NOTE THAT THE HONOURS OF THE PRO CLUBS RESERVE TEAMS DO NOT INCLUDE THE HONOURS OF THEIR FIRST TEAMS
ABBEVILLE (Somme)
Official name : Sporting Club Abbeville Côte Picardie
Founded : 1901
Honours : Champion de Division 3 (groupe Nord), 1980
A former D2 club, Abbeville were forced into liquidation in 1991 and thus abandoned the ranks of the professional clubs. They started again from scratch in the DH, became CFA 2 champions and are on the route back to the top. They celebrate their centenary this season.
Georges Eo has been coach of both Red Star and Abbeville, whilst Daniel Kutermak wore the green of Red Star (1983-85), before taking the red and blue of Abbeville.
The last game between the two clubs took place in March 2000, at a Stade Bauer closed to the public. The reserves of Red Star played the last official game at the derelict ground.
Last Season: CFA 2, Group A (1st, 85 pts)
Stade Paul Delique (7 000 places)
AVION (Pas-de-Calais)
Official name : Club Sportif Avionnais
Founded : 1922
Honours : Champion de DH, 1958 & 2000
Avion, runners up in CFA 2 group A, behind Abbeville won promotion through the play-offs, beating Aubervilliers on the way. Avion is a familiar name to Red Star, as the two clubs have met twice in recent seasons, and in each case the "big boys" were made to suffer. On both occasions Red Star won, but with temas then playing in D2 and National. The task will be even more difficult now that the two clubs are on equal footings.
Despite having David Robantail, son of the local Mayor as club chairman, a budget of only 1 MF will not go far.
Last Season: CFA 2, groupe A (3rd, 81 pts)
Stade François Blin (4 800 places)
DUNKERQUE (Nord)
Official name : Union Sportive du Littoral de Dunkerque
Founded : 1954
Honours : quarter finalists Coupe de France 1968 & 1971
Another former D2 club, Dunkirk have slipped dopwn via the National to the CFA, but will be hoping to rejoin their local rivals Calais and Boulogne at the higher level. Their goalkeeper last season was former Red Star trainee David Berthelot.
Last Season: Group A (8th, 81 pts)
Stade Tribut (4 800 places)
LA CHAPELLE SAINT-LUC (Aube)
Official name : Réunion des Cheminots et des Sportifs de la Chapelle Saint-Luc
Founded : 1942
Honours : Champion DH, 1999
Red Star have never met Troyes' neighbours, even at reserve team level. Based in the suburbs of Troyes, this tiny club, in a commune of only 7 000 inhabitants survived it's first season in the CFA. The orange and blacks will be hoping to build on last seasons' exploits, but with a budget of 1.2 MF life will be hard.
Last Season: Group A (12th, 78 pts)
Stade de la SNCF (800 places)
LENS (Pas-de-Calais)
Official name : Racing club de Lens
Founded : 1906
Honours : Champion D 3, group Nord, 1983 & 1989
A squad built on the youngsters from Lens' Academy, they will surely play a leading role in the championship. Coach is Dominique Bijotat, former Monaco and Bordeaux player.
Last Season: Group A (3rd, 90 pts)
Stade Léo Lagrange (2 000 places)
LES LILAS (Seine-Saint-Denis)
Official name : Football Club des Lilas
Founded : 1946
Honours : Champion DH (1995)
A parisian suburbs club and a short away trip for the green army. During the 1990s, Red Stars' reserves containing Marlet, Agasson etc competed for the DH championship Les Lilas. Three ex-Red Star players played last season in the purple shirt : Dewez, Hémery, Delanoue. Expect a few references on this site to the Serge Gainsbourg song about the ticket collector at Les Lilas tube station !
Budget : around 3 MF
Last Season: Group D (13th, 74 pts)
Parc Municipal des Sports (1 500 places)
L'HOPITAL (Moselle)
Official Name : Société Sportive de L'Hôpital
Founded : 1919
Honours : Champion CFA 2, group B, 1999
Along with Chapelle Saint-Luc, L'Hôpital are the minnows of the championship, and set off on their second season at this level. Despite a small budget of 1.2 MF, the club did well to survive, even finishing ahead of La Chapelle Saint-Luc.
Last Season: Group A (13th, 78 pts)
Stade de la Gare (2 000 places)
LILLE (Nord)
Official name : Lille Olympique Sporting Club Métropole
Founded : 1944
Honours : Champion D 3, group Nord, 1972 & 1986
Back to the Stadium Nord, Wasquehal, where Lille's reserves play their home games. With a depth of talent and a large squad, Lille should be amongst the front runners.
Last Season: Group A (4th, 88 pts)
Stadion Nord (17 000 places)
METZ (Moselle)
Official name : Football Club de Metz
Founded : 1932
Honours : Champion d D 3, group East, 1983 & 1984
Another reserve team which put the emphasis on developing young players, Metz are current Under-17 champions as well as Gambardella Cup winners.
Last Season: Group A (15th, 76 pts)
Stade Municipal de Metz (25 000 places)
MULHOUSE (Bas Rhin)
Official name : Football Club de Mulhouse 2000
Founded : 1893
Honours : D 2 runners-up, 1989,
Coupe de France quarter finalists, 1928
Former Red Star player Bruno Scipion resigned as coach at the end of last season, nit having achieved the objective of promotion despite having a relatively large budget of 4 MF. Formerly a D1 club, Mulhouse slumped to the CFA due to enormous financial problems. The last time the two clubs met was at Stade Bauer during the season 1997-1998 in D2.
Last Season: Groupe A (11ème, 78 pts)
Stade de l'Ill (11 303 places)
NANCY (Meurthe et Moselle)
Official name : Association Sportive Nancy-Lorraine
Founded : 1966
Honours : Champion France D 3, 1971
Nancy, like Caen, Strasbourg, Le Havre and Saint-Etienne, are one of the rare D2 clubs to have its reserve team in the CFA. Coach is Moussa Bessaz. The main objectives are the development of their young players to ensure the continuation of the first team.
Last Season: Group A (7th, 81 pts)
Stade Marcel Picot (16 844 places)
RAON-L'ETAPE (Vosges)
Official name : Union Sportive Raonnaise
Founded : 1921
Honours : Coupe de Lorraine winners, 1996
Raon-l'Etape, a former National club were last season amongst the front runners in the CFA before slipping away at the run-in.
Last Season: Group A (5th, 82 pts)
Stade Paul Gasser (4 000 places)
STRASBOURG (Haut-Rhin)
Official name : Racing Club de Strasbourg Football
Founded : 1906
Honours : Vice-Champion de France, D 3, 1980
Strasbourgs' first team slipped into the D2 despite winning the French Cup. Last season they started out with coach Yvon Pouliquen before he moved to the forst team coaches' seat followig the departure of Claude Leroy midway thorugh the season. Former Red Star man Vincent Doukantie featured in several reserve team games last season.
Last Season: Group A (6th, 81 pts)
Stade J.N. Muller (3 000 places)
TROYES (Aube)
Official name : Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne
Founded : 1986
Honours : Vice Champion National 3 in 1997
Only three seasons ago the two sides met, but in totally different circumstances. Since then Troyes are in the D1 and their erstwhile opponents now face a long road back to the top.
Last Season: group A (14th, 78 pts)
Stade de l'Aube (18 235 places)
VALENCIENNES (Nord)
Official name : Valenciennes Football Club
Founded : 1931
Honours : Champion de France D 2, 1972,
finalist Coupe de France, 1951
Last season Valenciennes were touted along with Red Star as favourites for promotion - an equally disastrous season saw the club plunge into the CFA. This time they start out as red hot favourites for promotion and their pre-season recruitment reflects this.
Last Season: National (17th, 40 pts)
Stade Nungesser (12 000 places)
VESOUL (Haute Saône)
Official name : Union Sportive Football Club Vesoul
Founded : 1921
Honours : Champion CFA 2, group C, 2001
A new name to the CFA, the club from the Haute Saône. Coach Claude Robin has a brief to keep the club at this level, where he brought them since his arrival at the club in 1993.
Last Season: CFA 2, Group C (1st, 90 pts)
Stade René Hologne (3 000 places)
VIRY-CHATILLON (Essonne)
Official name : Entente sportive Viry-Châtillon
Founded : 1932
Honours : Champion de DH, en 1976
The third Paris club, they are now the flagship club for the region of Essonne following the demise of Evry. Coach of the yellow and blacks is Jean-Marc Pilorget, former Paris SG player.
Last Season: Group A (10th, 79 pts)
Stade Francoeur (5 000 places)