by The Coupe de France has a habit of producing eccentric stories. From long away trips for teams in overseas regions to finals involving fourth division teams, the world’s biggest domestic cup competition is never short of unlikely encounters.
And despite Sunday’s under-32 final between fourth-tier Racing Club de France and top-flight Lille looking like another one of those ties at first glance, the whole game is one of the most competitive the larger the cup. The Paris-based team won the trophy in 1945 and were beaten in 1949 Les Dogues in both finals, and Lille won the trophy three times in a row between them. This weekend, the two clubs meet again after 75 years of very different fortunes.
Racing were one of the founders of the French professional league back in 1932, and have five Coupe de France titles to their name – the first coming in a home double in 1936. Since the mid-century glory days, however, they have undergone a dozen name changes as well as multiple mergers, liquidations, stadium moves and relegations to the depths of amateur football.
A rebirth in the 1980s as Matra Racing, bankrolled by businessman Jean-Luc Lagardère and the likes of David Ginola and Enzo Francescoli, ended in chaos, with the investor pulling out at the end of the decade. Their run to the 1990 Coupe de France final would serve as a swan song before the team fell back into lower league obscurity for the next 30 years.
Now, after numerous financial struggles around the turn of the century, the independent football league of what is now France’s oldest multi-sport club – founded in 1882 – is carefully looking to find its footing again.
Racing has been coached since 2019 by Guillaume Norbert, a former Arsenal youth team player who went on to play for Lorient, Angers and Nantes. His father Patrick – a former actor and film producer – had assumed the presidency the previous year, having previously been in charge of Angers.
Under their guidance, Racing were promoted back to the fourth tier of National 2 in 2022, after narrowly missing out on the previous two campaigns cut short by Covid. After a poor start to the season, back-to-back wins have put them back in the race for promotion to the third division, having finished second last term.
The coach describes the mood in the ciel et blanc camp as an “excited” one – the possibility of playing a regular tournament in Europe, but even more so at the chance to qualify for the last 16. The 43-year-old jokingly brushes aside the suggestion that he is preparing for the game. he kept himself busier than usual, pointing out that he runs a construction company when he’s done training in the morning – “every week is busy, you know!”
The long-term project, Norbert explains, is to take the club back to professional status: “At first, the first team trained three times a week in the evening, because all the players had jobs on the side note – nowadays that is the case for very few and we have sessions every morning. We’ve got physio, a goalkeeping coach and new sponsors coming in – it really feels like we’re on the right track.”
The club’s strong youth development record is something to be proud of – the likes of William Gallas and Louis Saha are notable alumni. Neighboring clubs with their own academies usually produce up-and-coming prospects, unlike Racing. However, the club’s reputation as a thriving development club remains, with its teams competing in the first regional division of each age group – a remarkable achievement at semi-professional level.
Despite their renewed ambition, Racing still faces logistical headaches. Sunday’s cup is nominally a home game. However, the Stade Yves-du-Manoir, in the western suburb of Colombes, is being renovated this season to host the hockey competition at this summer’s Olympics. The council-owned stadium, which also hosted events during the 1924 Games, is the historic home of the team, which they finally returned to in 2012 after bouncing from suburb to suburb as a result of various mergers .
This season, the first team play most of their league games in nearby Boulogne-Billancourt instead. Tighter stadium regulations regarding cup fixtures and two weeks’ notice left the club scrambling to find a venue for the Lille game. With no options in the capital, Racing face Chambly, just outside the borders of the Paris region – the team they beat with a stoppage time winner in the previous round.
Next year should spell the end of the stadium moves, as the club finally touch down on solid ground and move into the Yves-du-Manoir for good. As Norbert points out, the refurbished facilities will provide a firmer base from which to develop the first team, and support the club’s youth development efforts.
While the national-scale attention that comes with facing Ligue 1 opposition is likely to be sparse, the high-profile tie serves as an early indicator that the club is moving in the right direction. With the prospect of French football’s third tier turning fully professional on the horizon, Racing may finally have a chance at long-term stability after years of struggle. But for now, the focus is on Lille.
