Ligue
2011–present	Jean Fernandez

Honours

Domestic

• Ligue 2
  • Champions (4): 1975, 1990, 1998, 2005

• Coupe de France
  • Champions (1): 1978

• Coupe de la Ligue
  • Champions (1): 2006

• Coupe Gambardella
  • Runners-Up (1): 1974

References

1. ^ "Domenech perd un nouveau soutien". Canal Plus. 17 December 2009. http://www.canalplus.fr/cid301645-domenech-perd-un-nouveau-soutien.html. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
2. ^ "Tous les anciens joueurs de l'ASNL". AS Nancy. http://www.asnl.net/145/club_histoire_joueurs. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
3. ^ "L'équipe professionnelle". AS Nancy. http://www.asnl.net/144/joueurs/joueurs/index/. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
4. ^ "Equipe CFA" (in French). AS Saint-Étienne. http://www.asnl.net/117/equipe_cfa. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
5. ^ "L'équipe administrative" (in French). AS Nancy. http://www.asnl.net/120/administratifs. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
6. ^ "Les dirigeants" (in French). AS Nancy. http://www.asnl.net/93/club_dirigeant. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
7. ^ "Le staff de l'équipe pro" (in French). AS Nancy. http://www.asnl.net/110/equipe_pro_staff. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 
8. ^ "France – Trainers of First and Second Division Clubs". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/players/trainers-fran-clubs.html#n. Retrieved 14 January 2011. 

External links

• (French) Official website