Stéphane Masala (born 30 August 1976) is a French professional

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 ...

manager and former player. He is currently the manager of

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 ...

club Chambly. In 2018, Masala coached

Les Herbiers Les Herbiers () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. Population Sport Les Herbiers is host to the Chrono des Nations, an annual one-day individual time trial bicycle race, held in October. Le ...

, a third-tier side, to the Coupe de France final, eventually being defeated 2–0 by first-tier giants

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

Playing career

Masala played mainly as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

throughout his 19-year playing career. From 2003 to 2005, he was the captain of

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

and

Luçon Luçon () is a Communes of France, commune in the Vendée Departments of France, department, Pays de la Loire Regions of France, region, western France. Its inhabitants are known as Luçonnais. Luçon Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Luço ...

in the third tier of French football, the

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 ...

, but never obtained professional status as a player. In the final years of his playing days, he was simultaneously the captain and assistant manager of Luçon, with being the main manager. Masala retired in 2014.

Managerial career

In June 2016, after spending 11 years as a coach and a player at Luçon, Masala became the assistant manager of

. He took the full job of manager at the club in January 2018, after his previous colleague Reculeau had been dismissed. Initially, he was intended to be the interim manager for just two games, but his contract was later extended. In his first two months in charge, Les Herbiers won seven and drew four of their twelve matches. Masala did not have the correct coaching qualifications to manage in the

, and so Les Herbiers were fined €1,170 for every match in 2018 that he managed. Masala coached Les Herbiers to a Coupe de France final against

in 2018, an underdog story that ended in a 2–0 defeat at the

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

. They played and defeated Chambly in the semi-finals of the competition. A few days after the Coupe de France Final, Les Herbiers were relegated from the Championnat National to the

. On 8 May 2020, Masala extended his contract with Les Herbiers for an additional two years. In May 2022, Masala left Les Herbiers after six years at the club, joining Championnat National 2 side

Créteil Créteil () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, dep ...

. In June 2023, he joined Chambly.

Personal life

Masala was born 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. He is of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

n and Italian descent; his father left Sardinia when he was 16, and his mother is from

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

, Italy.

Honours

Player

Luçon *

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 ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Manager

Les Herbiers *

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 ...

runner-up: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masala, Stéphane 1976 births Living people Footballers from Nantes French football managers French men's footballers Men's association football midfielders French people of Sardinian descent French sportspeople of Italian descent ES Troyes AC players Stade de Reims players US Orléans players Luçon FC players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Luçon FC managers Les Herbiers VF managers US Créteil-Lusitanos managers FC Chambly Oise managers Championnat National managers Championnat National 2 managers