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Le Havre
Full name	Havre Athletic Club
Nickname(s)	Le Club Doyen (The Dean Club); Les Ciel et Marine (The Sky-and-Navy)
Founded	1884; 141 years ago (sports club); 1894; 131 years ago (football section)
Ground	Stade Océane
Capacity	25,178
President	Vincent Volpe
Head coach	Didier Digard
League	Ligue 1
2023–24	Ligue 1, 15th of 18
Website	hac-foot.com
	Current season

Le Havre Athletic Club (French pronunciation: [lə ɑvʁ]) is a French professional association football club based in Le Havre, Normandy. The football club was founded in 1894 as a section of the sports club of the same name, founded in 1884. Le Havre plays in Ligue 1, the first tier of French football, after securing promotion from Ligue 2 as winners of the 2022–23 season, and plays its home matches at the Stade Océane.

Le Havre made its football debut in France's first 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, yet they won the second division, Ligue 2, for a record of six times. The club's highest honour to date was winning the Coupe de France in 1959.

The main rivalries of Le Havre are the "Derby Normand" with SM Caen and an always heated clash with Lens, located in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

History

Contrary to what the club has long claimed, Le Havre AC was not founded in 1872. 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 and association football, called "combination". Association football began being played in Le Havre in 1894.^[3]^[4]

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. 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.^[5] 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,^{[citation needed]} 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, 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.^{[citation needed]} The first two were arbitrated by FIFA, who ordered Newcastle United and Fiorentina to pay training compensation.

In the 2022–23 Ligue 2, Le Havre finished top of the league table to win their sixth title in the division and secure promotion to the Ligue 1 for the first time since 2008.^[6]

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 King" 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

As of 4 October 2024^[7]


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	FRA	Mathieu Gorgelin
3	DF	FRA	Timothée Pembélé (on loan from Sunderland)
4	DF	FRA	Gautier Lloris
5	MF	MAR	Oussama Targhalline
6	DF	FRA	Étienne Youte Kinkoue
7	DF	HUN	Loïc Négo
8	MF	MAR	Yassine Kechta
9	FW	COD	Yann Kitala
11	FW	USA	Emmanuel Sabbi
14	MF	RUS	Daler Kuzyayev
17	DF	MAR	Oualid El Hajjam
18	DF	FRA	Yanis Zouaoui
19	MF	SEN	Rassoul Ndiaye
20	FW	FRA	Élysée Logbo


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	FW	FRA	Antoine Joujou (on loan from Parma)
22	DF	GUF	Yoann Salmier
23	FW	GLP	Josué Casimir (vice-captain)
25	MF	FRA	Alois Confais
27	DF	CIV	Christopher Opéri
28	FW	GHA	André Ayew
29	FW	FRA	Samuel Grandsir
30	GK	FRA	Arthur Desmas
44	MF	FRA	Ismail Bouneb
45	DF	SEN	Issa Soumaré
70	MF	SUI	Ruben Londja
93	DF	SEN	Arouna Sangante (captain)
94	MF	GUI	Abdoulaye Touré

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	DF	GUI	Kandet Diawara (at Pau until 30 June 2025)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player

Honours

Nationals

Ligue 2 (French 2nd Division)
- Winners (6): 1938, 1959, 1985, 1991, 2008, 2023
- Runners-up (1): 1950
Coupe de France (French Cup)
- Winners (1): 1959
- Runners-up (1): 1920
Trophée des champions (French Super Cup)
- Winners (1): 1959

Friendlies

USFSA Championnat
- Winners (3): 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1918–19
Challenge International du Nord
- Winners (1): 1900
Coupe Nationale
- Winners (2): 1918, 1919

Club staff

Name and Nationality		Position
Vincent Volpe		President
Christopher Sargent		Vice-President
Steve O'Connor		Technical director
Ashton Smith		Sporting director
Bruce Fallon		Sports coordinator
Didier Digard		Head coach
Jérémy Collard		Assistant coach
Gauthier Duchert		First-team coach
Christophe Hoarau		Goalkeeper coach
Jean Luc Pierrot		Video analyst
Stéphane Meunier		Video analyst
Corentin Rousseau		Video analyst
Jules Delacroix		Doctor
Auguste LeBlanc		Academy Goalkeeping Co-ordinator
Grégory Proment		Academy manager

Managerial history

George Kimpton (1921–26)^[8]
Mac Burgess (1934–35)
George McLachlan (1935–36)
Josef "Pépi" Schneider (1936–39)
George Kimpton (1945–46)
Jean Cornelli (1946–47)
Roger Magnin (1948–49)
Jules Bigot (1950–52)
Elek Schwartz (1952–53)
René Bihel (1953–54)
Edmond Delfour (1954–55)
Roger Magnin (1955–56)
Théo Bisson (1956–57)
Lucien Jasseron (1957–62)
Eduardo Di Loreto (1962–63)
Arie Devroedt (1963–64)
Christian Villenave (1964–66)
Max Schirschin (1970–71)
Gino Corlani (1971–72)
Fredo Garel (1972–73)
Léonce Lavagne (1973–74)
Edmond Baraffe (1974–76)
Léonce Lavagne (1976–82)
Yves Herbet (1982–83)
Didier Notheaux (1983–88)
Pierre Mankowski (1988–93)
Guy David (1993–96)
René Exbrayat (1996–97)
Denis Troch (1997 – Oct 98)
Joël Beaujouan (Oct 1998–99)
Francis Smerecki (1999–00)
Joël Beaujouan (2000)
Thierry Uvenard, Philippe Sence and Bruno Baronchelli (Dec 2000)
Jean-François Domergue (Dec 2000–04)
Philippe Hinschberger (2004 – April 2005)
Thierry Uvenard (April 2005–07)
Jean-Marc Nobilo (2007–08)
Frédéric Hantz (2008–09)
Cédric Daury (2009 – Nov 2012)
Christophe Revault (Nov 2012 – Dec 2012)
Erick Mombaerts (Dec 2012 – Dec 2014)
Thierry Goudet (Dec 2014 – Sept 2015)
Bob Bradley (Nov 2015 – Oct 2016)
Oswald Tanchot (Oct 2016 – May 2019)
Paul Le Guen (May 2019 – June 2022)^[9]
Luka Elsner (June 2022 – June 2024)
Didier Digard (July 2024–present)

References

^ "#35 – Le Havre AC : Ciel et Marine" (in French). Footnickname. 4 May 2020. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
^ "Stade Océane". Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
^ Charitas, Pascal (2011). "La combination au Havre Athletic Club (1872–1914) : les «origines» du football-rugby ?". Études Normandes. 60 (1): 20. doi:10.3406/etnor.2011.1833.
^ Archives municipales du Fort de Tourneville (Le Havre), statuts du HAC, fonds de Sanvic, R3 1 L.2.
^ "France – List of Champions". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
^ "Official | Le Havre promoted to Ligue 1". Get French Football News. 2 June 2023.
^ "Effectif". Le Havre AC. Archived from the original on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
^ "France – Trainers of First and Second Division Clubs on RSSSF". Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
^ "Le Havre : Paul Le Guen manager général et entraîneur (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 29 May 2019. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.