Club Athlétique Bordeaux-Bègles Gironde are a French multisports club, established in 1907, based in

Bègles Bègles (; Gascon: ''Begla'') is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France. It is a suburb of the city of Bordeaux and is adjacent to it on the south. Bègles station has rail connections to Langon and Bordeaux. Population ...

, in the southern suburbs of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. Their

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

section,

Union Bordeaux Bègles Union Bordeaux Bègles (; oc, Union Bordèu Begla) is a French rugby union team playing in the Top 14, the first level of the country's professional league system. They earned their Top 14 place by winning the promotion playoffs that followed ...

is their flagship. They play in blue and white chequered shirts, hence their nickname ''Les Damiers'' (''the draught-boards''). The club now only has youth teams, although the club's website documents the result of the new team thoroughly. The club has always played at Stade André-Moga, which holds 10,000.

History

CABBG were the main team of the Bordeaux area for most of the 20th century. They remained in the first division from 1913 to 2003 and won two French championships (1969, 1991) along the way. Along the years, the club's name changed. It started as Club Athlétique Bègles, then became CA Bègles-Bordeaux Gironde in 1983, then CA Bordeaux-Bègles Gironde in 1988. CABBG were relegated from the First Division for the first time in 2003, after the

professional league Professional sports, Professional sports leagues are organized in numerous ways. The two most significant types are one that developed in Europe, characterized by a tiered structure using promotion and relegation in order to determine participati ...

's finance commission declared them unable to continue. A year later, the club was declared bankrupt and forced to play in the amateur third division (

Fédérale 1 Le championnat de France de première division fédérale, a.k.a. Fédérale 1, is a French rugby union club competition, the fifth highest level of amateur rugby. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Française de Rugby since 2 ...

). Finally, in 2006, their senior outfit was merged with that of Stade Bordelais, which played in the professional second division

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

so as to create a side that would be able to jump back to the first division (

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

). The new team was clumsily called ''Union Stade Bordelais-Club Athlétque Bordeaux-Bègles Gironde'' or ''Bordeaux Rugby Métropole'' but in 2008 changed to

Honors

* French championship : 1969, 1991 ** Runner-up French championship : 1967

Finals results

Famous players

* Lisandro Arbizu * Ignacio Fernández Lobbe * Federico Méndez * Morgan Williams * Guy Accoceberry * Philippe Bernat-Salles *

Olivier Brouzet Olivier Brouzet (born 22 November 1972, in Béziers) is a French rugby union footballer. His usual position was at lock. He has played over 70 internationals for France, including being a part of numerous Rugby World Cup squads for France. He ...

* Jacques Chaban-Delmas *

Patrice Collazo Patrice Collazo (born 27 April 1974) is a French rugby union footballer and is currently the Head coach of Top 14 side CA Brive. He played as a prop. Collazo has Galician ancestry. Whilst at Gloucester he started in the 2002 Zurich Championshi ...

* Michel Courtiols *

Thierry Devergie Thierry Devergie (born 27 July 1966 in Marseille) is a French former rugby union footballer. He played as a lock and as a flanker. He also had a brief stint as a professional rugby league footballer. Career Devergie played for RC Nîmes and fo ...

* Richard Dourthe *

Thierry Dusautoir Thierry Dusautoir (; born 18 November 1981) is a French former rugby union player who last played for France at international level and Toulouse in the French Top 14 club competition. Dusautoir was considered a strong ball carrier and possessed i ...

* Philippe Gimbert * Jean-Baptiste Lafond * Patrice Lagisquet *

Bernard Laporte Bernard Laporte (born 1 July 1964) is a rugby player, coach and former French Secretary of State for Sport. From 1999 to 2007, Laporte was the head coach of the France national team. In 2011, he became the head coach at Toulon, after Philippe Sa ...

* Christophe Laussucq * Vincent Moscato * Marc de Rougemont * Marc Sallefranque * Serge Simon * Olivier Sourgens * Jean-Marc Souverbie *

William Téchoueyres William Téchoueyres (born 12 February 1966) is a former French rugby union footballer. He played as a wing. He spent his career at Stade Bordelais. He had three caps for France, twice at the Five Nations in 1994, and one at the 1995 Rugby Wo ...

* Ludovic Valbon * David Bortolussi * Luca Martin * Gabriel Brezoianu *

Alexandru Manta Alexandru Manta (born 7 June 1977 in Bucharest) is a Romanian former rugby union footballer. Career Manta spent the majority of his career in France, playing for USC Terrasson (1998), Stade Aurillacois (1998/02), Bègles-Bordeaux (2002/03), Sec ...

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:CA Bordeaux-Begles Gironde Begles Rugby clubs established in 1907 Begles Gironde Sport in Gironde 1907 establishments in France