Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the city, and wears white and blue. The original incarnation of the club was founded in 1911 and, in 1997, was formed into the club that exists today as a result of a merger. Grenoble currently plays in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

, the second level of French football, after having gone into bankruptcy and relegation to the fifth level of French football in 2011.

History

The club was founded in 1911 as ''Football Club de Grenoble''. In 1997, a merger of ''Olympique Grenoble Isère'' and ''Norcap Olympique'' led to the ''Grenoble Foot 38'' incarnation. Olympique Grenoble Isère played in Ligue 1 in the 1960–61 and 1962–63 seasons. In 2004, Grenoble Foot was acquired by

Index Holdings , formerly known as , is a Japanese corporate information and communications technology company owned by Sawada Holdings. "Index Corporation" was a corporate name used by three different Japanese companies, between 1997 and 2016, the last one be ...

, a Japanese mobile software company, therefore becoming the first French football club to have foreign owners. The price of the deal was around €2 million. The new owners invested in the Stade des Alpes, a new ground with an initial capacity of 20,000 which opened in February 2008. Grenoble finished the

2007–08 Ligue 2 The Ligue 2 season 2007–08 was the sixty-sixth since its establishment, and started in August 2007. The fixtures were announced in June 2007. FC Metz, the champions of Ligue 2, SM Caen, and RC Strasbourg were promoted to France's top division ...

season in third place, thus returning to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

for the first time since 1963. In the

2008–09 Ligue 1 The 2008–09 Ligue 1 season was the 71st since its establishment. Bordeaux became champions for the sixth time on the last weekend of the season. The fixtures were announced on 23 May 2008. The season began on 9 August 2008 and ended on 30 May ...

season, Grenoble finished 13th. However, after losing their first eleven games of the following season, they were eventually relegated with six games remaining amidst severe financial problems. The professional football club was liquidated in July 2011 with debts of €2.9 million, and relegated administratively to

Championnat de France Amateur 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

, the fifth tier. Index provided false financial statements during their ownership of the club. Now an amateur side, Grenoble won promotion from

at the first attempt in 2012, and were champions of the

2016–17 Championnat de France Amateur The 2016–17 Championnat de France Amateur was the 19th season of the fourth tier in the French football league system in its current format. The competition was contested by 64 clubs split geographically across 4 groups of 16 teams each. The tea ...

, returning to Championnat National for the 2017–18 season. They secured their second successive promotion to

on 27 May 2018, after an aggregate play-off victory over Bourg-en-Bresse.

Name changes

* ''Football Club de Grenoble'' (1911–1977) * ''Football Club Association Sportive de Grenoble'' (1977–1984) * ''Football Club de Grenoble Dauphiné'' (1984–1990) * ''Football Club de Grenoble Isère'' (1990–1992) * ''Football Club de Grenoble Jojo Isère'' (1992–1993) * ''Olympique Grenoble Isère'' (1993–1997) * ''Grenoble Foot 38'' (1997–''present'')

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable players

Below are the notable former players who have represented Grenoble and its predecessors in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1997. ''For a complete list of Grenoble Foot 38 players, see :Grenoble Foot 38 players'' *

Ruben Aguilar Ruben Aguilar (born 26 April 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Ligue 1 club Monaco and the France national team. Early life Ruben Aguilar was born on 26 April 1993 in Grenoble, Isère. Club career Aguilar ...

Laurent Batlles Laurent Batlles (born 23 September 1975) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently head coach of club Saint-Étienne. Playing career Batlles was born in Nantes. In 1993, he emerged from the Toulouse academy ...

* Laurent Courtois * Gaël Danic * Youri Djorkaeff *

Laurent David Laurent David (born January 9, 1971 in Saint-Brieuc) is a French former professional Association football, footballer. He is currently a head coach for Stade Brestois 29 reserves. David played on the professional level in Ligue 1 for FC Martigu ...

* Julien François * Olivier Giroud * Biagui Kamissoko * Sandy Paillot *

Steven Pelé Steven Robert Pelé (born 28 August 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is the older brother of Yohann Pelé. Coaching career In the summer 2016, Pelé joined Séné FC as a playing manager. Ahead of ...

* Martial Robin *

Jérémy Stinat Jérémy Stinat (born 15 December 1978 in Chartres) is a French professional footballer who played for several years in Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, ...

Florian Thauvin Florian Tristan Mariano Thauvin (born 26 January 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. He made his professional debut for Grenoble in 2011, moving on to Bastia where he won the Ligue 2 ...

Grégory Wimbée Grégory Wimbée (born 19 August 1971) is a French retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He appeared in 282 Ligue 1 games over 11 seasons, representing in the competition Nancy, Lille, Metz, Grenoble and Valenciennes. In a 19-year ...

* Nassim Akrour * Sofiane Feghouli *

Saphir Taïder Saphir Sliti Taïder ( ar, سفير سليتي تايدر; born 29 February 1992) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder, central midfielder. Born in France, he plays for the Algeria national football team, A ...

* Walid Regragui * Sergio Rojas * Hristo Yanev *

Bertin Tokéné Bertin Tokéné (born 10 May 1975 in Douala, Cameroon) is a Cameroonian-Belgian football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally m ...

* Zdeněk Nehoda *

Franck Dja Djédjé Franck Dja Djédjé (born 2 June 1986) is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Dja Djédjé came to France from his country of birth at the 12 years age, where he signed with SC Solitaire de Paris at y ...

* Milivoje Vitakić *

Charles Pickel Charles Pickel (born 15 May 1997) is a Swiss professional association football, footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club U.S. Cremonese, Cremonese. Club career Pickel started his youth football with FC Solothurn. In Summer 2011, ...

Robert Malm Robert Ismaël Kobla Malm (born 21 August 1973) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in France, he represented Togo at international level. Club career Malm was born in Dunkerque, France. In January 2008, he signed ...

Alaixys Romao Jacques-Alaixys Romao (born 18 January 1984), commonly known as Alaixys Romao, is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Super League Greece club Ionikos, for which he is captain. Born in France, he represents Togo at internat ...

Daisuke Matsui is a Japanese professional footballer who plays for YSCC Yokohama. He played for Japan national team. His wife is Japanese actress Rosa Kato. Club career Early years In 2000, Matsui graduated from and began his professional career with Kyo ...

* Masashi Oguro * Moussa Djitté * Ibrahima Sonko * Gustavo Poyet

Coaching Staff

Managers

* Jules Dewaquez (1945–1946) *R. Lacoste (1953–1954) *G. Dupraz (1957–1958) *A. Fornetti (1958–1963) *

Albert Batteux Albert Batteux (2 July 1919 – 28 February 2003) was a French football midfielder and a manager. He is the most successful manager in the history of Ligue 1 having won eight domestic titles, twice reaching the European Cup final and a third-p ...

(1963–1967) *R. Abad (1967–1970) *

René Gardien René Auguste Gardien (10 February 1928 – 1 February 2006) was a French footballer who played as a forward, most notably at FC Sochaux, and scored 122 league goals and 2 international goals. He later became a manager. Playing career Gardien ...

(1970–1971) *J. Donnard (1971–1972) *R. Garcin (1972–1975) * Jean Deloffre (1975–1978) *R. Belloni (1978–1980) *

Michel Lafranceschina Michel Lafranceschina (born 28 February 1939) is a French former footballer and coach. He played for Grenoble, Lens, Lille, Sochaux, Limoges and Bourges. After his playing career, he became a coach with Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commu ...

(1980–1981) * Jean Djorkaeff (1981–1983) *

Claude Le Roy Claude Le Roy (born 6 February 1948) is a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Senegal and Ghana national teams. He was most recently the manager of the Togo national team. Ma ...

(1983–1985) * Robert Buigues (1985–1986) * Christian Dalger (1986–1989) * Patrick Parizon (1989–1990) *

Noël Tosi Noël Tosi (born 25 May 1959) is a French football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Africa Sports. As a player, he played for minor clubs in France. His first job as a coach was Deauville in 1986. Tosi previously coached th ...

(1990–1991) *

Bernard Simondi Bernard Simondi (born 28 July 1953) is a French former footballer and coach. He played for SC Toulon, Stade Lavallois, FC Tours and AS Saint-Étienne. After his playing career, he became a coach with Al-Nassr, Puget, Aubagne, Grenoble, US Cré ...

(1991–1993) *B. David (1993–1994) *C. Letard (1994–1995) *É. Geraldes (1995–1996) *

(1996–1997) * Alain Michel (1997–2001) *Marc Westerloppe (2001–2002) * Alain Michel (2002–2004) * Thierry Goudet (2004–2006) * Yvon Pouliquen (2006–2007) * Mehmed Baždarević (2007–2010) * Yvon Pouliquen (2010–2011) *Olivier Saragaglia (2012–2015) *

Jean-Louis Garcia Jean-Louis Garcia (born 20 September 1962) is a French football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Belgian First Division A side RFC Seraing. Club career Garcia was a goalkeeper for many clubs including AS Cannes, ...

(2015–2016) *

Olivier Guégan Olivier Guégan (born 20 August 1972) is a French former professional footballer who currently manages French Ligue 2 side Sochaux. During his playing career he played as a midfielder. Managerial career In June 2014, he became the assistant coa ...

(2016–2018) * Philippe Hinschberger (2018–2021) * Maurizio Jacobacci (2021) *

Vincent Hognon Vincent Hognon (born 16 August 1974) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He spent his playing career in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 at Nancy, Saint-Étienne and Nice. He managed Nancy, Metz and Gre ...

(2021–present)

Honours

**''Champions'': 1960, 1962 * Championnat National **''Champions'': 2001 * Coppa delle Alpi **''Runners-up'': 1963 * Coupe Gambardella **''Runners-up'': 1987, 1990

References

External links

{{Ligue 2 teamlist Association football clubs established in 1911 1911 establishments in France Football clubs in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Sport in Grenoble Ligue 1 clubs