Nantes

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The club was established in 1943. The first game held by Nantes as an official team was in the Stade Olympique de Colombes against CA Paris, where Nantes won by 2-0. The first match at home was a loss by the same score to Troyes. The team finished fifth at the conclusion of the season. This was after which manager Aime Nuic resigned from the club due to a disagreement after which he was replaced by Antoine Raab, who took charge of the player-coach position. After winning 16 games in succession, Nantes lost 9-0 to Sochaux.

The club was officially professional in 1945 following the Western Region championship. The club began the year in second division. Under the era-defining the presidency of Marcel Saupin, it spent several years as a mid-table team in that division. There was the possibility of being relegated in 1950, but it was able to avoid that in the final game.

Performances improved from the year 1951 onwards however, the club did not get promoted in 1952, finishing fourth, under the renowned manager Emile Veinante. The succeeding coach Antoine Raab was able to attract more famous players, such as Dutch superstars Gerrit Vreken as well as Jan van Geen, but despite this, the team continued to stagnate. There were a number of coaches who were appointed, but the team was not advancing, and promising beginnings to seasons were often squandered by the end of the season.

In 1960, the president Marcel Saupin selected the young and promising amateur coach Jose Arribas. He was credited with redefining the game of the team, insisting on team-based playing, and an attacking-oriented game. He created a four-2-4 instead of the traditional four-bank system of players. The system was promising, however, the results did not come quickly: his team finished 11th, 6th and 7th during his first two seasons and then 2nd in 1962. He had lead two divisions for the initial portion of. In that time, the club took part in the short-lived Anglo-French-Scottish cup, losing 71 to Liverpool FC.

Jose Arribas and Nantes found their way to the top division immediately and ended up finishing 8th in their debut season. The next season was better. The club became French champions and their most feared forward Jacky Simon went on to become the top goal scorer in the league and was one of the few Nantes player to win the international rate. The team also won their first French League Cup.

As of 1965, they affirmed its status as the best and again won the league. The best defense (36 goals allowed) and the best offensive (84 goal achieved), Philippe Gondet ended the season as the league's leading goal scorer with 36 goals over 37 games. French achievements was not a catalyst for European but rather Nantes fell in their first round European Cup game against Partizan Belgrade, who went to make it to the final. The end of the season Three Nantes team members (De Michele, Gondet and Budzynski) were members of the French team competing in at the World Cup in England.

The latter half of the 60s and 70s weren't the best seasons for the club. They generally ending between 10th and 7th places within the League. They made it to the French Cup final in 1970 but were defeated by Saint-Etienne in a 5-0 loss. Jose Arribas's job was not in danger but he was extremely popular among fans and players alike. Meanwhile, the club did its best behind the scenes to improve its structure and also to improve its player academy and recruiting. Former players Jean-Claude Suaudeau and Robert Budzynski joined the coaching and recruiting team and were charged to implement the club's winning strategy across all levels of the team. Young players, like Patrice Rio, who was paired with veteran Argentinians Angel Marcos and Hugo Bargas and Bayern Munich star Erich Maas helped the club improve its fortunes and to win the league in 1973. They also reached their way to the French Cup final but lost to Lyon.

The club , however, was not able to end its European curse: Danish amateur club Vejle was eliminated Nantes in the opening round of the European Cup. The results from the French league are decent however, they are not as high as the club with the highest ratings AS Saint-Etienne, but European results have been disappointing, every year. When the team was founded in 1976, it along with Jose Arribas finally decided to quit after 13 years in partnership.

The new head coach Jean Vincent was tasked with winning more cup competitions, both domestic and European. The first step was to reshuffle the team, taking out some stars, and introducing youngsters from the academy like Loic Amisse Eric Pecout and Bruno Baronchelli. The team continued to use an extremely entertaining system of play. They was crowned champions in 1977, only the 4th time in the history of the team. The team in 1978 was second to Monaco however, European disappointments remained. In 1978 the club inaugurated its first state-of-the-art training facility La Joneliere (since changed to Jose Arribas Sporting Centre) one of the most advanced facilities in France in the time.

As of 1979, Jean-Claude Suaudeau was promoted to assistant manager. the club was able to flourish, winning their initial French Cup in 1979, and finishing 2nd on the table in league. In Europe the club had some success, and made it to finals for the Cup Winners Cup competition where they fell in the semi-finals to Spanish side Valencia. With Argentinian superstar player Enzo Trossero as well as youngsters in the academy like Jose Toure and William Ayache The club played unbeaten for 92 matches at home.

Jean Vincent left the club in 1981, having a difficult time trying to incorporate his superstar striker, Yugoslav Vahid Halilhodzic into the Nantes the system of play. Suaudeau was appointed the manager himself. Suaudeau was helped by a stellar defense, which included French international goalkeeper Jean Paul Bertrand-Demanes as well as center-backs Patrice Rio, and Maxime Bossis, as well as the full-backs Michel Bibard, Thierry Tusseau and William Ayache; Bruno Baronchelli continues to lead the charge in midfield, assisted by the academy's Seth Adonkor, who is a defensive defender and Winger Loic Amisse had an upswing in his final years, while the strikers Jose Toure (nicknamed 'the Brazilian') and particularly Vahid Halilhodzic had a fantastic partnership. The brand new La Beaujoire stadium, built to host in 1984's Euro competition, Nantes won the title in 1983 and then missed out on a double when they fell in their French Cup final to Paris Saint-Germain.

A number of other French clubs raised their budgets substantially And Nantes were unable to be competitive. The club had to part with Thierry Tusseau Bordeaux, William Ayache to PSG and Maxime Bossis to Matra Racing. Nantes was still one of the top clubs in France with players like Jorge Burruchaga (World Cup winner with Argentina in 1986) and was able finishing 6th place in the year 1984 as well as 2nd in 1985 and 2nd in 1986. Other expensive players such as Maurice Johnston and Eddie Vercauteren didn't work well and the results slowly declined. The continuous influx of academy players with talent like Didier Deschamps, and Marcel Desailly was not quite enough to make up for the loss and the progress that other clubs made. The club was ranked 13th in 1987, and 10th in 1988.

Suaudeau was then dismissed and Croatian manager Miroslav Blazevic was appointed in his place. The club , however, faced financial problems (and was nearly degraded in 1992) and was forced depend almost entirely on the young academy players to stay in the premier division. The club was transformed into an "feeder club" which meant it sold its best young players to bigger clubs: Deschamps and Yvon Le Roux to Olympique Marseille, Michel Der Zakarian to Montpellier, Antoine Kombouare to Toulon as well as Vincent Bracigliano to Nimes.

The club was re-appointed in July of 1991. team appointed Jean-Claude Suaudeau again, and on July 22, 1992 following being within the division 2 because of an administrative decision taken by the DNCG (French Football's financial regulator), FC Nantes was changed to FC Nantes Atlantique, and was capable of retaking its place at the bottom of the league. With the help of Youth head coach Raynald Denoueix, Suaudeau reinstated the "Nantes method of playing" and despite Marcel Desailly's departure to Marseille and the stability of the team. The club was soon able to play its signature quick game that is quick and efficient. The academy was able to provide players who could blend the physical and the technical especially those like Christian Karembeu, Patrice Loko, Claude Makelele and Nicolas Ouedec. The midfielders Japhet N'Doram and Raynald Ponce enthralled fans across France. The team made it to the French Cup final in 1993 (losing to PSG) and then won in the French league the following year. Nantes scored ten wins 3-0 in the home stadium during the season. In 1995-96, Nantes reached the semi-finals in the European Cup, coming close to defeating Juventus with a fantastic performance in the final at home.

Then, Nantes continued to sell its top players, with Karembeu and Loko selling in 1995 and Ouedec N'Doram Makelele, Benoit Cauet and goalkeeper David Marraud sold in the next two years. In 1997, dissatisfied with this decision, Suaudeau left the club and Denoueix assumed the reins. The academy came come to the rescue again with its agile, technical players like Stephane Ziani, Olivier Monterrubio, Eric Carriere, Mikael Landreau, and Frederic Da Rocha enabled the club to be the winners of 2 French Cups in a row (1999 and 2000) and then win the title in 2001. Denoueix's departure to Real Sociedad impacted the club slightly, however Nantes did manage to win to reach a French Cup semi-final, a League Cup final and 6th position at the top of their league under the guidance of coach Angel Marcos Loic Amisse.

Nantes were at the bottom of their league and then were removed from the league, prompting an invasion of the pitch and protests by supporters. The 44-year streak in the premier division finished.

In the 2007 the club was sold to businessman Waldemar Kita. The club was home to only 5 managers from 1960 to 2000 during the period 2000-2010, the club had ten managers who were hired and dismissed. The club was promoted to the top division in 2008 but was relegated following the following season. Nantes was then placed 15th within Ligue 2 under the management of three coaches.

Former player Michel Der Zakarian took the charge in 2012, leading the team to promotion from 2012-13 Ligue 2, with 20 goals scored by Filip Dordevic. The team reached the semi-finals in the 2013-14 Coupe de la Ligue, losing 2-1 at home against PSG. In April of 2016, following an argument that was tense, club head of the club Waldemar Kita announced Der Zakarian would leave at the close of the season.

Rene Girard was sacked after 15 games, leaving Nantes the second bottom team in December of 2016, He was then replaced with Sergio Conceicao. The team was able to climb up to 7th and then quit in June 2017 to join FC Porto to be closer to his family.

After brief stints with Claudio Ranieri and Miguel Cardoso, the former Nantes players Vahid Halilhodzic was scouted in October of 2018. The following month the club resigned Argentine forward Emiliano Sala over to Premier League club Cardiff City for PS15 million. He was killed in a light plane accident in the English Channel. Cardiff City made it to in the semifinals for the 2018-19 Coupe de France, losing 3-1 to PSG.

After a period of Christian Gourcuff in charge and seven games under the former France National team coach Raymond Domenech, 18th-placed Nantes appointed Antoine Kombouare on the 10th of February 2021. Kombouare finished the season as the 18th-placed manager after winning the play-off match against Toulouse to remain in the top spot. On May 7, 2022 Nantes were awarded their third Coupe de France with a victory by 1-0 against Nice which was their first trophy since 2001. Ludovic Blas scored their only goal in the penalty area.

FC Nantes played at Stade Marcel Saupin from 1937 until 1984. They relocated to their present home stadium Stade de la Beaujoire from 1984. The stadium has 38,128 seats. A new stadium , dubbed "YelloPark" was planned to be constructed as Nantes home ground by 2022. However, the idea was scrapped on the 26th of February 2019 after Nantes Metropolitan Council. Nantes Metropolitan Council to offer the land required for the development of the site.

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As of 22 September 2022

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FRA Alban Lafont (captain) 2 DF  BRA Fábio 3 DF  BRA Andrei Girotto 4 DF  FRA Nicolas Pallois (vice-captain) 5 MF  ESP Pedro Chirivella 7 FW  FRA Evann Guessand (on loan from Nice) 8 MF  COD Samuel Moutoussamy 10 MF  FRA Ludovic Blas 11 FW  FRA Marcus Coco 12 MF  FRA Dennis Appiah 14 FW  CMR Ignatius Ganago

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 GK  FRA Rémy Descamps 17 MF  FRA Moussa Sissoko 21 DF  CMR Jean-Charles Castelletto 24 DF  FRA Sébastien Corchia 27 MF  NGA Moses Simon 28 DF  FRA Fabien Centonze 29 MF  FRA Quentin Merlin 30 GK  SVN Denis Petrić 31 FW  EGY Mostafa Mohamed (on loan from Galatasaray) 93 DF  MLI Charles Traoré

Below are the notable former players who have represented Nantes in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1943. 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 FC Nantes players, see Category:FC Nantes players

•  Aimé Nuic (1943–46)
•  Antoine Raab (1946–49)
•  Antoine Gorius (1949–51)
•  Émile Veinante (1951–55)
•  Antoine Raab (1955–56)
•  Stanislas Staho (1956)
•  Ludwig Dupal (1956–59)
•  Karel Michlowsky (1959–60)
•  José Arribas (1960–76)
•  Jean Vincent (1976–82)
•  Jean-Claude Suaudeau (1 July 1982 – 30 June 1988)
•  Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević (1 July 1988 – 2 February 1991)
•  Jean-Claude Suaudeau (2 February 1991 – 30 June 1997)
•  Raynald Denoueix (1 July 1997 – 27 December 2001)
•  Ángel Marcos (28 December Dec 2001–30 June 2003)
•  Loïc Amisse (5 June 2003 – 2 January 2005)
•  Serge Le Dizet (3 January 2005 – 10 September 2006)
•  Georges Eo (20 September 2006 – 12 February 2007)
•  Michel Der Zakarian and  Japhet N'Doram (12 February 2007–07)
•  Michel Der Zakarian (2007–26 August 2008)
•  Christian Larièpe (interim) (27 Aug 2008 – 2 September 2008)
•  Elie Baup (2 September 2008 – 30 June 2009)
•  Gernot Rohr (1 July 2009 – 3 December 2009)
•  Jean-Marc Furlan (3 December 2009 – 20 February 2010)
•  Baptiste Gentili (21 February 2010 – 6 March 2011)
•  Philippe Anziani (7 March 2011 – 30 May 2011)
•  Landry Chauvin (31 May 2011 – 30 May 2012)
•  Michel Der Zakarian (31 May 2012 – 10 May 2016)
•  René Girard (11 May 2016 – 2 December 2016)
•  Sérgio Conceição (8 December 2016 – 6 June 2017)
•  Claudio Ranieri (15 June 2017 – 19 May 2018)
•  Miguel Cardoso (13 June 2018 – 2 October 2018)
•  Vahid Halilhodžić (2 October 2018 – 2 August 2019)
•  Christian Gourcuff (August 2019 – December 2020)
•  Raymond Domenech (December 2020 – February 2021)
•  Antoine Kombouaré (February 2021 – present)

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• Ligue 1
  • Winners (8): 1964–65, 1965–66, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1982–83, 1994–95, 2000–01
• Coupe de France
  • Winners (4): 1978–79, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2021–22
• Coupe de la Ligue
  • Winners: 1964–65
• Trophée des Champions
  • Winners (3): 1965, 1999, 2001

• UEFA Champions League
  • Semi-finalists: 1995–96
• UEFA Cup
  • Quarter-finalists: 1994–95
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
  • Semi-finalists: 1979–80
• Cup of the Alps
  • Winners: 1982