FC Sète 34 was a French

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Sète Sète (; , ), also historically spelled ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises'' (fem ...

and founded in 1901 as Olympique de Cette. The club won the French league title twice (in 1934 and 1939) and the French cup also twice (1930 and 1934). In 1934 they became the first club to win the French league and cup double. At the time, they were using the Georges-Bayrou Stadium. Until 1960, the club played a major role in the French football championship, but due to financial issues, it was forced to give up professional status. From the 1970s until 2005, the club played in secondary levels, before accessing

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, 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 de Football Prof ...

for one season after finishing at the 3rd rank of

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

. The club last played in

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

, the fourth tier of French football, at Stade Louis Michel in the town. In July 2023 the club was placed into judicial liquidation, with the FFF refusing a newly formed association the rights to continue with the FC Sète name.

History

The club was founded in 1901 as Olympique de Cette. It ceased activities due to the war in 1914, restarting as FC de Cette. The club was champion of the Ligue du Sud-Est for seven consecutive years from the inception of the competition in 1920 until 1926. In 1928 the name of the town changed from Cette to Sète, and the football club was renamed FC Sète. The club reached consecutive

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

finals in 1929 and 1930, losing 2–0 to SO Montpellier in the first before winning the trophy against

Racing Club de France Racing Club de France, also known as RCF, is a French multi-sport club that was founded on 20 April 1882 under the name Racing Club. Racing Club changed its name to Racing Club de France (RCF) on 21 November 1885. The club is located at the Bois ...

3–1 after extra time. In 1932 the club were founder members of the professional Division 1. They finished 4th in the group. The following season they won the Division 1 and double, becoming the first club to do so. They won their second Division 1 title in

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

, the last time the competition was played before World War II. After the war, the club did not regain its previous heights, finishing no higher than 10th in Division 1, before relegation came in

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. After six years in Division 2 the club relinquished its professional status and reformed as an amateur team at level two of the regional league (tier seven of the French league structure). The club spent six years in the same regional division before securing three promotions in four years to return to national Division 2 for the 1970–71 season. A further six seasons followed before relegation to Division 3 in 1977. The club returned to Division 2 as champions of the south group of Division 3 in 1983 and spent six seasons at that level. At the end of the 1988–89 season, FC Sète were administratively relegated for financial reasons after finishing 15th in group B. The club was officially renamed FC de Sète 34, restarted in Division 3, and moved to their current stadium Stade Louis Michel. They remained at the third level of French football until 1997 when a second administrative relegation dropped them to the fourth level, now named

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 French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue 2 ...

. After four seasons at this level, they won promotion back to

in 2001, as champions of group B. In 2005 a 3rd-place finish was enough for promotion to

, but the club played just one season at this level before returning to the Championnat National at the end of the 2005–06 season. A third administrative relegation, again for financial reasons, followed in 2009, and the club reformed for the 2009–10 season in the

Division d'Honneur 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 ...

of the Languedoc-Roussillon regional league (tier 6). In 2012 they were promoted 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 ...

as champions of the Division d'Honneur and in 2014 they won promotion to Championnat de France Amateur, now called

. The club gained promotion to the

in the 2019–20 season, after being placed at the top of 2019–20 Championnat National 2 Group C when the season was terminated early 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 ...

. The club were relegated from the Championnat National by the

Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion Direction may refer to: *Body relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down ** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy ** List of ship directions *Cardinal direction *Bearing (navigation) Mathemat ...

at the end of the 2021–22 season, on the grounds of financial mismanagement. The club hit financial troubles again during the 2022–23 season, being placed in receivership in April 2023 after a failed takeover, and estimated year-end debt of €700,000. Placed in judicial liquidation on 6 July 2023, 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 ...

refused permission for the new organisation to continue the FC Sète name, and a new association ''Sporting Club Sétois'' was formed.

Former players

Managerial history

Honours

*Champion of France (highest level) : 1934, 1939 *Winner of the French Cup : 1930, 1934 *Finalist of Coupe de France : 1923, 1924, 1929, 1942 *Champion of Division d'Honneur Sud-Est : 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1968. *Champion of USFSA Languedoc : 1907, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914. *Champion of Division d'Honneur Languedoc-Roussillon : 2012 *Champion CFA2 Group G: 2014 *Champion CFA Group B: 2001 *Champion Division 3 South Group: 1983

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sete Association football clubs established in 1914 1914 establishments in France Sport in Hérault Football clubs in Occitania (administrative region) Ligue 1 clubs 2023 disestablishments in France Association football clubs disestablished in 2023 Defunct football clubs in France