Coupe Gambardella

Coupe Gambardella

Founded	1955
Region	France
Number of teams	U18 French teams
Current champions	Rennes (4th title)
Most successful club(s)	Auxerre (7 titles)
Website	Coupe Gambardella – FFF

The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF).

The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their skills in a national competition. A victory in the finals of the cup is as highly sought by players trying to start their career, as by clubs wishing to demonstrate their ability to train young talents. ^[1]

The current champion is Rennes having defeated Dijon in the 2025 final by a score of 3-2. The 2019–20 and 2020–21 editions of the tournament were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic in France.

History

The tournament is the modern day version of the Coupe nationale des juniors, which ran up until 1954. The competition was then renamed, in 1955, to honour Emmanuel Gambardella, president of the French Football Federation from 1949 to 1953, who died on 30 August 1953.

In 2019, the competition switched from being an under-19 competition to an under-18 competition. ^[2]

Chronology

Period	Age category
1955–1996	Players turning 20 on or after 1 August of the year the competition ends
1996–2002	Players turning 18 on or after 1 January of the year the competitions ends [3]
2002–2019	Players turning 19 on or after 1 January of the year the competitions ends
2019–present	Players turning 18 on or after 1 January of the year the competitions ends

Format

The Coupe Gambardella begins in December, of the previous year of the final, at the regional level. Home advantage is given out randomly, until the semi-final stage when games are played at neutral venues. Games which are drawn after ninety minutes, go to a penalty shootout as opposed to extra time and then a shootout. The final is always played on the same day as the Coupe de France and have traditionally taken place at the Stade de France.

List of finals

2007–08 final between Stade Rennais and Girondins de Bordeaux in the Stade de France.

Season	Winners	Score	Runners–up
1955	Cannes	3–0	Lille
1956	Troyes	2–1	Reims
1957	Lens	3–0	Troyes
1958	Lens (2)	2–1	Saint-Étienne
1959	RC Paris	1–0	Caen
1960	Lille	1–0	Quevilly
1961	Nîmes	2–0	CO Joinville
1962	Monaco	2–1	Metz
1963	Saint-Étienne	3–0	Stade Français
1964	Reims	4–3	Saint-Étienne
1965	Strasbourg	3–2	Aix-en-Provence
1966	Nîmes (2)	3–2	Toulon
1967	Quevilly	2–1	Stade Français
1968	Martigues	2–2*	Reims
1969	Nîmes (3)	3–0	Viry-Châtillon
1970	Saint-Étienne (2)	†3–3 †	Lyon
1971	Lyon	2–1	Saint-Étienne
1972	Monaco (2)	2–1	Toulouse
1973	Rennes	†1–1 †	AS Brest
1974	Nantes	4–1	Nancy
1975	Nantes (2)	†1–1 †	Sochaux
1976	Bordeaux	3–0	Viry-Châtillon
1977	Nîmes (4)	3–1	Reims
1978	INF Vichy	3–1	Paris Saint-Germain
1979	Marseille	2–0	Lens
1980	INF Vichy (2)	1–0	Metz
1981	Metz	1–0	Nice
1982	Auxerre	6–3	Nancy
1983	Sochaux	1–0	Lens
1984	Laval	†0–0 †	Montpellier
1985	Auxerre (2)	3–0	Montpellier
1986	Auxerre (3)	†0–0 †	Nantes
1987	RC Paris (2)	2–1	Grenoble
1988	INF Clairefontaine	1–0	Beauvais
1989	Le Havre	†0–0 †	Paris Saint-Germain
1990	Brest	3–1	Grenoble
1991	Paris Saint-Germain	†1–1 †	Auxerre
1992	Lens (3)	1–0	Lyon
1993	Auxerre (4)	1–0	Lens
1994	Lyon (2)	5–0	Caen
1995	Cannes (2)	2–0	Lens
1996	Montpellier	1–0	Nantes
1997	Lyon (3)	†1–1 †	Montpellier
1998	Saint-Étienne (3)	†1–1 †	Paris Saint-Germain
1999	Auxerre (5)	†0–0 †	Saint-Étienne
2000	Auxerre (6)	1–0	Lille
2001	Metz (2)	2–0	Caen
2002	Nantes (3)	1–0	Nice
2003	Rennes (2)	4–1	Strasbourg
2004	Le Mans	2–0	Nîmes
2005	Toulouse	6–2	Lyon
2006	Strasbourg (2)	3–1	Lyon
2007	Sochaux (2)	†2–2 †	Auxerre
2008	Rennes (3)	3–0	Bordeaux
2009	Montpellier (2)	2–0	Nantes
2010	Metz (3)	†1–1 †	Sochaux
2011	Monaco (3)	†1–1 †	Saint-Étienne
2012	Nice	2–1	Saint-Étienne
2013	Bordeaux (2)	1–0	Sedan
2014	Auxerre (7)	2–0	Reims
2015	Sochaux (3)	2–0	Lyon
2016	Monaco (4)	3–0	Lens
2017	Montpellier (3)	†1–1 †	Marseille
2018	Troyes (2)	2–1	Tours
2019	Saint-Étienne (4)	2–0	Toulouse
2020	Cancelled	–
2021	Cancelled	–
2022	Lyon (4)	†1–1 †	Caen
2023	Monaco (5)	4–2	Clermont
2024	Marseille (2)	4–1	Nancy
2025	Rennes (4)	3–2	Dijon

Results by team

Teams shown in italics are no longer in existence.

Club	Wins	First final won	Last final won	Runners-up	Last final lost	Total final appearances
Auxerre	7	1982	2014	2	2007	9
Monaco	5	1962	2023	0	—	5
Saint-Étienne	4	1963	2019	6	2012	10
Lyon	4	1971	2022	5	2015	9
Nîmes	4	1961	1977	1	2004	5
Rennes	4	1973	2025	0	—	4
Lens	3	1957	1992	5	2016	8
Nantes	3	1974	2002	3	2009	6
Montpellier	3	1996	2017	3	1997	6
Metz	3	1981	2010	2	1980	5
Sochaux	3	1983	2015	2	2010	5
Marseille	2	1979	2024	1	2017	3
Troyes	2	1956	2018	1	1957	3
Strasbourg	2	1965	2006	1	2003	3
Bordeaux	2	1976	2013	1	2008	3
INF Vichy	2	1978	1980	0	—	2
RC Paris	2	1959	1987	0	—	2
Cannes	2	1955	1995	0	—	2
Reims	1	1964	1964	4	2014	5
Paris Saint-Germain	1	1991	1991	3	1998	4
Lille	1	1960	1960	2	2000	3
Nice	1	2012	2012	2	2002	3
Quevilly	1	1967	1967	1	1960	2
Toulouse	1	2005	2005	2	2019	3
Martigues	1	1968	1968	0	—	1
Laval	1	1984	1984	0	—	1
INF Clairefontaine	1	1988	1988	0	—	1
Le Havre	1	1989	1989	0	—	1
Brest	1	1990	1990	0	—	1
Le Mans	1	2004	2004	0	—	1
Caen	0	—	—	4	2022	4
Stade Français	0	—	—	2	1967	2
Viry-Châtillon	0	—	—	2	1976	2
Nancy	0	—	—	2	1982	2
Grenoble	0	—	—	2	1990	2
CO Joinville	0	—	—	1	1961	1
Aix-en-Provence	0	—	—	1	1965	1
Toulon	0	—	—	1	1966	1
AS Brest	0	—	—	1	1973	1
Beauvais	0	—	—	1	1988	1
Sedan	0	—	—	1	2013	1
Tours	0	—	—	1	2018	1
Clermont	0	—	—	1	2023	1
Dijon	0	—	—	1	2025	1

References

1. "Coupe Gambardella on FFF Website". Archived from the original on 25 January 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2008. (French)
2. "FFF". Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
3. Foot, hebdomadaire de la FFF, 29 May 1996.