Le Havre AC

Le Havre Athletic Club

Full name	Le Havre Athletic Club FA
Nickname(s)	Le club doyen, les ciel et marine
Founded	1872 (began playing in 1894)
Ground	Stade Jules Deschaseaux (Capacity: 16 454)
Chairman	Jean-Pierre Louvel
Manager	Cédric Daury
League	Ligue 2
2009–10	Ligue 2, 7th
Home colours Away colours

HAC in Tournoi de paques 1913

Le Havre Athletic Club Football Association or Havre Athletic Club, is a French football, originally an athletics and rugby club based in Le Havre, founded in 1872 making it the oldest association football and rugby club registered in France.^[1]

The football team made an immediate return to Ligue 2 after being relegated from Ligue 1 in the 2008–09 season.

History

It was in 1872 that a group of British residents formed Le Havre Athletique.^[2] which played a hybrid form of football, a cross between rugby and soccer, called "combination". Le Havre can therefore be said to be origin of rugby union in France.

Association football began being played on a regular basis in 1894, so technically FC Mulhouse could be considered the first French football team being established in 1893 (however, they were a German team at the time). Le Havre currently play in Ligue 2 of the French league and their home stadium is Stade Jules Deschaseaux.

In 1899, Le Havre became the first club from outside Paris to become French football champions. At the time the championship was organised by the USFSA. After defeating Iris Club Lillois in the semi-final, they were awarded the title after receiving a walkover in the final ^[3].

The club is famous for its notable youth investment program which develops and nurtures young (often local) talent, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show enough promise. A vast amount of good young talent has gone on to make an impact at international level including Ibrahim Ba, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Lassana Diarra and Vikash Dhorasoo.

The club was on the receiving end of some high-profile illegal transfers, by which Charles N'Zogbia, Matthias Lepiller and Paul Pogba were signed by other clubs, allegedly without the proper compensation being paid. The first two were arbitrated by FIFA, who ordered Newcastle United and ACF Fiorentina to pay training compensation.

Le Havre is known as 'les ciel et marine' in France, which translates as 'the sky and navy blues'. These colours were chosen by the club's English founders as they were those of their alma maters, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Players

Current squad

As of 28 August 2010^[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 2 MF Gueïda Fofana 3 DF Florent Hanin 4 DF Mody Traoré 5 DF Clevid Dikamona 6 MF Julien François 7 MF Jean-Pascal Fontaine 8 MF Malamine Diarra 9 FW Mamadou Diallo 10 MF Walid Mesloub 11 FW Jonas Sakuwaha (on loan from Lorient) 14 DF Loïc Nestor 15 FW Mendes da Graca 16 GK Johnny Placide

No. Position Player 17 MF Alexandre Bonnet 18 DF Abasse Ba 19 DF Benjamin Genton 20 DF Benjamin Police 21 DF Maxime Le Marchand 23 MF Stéphane Noro 24 MF Hassane Alla 25 FW Brice Jovial 26 MF Mahamane Traore 27 MF Pierrick Rakotoharisoa 28 DF Jonathan Rivierez 29 MF Selim Bouadla 30 GK Mike Van Hamel

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 11 MF Mohamed Youssouf (at Créteil) 12 FW Ben Nabouhane (at Vannes)

Junior Squad

• Head Coach: Johann Louvel

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 GK Zacharie Boucher GK Romain Lejeune DF Kévin Franqueville DF Olivier Kavungu DF Maxime Legrand DF Kévin Mendy DF Franck M'Bende DF Elhadji Yaya Soumaré MF Stephane Chovet MF Abdelaye Diakite MF Dylan Domarin MF Alexandre Dupas MF Jordan Dupray MF Jean-Pascal Fontaine

No. Position Player MF Ali Allaoui Issilam MF Joris Leclerc MF Fortunat Kisamba MF Matthieu Lagarriague MF Thomas Pallier MF Pierre Vincent FW Stéphane Abale FW Umit Berber FW Youness El Baillal FW Nassim Guendouz FW Thomas Martin FW Andé Dona Ndoh FW Yvan Samaria

Notable former players

See also: Category:Le Havre AC players

Honours

former logo

• Ligue 2
  • Winners (5) : 1938, 1959, 1985, 1991, 2008
  • Runners Up (1) : 1950
• Coupe de France
  • Winners (1) : 1959
  • Runners Up (1) : 1920
• Championnat de France USFSA
  • Winners (3) : 1899, 1900, 1919
• Challenge international du Nord
  • Winners (1) : 1900
• Coupe Nationale
  • Winners (2) : 1918, 1919
• Normandy Champions
  • Winners (13) : 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1909, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1926
• Challenge des Champions
  • Winners (1) : 1959

Managerial history

^[5]

References

External links

• Official site (French)