Le Havre Athletic Club (; commonly referred to as Le Havre) is a French association football club based in

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. The club was founded as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, making Le Havre AC the oldest professional French football club. Le Havre is one of the oldest French football clubs, but the oldest is

Standard Athletic Club The Standard Athletic Club is a British social club in Paris, created on 1 March 1890, as the first football clubs in France. The Standard Athletic Club won the first French football championship in 1894, and then again in 1895, 1897, 1898 and ...

of Paris.Archives municipales du Fort de Tourneville (Le Havre), statuts du HAC, fonds de Sanvic, R3 1 L.2. Le Havre plays in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to 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 making up the Ligue ...

, the second tier of French football, and plays its home matches at the Stade Océane. Le Havre made its football debut in France's first-ever championship in 1899 and, on its debut, became the first French club outside Paris to win the league. The club won the league the following season in 1900. Le Havre has yet to win the current first division of French football,

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. ...

, but has participated in the league 24 times; its last stint being during the 2008–09 season. The club's highest honour to date was winning 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 ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. The main rivalries of Le Havre are the "Derby Normand" with SM Caen and an always heated clash with

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 ...

, located in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

History

It was in 1884 that a group of British residents formed Le Havre Athlétique, which played a hybrid form of football, a cross between

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and association football, called "combination". The oldest French football club is

founded by British in Paris. ''Association'' football began being played in Le Havre in 1894. In 1899, Le Havre became the first club from outside Paris to become French football champions. At the time the championship was organised by the

USFSA U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act an ...

. After being awarded a win over Iris Club Lillois in the semi-final by walkover, they were awarded the title after also receiving a walkover in the final against Club Français. They would also win the following year, with the final being a "re-match" of the forfeited 1899 final. The club is famous for its notable youth investment program which develops and nurtures young talent, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show enough promise. A vast amount of good young talent has gone on to make an impact at international level including

Benjamin Mendy Benjamin Mendy (born 17 July 1994) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Manchester City. He played for the France national team from 2017 until 2019. After coming through Le Havre's youth academy, Mendy began ...

, Ibrahim Ba, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Lassana Diarra, Riyad Mahrez, Steve Mandanda, Vikash Dhorasoo, Paul Pogba and Dimitri Payet. The club was on the receiving end of some high-profile illegal transfers, by which Charles N'Zogbia, Matthias Lepiller and Paul Pogba were signed by other clubs, allegedly without the proper compensation being paid. The first two were arbitrated by FIFA, who ordered

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

and

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

to pay training compensation.

Club culture

Le Havre is known as 'les ciel et marine' in France, which translates as 'the sky and navy blues'. These colours were chosen by the club's English founders as they were those of their alma maters, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge: the anthem of the club is played to the melody of "

God Save the Queen "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...

" to mark the English origins of the club: "''A jamais le premier''
''de tous les clubs français''
''ô H.A.C.''
''Fiers de tes origines''
''Fils d'Oxford et Cambridge''
''deux couleurs font notre prestige''
''Ciel et marine!''" English translation: "The first ever
of all French clubs
The H.A.C
Proud of your roots
Son of Oxford and Cambridge
two colours make our prestige
(the colours of the) sky and the sea!"

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Honours

**''Winners'' (5): 1938, 1959, 1985, 1991, 2008 **''Runners-up'' (1): 1950 *

**''Winners'' (1): 1959 **''Runners-up'' (1): 1920 *

Championnat **''Winners'' (3): 1899, 1900, 1919 *Challenge international du Nord **''Winners'' (1): 1900 * Coupe Nationale **''Winners'' (2): 1918, 1919 *

Challenge des Champions Challenge may refer to: * Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters * Euphemism for disability * Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty Places Geography * Challenge, ...

**''Winners'' (1): 1959

Club Staff

Managerial history

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Havre Ac Association football clubs established in 1872 Football clubs in Normandy French rugby union clubs 1872 establishments in France Football clubs in France Sport in Le Havre Ligue 1 clubs