Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

club based in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, France. It has been the women's section of

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes, commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Naunnt''), is a French professional association football, football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 Ap ...

since 2012. Coached by Nicolas Chabot, the club competes in the Première Ligue.

History

In the summer of 2012, the plan to create a women's section of

took effect. Firstly, youth teams were put in place, with the objective being to become a competitive feminine football club at a national scale in the long run. The senior team entered the league system in 2014, starting from the lowest tier, the third division of the District de Football de Loire-Atlantique. The club had failed to secure a merger with another club in the Nantes region, notably with . The team rapidly progressed, successively finishing first in the third, second, and first district divisions, accessing the regional level of women's football in France ahead of the 2017–18 season. The team would shine once again during that season, finishing first in their Régional 2 group and reaching the final of the Coupe des Pays de la Loire. In the 2018–19 season, Nantes finished second in the Régional 1 behind

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

. The club therefore qualified for the play-offs for promotion to the Division 2 Féminine, where the team would eventually eliminate CA Paris and Le Mans. Nantes therefore reached the national level of football for the first time in the club's history, five years after the first team's entrance into the league system. The first season in the Division 2 for Nantes was ended prematurely due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, although the team did place fourth before the suspension of the league. The 2020–21 season was ended even earlier than the previous season; Nantes finished in second place in Group A. Despite a hope for promotion via play-offs, the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

finally decided that only

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

would be promoted and that Nantes would stay in the Division 2. On 30 July 2021, Nantes announced the appointment of Mathieu Ricoul as head coach to replace Tanguy Fétiveau, who had been managing the team since June 2017. At the beginning of the 2021–22 season, the club would have a budget of €1 million and twelve federal contracts, the maximum amount in the Division 2, with hopes of achieving promotion to the

Division 1 Féminine Division 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 of 10,000 to ...

Managerial history

* 2017–2021: Tanguy Fétiveau * 2021–2022: Mathieu Ricoul * 2022–2023: Oswaldo Vizcarrondo * 2023- : Nicolas Chabot

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable former players

* Kenza Chapelle * Eva Frémaux * Kelly Gago * Claire Guillard * Sherly Jeudy * Pilar Khoury * Yvonne Leuko * Christabel Oduro

References

External links

Club website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nantes Women FC Nantes (women) FC Nantes (women) 2012 establishments in France Association football clubs established in 2012

Nantes (women)