Calais Racing Union FC (Calais RUFC) was 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 ...

club based in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

, France. Calais RUFC was founded in 1974 after a merger of two local clubs and, as an amateur club, reached the 2000 Coupe de France Final which it lost to top-flight

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

. The club played at the 12,342-seater Stade de l'Épopée. Calais Racing Union was liquidated in September 2017.

History

Foundations

Sleeping Club

The club was founded in 1902 as Racing Club de Calais. RC Calais had excellent results in the first editions of the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

, taking part in the quarter-finals of the competition in 1921, the last 8 in 1922 and the last 16 in 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1930. In 1921 Calais even beat CASG Paris in the second round 3–2. The club joined the professional ranks in 1933. Lack of sufficient financial resources, Calais opted to give up its professional status in 1938, which remain the only 5 years of professional football in Calais. RC Calais remained in the amateur divisions, rejoining the CFA in 1962 but the following years were spent oscillating between the CFA and

Division d'Honneur Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

Union Sportive

Union Sportive was founded after the war in 1947, after a merger of two local clubs. Its main successes were reaching the last 32 of

and notable appearances in

Coupe Gambardella The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their s ...

Merger

''Racing Club'' was merged with Union Sportive in 1974, renamed as Calais Racing Union Football Club to reflect the names of the 2 clubs, and was given both the clubs' colours. Before the merger derby matches between the two attracted up to 5000 fans.

1999–2000 Coupe de France

Calais RUFC entered the international spotlight during their run to the final of the 2000

, under Spanish coach Ladislas Lozano. Made up of teachers, dock workers and office clerks, Calais' ten-round cup run saw the team defeat regional heavyweights

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

and first division teams

Racing Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

and

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 prefectu ...

;"A Baseball Cup"
Mravic, Mark, Sports Illustrated May 16, 2000 they played no games at their own ground, drawn as the away team in most rounds and the later 'home' ties played at the

Stade Félix-Bollaert The Stade Bollaert-Delelis () is the main football stadium in Lens, France, that was built in 1933. It is the home of RC Lens. The stadium's capacity is 38,223 – about 7,000 more than the city's population. The stadium was originally named a ...

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements ...

due to issues with facilities and capacity. They eventually lost 2–1 to

in the final at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

on 7 May 2000, despite leading 1–0 at half-time.

Recent history

There was another creditable run in the

2005–06 Coupe de France The Coupe de France's results of the 2005–06 season. Six thousand three hundred and ninety-four clubs participated in the cup and the final was played on 29 April 2006 between PSG and Olympique de Marseille. As winners, PSG qualified for the fi ...

, as Calais progressed through eight rounds, including a win over top-division

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near ...

, before losing narrowly in the quarter-finals, again to Nantes. The club played their first match in their new Stade de l'Épopée on 27 September 2008, losing 4–1 to Laval in a

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, ...

(third tier) match. Calais were relegated from the Championnat National at the end of the 2008–09 season, which would have resulted in them playing in the CFA, but on 14 July 2009, it was announced by the DNCG that Calais RUFC had been relegated to the

CFA 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 ...

due to administrative reasons. On 17 April 2010, the club broke the attendance record for a

game, which had previously stood at 3,078. The game against

Wasquehal Wasquehal (traditional pronunciation ; currently common pronunciation ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. The town originally had a Flemish name; it was written as ''Waskenhal'' in the 11th century. Geography Wasquehal ...

had an attendance of around 4,000. On 15 May 2010, CRUFC won the

Group A by defeating Gravelines 2–0, with Alexandre Danset scoring both of the goals. They therefore qualified to compete in the CFA for the 2010–11 season. However, on 3 June 2010, the club were placed into liquidation by the Boulogne central court, and the FFF subsequently denied the club promotion. They again won their group in the 2010−11 CFA 2 season, and were again denied promotion by the FFF. They remained in CFA 2 until the 2013–14 season, when they were promoted to CFA as one of the best runners up. In the 2016–17 season they finished bottom of CFA group B and were relegated, having had seven points deducted for various reasons during the season. Subsequently, the FFF gave them an Administrative relegation, meaning they would play the 2017–18 season at Regional level at best. Calais RUFC eventually dissolved in September 2017.

Honours

*Runners-Up: 1999–00 *Quarter Final: 2005–06 CFA Group A *Champions: 2006–07 Division Three (North) *Champions: 1980–81 CFA 2 Group A *Champions: 1987–88, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2009–10 CFA 2 Group B *Champions: 2010–11 DH North *Champions: 1975–76 DH North pas de Calais *Champions: 1990–91

Former coaches

* Albert Dubreucq (1962–1965) * Dimitri Antonov (1965–1966) * R. Noël (1966–1967) * Jean (1967–1968) * Claude Plancque (1968–1973) * Bernard Placzek (1973–1979 * Eugène Grévin (1979–1980) * Jacques Fardoux (1980–1982) * Mohamed Lekkak (1982–1983) * Bernard Ledru (1983–1985) * Gabriel Desmenez (1985–1987) * Richard Ellena (1987–1991) * Jean-Marc Varnier (1991–1993) * Jean-Claude Cloët (1993–1994) * Daniel Fuchs (1994–1995) * Ladislas Lozano (1995–2001) * Manuel Abreu Freitas (2001–2002) * Sylvain Jore (2002) * Jean-Jacques Allais (2002) * Sylvain Jore (2002–2003) * Jean-Jacques Allais (2003) * Sylvain Jore (2003–2007)

References

External links

*http://www.crufc.fr Site Officiel du Calais Racing Union FC {{Authority control Association football clubs established in 1974 1974 establishments in France 2017 disestablishments in France Association football clubs disestablished in 2017 Defunct football clubs in France Sport in Calais Football clubs in Hauts-de-France