Grenoble Foot 38

This article is about the men’s football team. For the women’s football team, see Grenoble Foot 38 (women). For the rugby team, see FC Grenoble.

Grenoble

Full name	Grenoble Foot 38
Nickname(s)	GF38
Founded	1911;113 years ago (1911)
Ground	Stade des Alpes, Grenoble
Capacity	20,068
Chairman	Joël Avignon
Manager	Laurent Peyrelade
League	Ligue 2
2022–23	Ligue 2, 10th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the city, and wears white and blue.

The original incarnation of the club was founded in 1911 and, in 1997, was formed into the club that exists today as a result of a merger. Grenoble currently plays in Ligue 2, the second level of French football, after having gone into bankruptcy and relegation to the fifth level of French football in 2011.

History

The club was founded in 1911 as Football Club de Grenoble. In 1997, a merger of Olympique Grenoble Isère and Norcap Olympique led to the Grenoble Foot 38 incarnation. Olympique Grenoble Isère played in Ligue 1 in the 1960–61 and 1962–63 seasons.

In 2004, Grenoble Foot was acquired by Index Holdings, a Japanese mobile software company, therefore becoming the first French football club to have foreign owners. The price of the deal was around €2 million. ^{[1] [2]} The new owners invested in the Stade des Alpes, a new ground with an initial capacity of 20,000 which opened in February 2008. ^[3] Grenoble finished the 2007–08 Ligue 2 season in third place, thus returning to Ligue 1 for the first time since 1963.

In the 2008–09 Ligue 1 season, Grenoble finished 13th. ^[2] However, after losing their first eleven games of the following season, they were eventually relegated with six games remaining amidst severe financial problems. ^{[4] [5]} In the same season, Grenoble reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France for the only time, defeating Monaco 2–0 at home in the quarter-finals on 18 March 2009, ^[6] and losing by a single goal to Rennes in the semi-finals on 21 April. ^[7]

The professional football club was liquidated in July 2011 with debts of €2.9 million, and relegated administratively to Championnat de France Amateur 2, the fifth tier. ^{[8] [9]} Index provided false financial statements during their ownership of the club. ^{[2] [10]}

Now an amateur side, Grenoble won promotion from Championnat de France Amateur 2 at the first attempt in 2012, and were champions of the 2016–17 Championnat de France Amateur, returning to Championnat National for the 2017–18 season. ^[11] They secured their second successive promotion to Ligue 2 on 27 May 2018, after an aggregate play-off victory over Bourg-en-Bresse. ^[12]

Name changes

• Football Club de Grenoble (1911–1977)
• Football Club Association Sportive de Grenoble (1977–1984)
• Football Club de Grenoble Dauphiné (1984–1990)
• Football Club de Grenoble Isère (1990–1992)
• Football Club de Grenoble Jojo Isère (1992–1993)
• Olympique Grenoble Isère (1993–1997)
• Grenoble Foot 38 (1997–present)

Players

Current squad

As of 12 February 2024 ^[13]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   FRA Brice Maubleu (captain) 2 FW   GAM Abdoulie Sanyang 3 DF   TUR Efe Sarıkaya 4 DF   SEN Mamadou Diarra 5 DF   FRA Adrien Monfray 6 MF   BEL Dante Rigo 7 FW   SEN Pape Meïssa Ba 8 MF   FRA Jessy Bénet 10 MF   FRA Eddy Sylvestre 11 FW   FRA Amine Sbaï 13 GK   SEN Mamadou Diop 14 DF   GLP Loïc Nestor 15 MF   NCL Jekob Jeno 16 GK   FRA Bobby Allain

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW   MDA Virgiliu Postolachi 18 MF   BFA Bachirou Yaméogo 19 FW   FRA Lenny Joseph 21 DF   FRA Allan Tchaptchet 22 FW   FRA Natanael Ntolla 23 MF   FRA Manuel Perez 25 MF   FRA Théo Valls 27 DF   FRA Matthéo Xantippe 29 DF   FRA Gaëtan Paquiez 31 MF   CGO Nolan Mbemba 39 DF   MAR Mathys Tourraine 70 MF   GAM Saikou Touray 77 DF   SEN Arial Mendy

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   FRA Baptiste Isola(at Mâcon until 30 June 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   GAM Lamine Jarjou(at Atyrau until 31 December 2024)

Notable players

Main category: Grenoble Foot 38 players

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Manager	Vincent Hognon
Assistant Managers	Frédéric Guéguen
Goalkeeping Coach	Arnaud Genty

Managers

• Jules Dewaquez (1945–1946)
• R. Lacoste (1953–1954)
• G. Dupraz (1957–1958)
• A. Fornetti (1958–1963)
• Albert Batteux (1963–1967)
• R. Abad (1967–1970)
• René Gardien (1970–1971)
• J. Donnard (1971–1972)
• R. Garcin (1972–1975)
• Jean Deloffre (1975–1978)
• R. Belloni (1978–1980)
• Michel Lafranceschina (1980–1981)
• Jean Djorkaeff (1981–1983)
• Claude Le Roy (1983–1985)
• Robert Buigues (1985–1986)
• Christian Dalger (1986–1989)
• Patrick Parizon (1989–1990)
• Noël Tosi (1990–1991)
• Bernard Simondi (1991–1993)
• B. David (1993–1994)
• C. Letard (1994–1995)
• É. Geraldes (1995–1996)
• Bernard Simondi (1996–1997)
• Alain Michel (1997–2001)
• Marc Westerloppe (2001–2002)
• Alain Michel (2002–2004)
• Thierry Goudet (2004–2006)
• Yvon Pouliquen (2006–2007)
• Mehmed Baždarević (2007–2010)
• Yvon Pouliquen (2010–2011)
• Olivier Saragaglia (2012–2015)
• Jean-Louis Garcia (2015–2016)
• Olivier Guégan (2016–2018)
• Philippe Hinschberger (2018–2021)
• Maurizio Jacobacci (2021)
• Vincent Hognon (2021–2024)
• Laurent Peyrelade (2024-present)

Honours

• Ligue 2
  • Champions: 1960, 1962
• Championnat National
  • Champions: 2001
• Coppa delle Alpi
  • Runners-up: 1963
• Coupe Gambardella
  • Runners-up: 1987, 1990

References

1. "Football. Il était une fois... le GF38, le rêve de Grenoble" [Football. Once upon a time there was... GF38, Grenoble's dream] (in French). France 3. 4 January 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
2. "La tragique déroute du Grenoble Foot 38" [The tragic decline of Grenoble Foot 38] (in French). France 24. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
3. "Grenoble Foot 38 celebrates the long awaited opening of its new professional soccer stadium, "Stade des Alpes"". Index Holdings. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
4. "Grenoble relégué en L2" [Grenoble relegated to L2]. Le Figaro (in French). 10 April 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
5. "Le GF38 relégué en Ligue 2... Grenoble, et maintenant ?" [GF38 relegated to Ligue 2... Grenoble, and now?]. Le Dauphiné (in French). 12 April 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
6. "[EN IMAGES] Coupe de France : quand Grenoble sortait Monaco en 2009 et se qualifiait pour les demi-finales" [[IN IMAGES] Coupe de France: when Grenoble eliminated Monaco in 2009 and qualified for the semi-finals]. Le Dauphiné (in French). 9 February 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
7. "Historic final spot for Rennes". Sky Sports. 21 April 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
8. "Le club de football de Grenoble en liquidation judiciaire" [Grenoble's football club in judicial liquidation]. Le Monde (in French). 7 July 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
9. "Grenoble: Le GF38 relégué en CFA2" [Grenoble: GF38 relegated to CFA2] (in French). Canal+. 27 July 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
10. Guiho, Mickael (28 May 2014). "Arrestation du président d'Index, ex-propriétaire japonais du Grenoble foot 38" [Arrest of president of Index, Japanese former owner of Grenoble Foot 38] (in French). France 3. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
11. "Le GF38 officiellement promu en National !" [GF38 officially promoted to National!]. Le Dauphiné (in French). 13 May 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
12. "Grenoble monte en L2, Bourg-en-Bresse descend en National" [Grenoble climb to L2, Bourg-en-Bresse fall to National]. L'Équipe (in French). 27 May 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
13. "Le groupe pro 2020-2021". gf38.fr. Retrieved 28 July 2021.