Luçon Football Club is a French

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 means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club, located in

Luçon Luçon () is a commune in the Vendée department, Pays de la Loire region, western France. Its inhabitants are known as Luçonnais. Luçon Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Luçon (comprising the Vendée), where Cardinal Richelieu once se ...

. It was founded in 1924 as Stade Luçonnais. In 2003 it changed name to Vendée Luçon Football. In 2013 it rebranded to its current name. As of the 2017–18 season, the club plays in the Division Régionale Honneur of the

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

regional league, at the eighth tier of French football.

History

The club was founded in 1924. It became champion of the Division d'Honneur of the Centre-West regional league for the first time in 1933. In 1966 it joined the newly formed Atlantic regional league and competed in the Division d'Honneur there until 1978. In 1978 the club finished second in the Atlantic Division d'Honneur and won promotion to inaugural season of Division 4 of the new French football league system, finishing fourth. In 1982 the club was relegated back to the Division d'Honneur, but won promotion again as champions a year later. In 1986 the club was relegated again. In 1989 and 1990 the club won back to back promotions, reaching for the first time the third level of the French football league system, then called Division 3. They stayed at this level for three seasons, until the league was reorganised in 1993, and they were placed in National 2 at the fourth level. Relegation followed again in 1994 to the fifth level, where the club stayed until 2000 when they were relegated again, back to the Division d'Honneur Atlantic region. In 2002, at the second attempt, the club were champion of Division d'Honneur Atlantic region and won promotion to what was now

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 ...

. In 2003 the club rebranded itself as Vendée Luçon Football. In 2008 the club won promotion to the fourth level,

Championnat de France Amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

. The club had its best performance in the Coupe de France in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, reaching the round of 32 where they lost 2–0 to

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

. In 2013 the club again won promotion to the third level,

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

. and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

they finished fifth, their highest league position to date. A year later, despite finishing 11th in

they were relegated for financial reasons. The club filed for bankruptcy, and reformed to play in the seventh level of amateur football as Luçon FC for the 2016–17 season.

Honours

* Champion DH Centre-Ouest: 1933 * Champion DH Atlantique: 1983, 1989, 2002

Notable former players

; *

Vital N'Simba Vital Manuel N'Simba (born 8 July 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Giro ...

; *

Michel Pageaud Michel Pageaud (born 30 August 1966 in Luçon, Vendée) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Angers SCO, Valenciennes and Scottish club Dundee. A month prior to joining Dundee in February 1994, he played in ...

* Jonathan Ringayen ; * Benjamin Feindouno ; *

Richmond Forson Richmond Forson (born 23 May 1980) is a former professional footballer who played as a left-back and spent his career in France. Born in Ghana, he grew up in Togo and represented the Togo national team internationally. Club career Forson was ...

Notable former coaches

Pierre Mosca Pierre Mosca (born Pietro Mosca on 24 July 1949) is French former football player and coach who played as a defender for Montpellier and Monaco. After his playing career, he became a coach with Sochaux, Rennes, Montpellier, Toulouse, Toulon, N ...

* Yannick Plissonneau

References

Association football clubs established in 1924 1924 establishments in France Sport in Vendée Football clubs in Pays de la Loire {{France-footyclub-stub