The teams of the five major leagues are second from the bottom of the list, but they are relegated
According to the statistics of the German transfer market, the bottom five teams in the five major leagues this season are Ajaccio and Clermont in Ligue 1, Bochum in the Bundesliga, and Auxerre and Angers in Ligue 1. Clermont and Ajaccio are the only two teams in the top five leagues this season to be worth less than €40 million.
Clermont, who is second from bottom in the top five leagues this season with a total player value of €32.9 million, has been consistent in Ligue 1 this season, taking 30 league points in the first 24 rounds, sit twelfth in the league and 11 points ahead of the relegation zone.
Last season, Clermont was relegated as a Ligue 1 promotion horse who finished fourth from bottom in the league with 36 points, and with 12 rounds left in the league, Clermont will not only be relegated early this season, but also be expected to hit the best league result in the team's history. This article takes you through Clermont, a young knight from central France who has only 33 years of club history.
Overview of the Clermont Club
Michelin hometown - Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont FC is located in the city of Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France, an area dating back to the Alvini period in the 3rd century BC. In 1630, Louis XIII issued the Troyes Pardon, and Clermont and Montferrand merged to form Clermont-Ferrand.
The Michelin tyre, the world's most successful tire manufacturer, founded by the Michelin brothers at the end of the 19th century, made Clermont-Ferrand famous, and it also came out of the famous physicist and mathematician Blaise Pascal, who discovered Pascal's law.
Surrounded by mountains, Clermont-Ferrand has the famous French natural park - Mont Dom Volcanic Forest Park, where volcanic attractions, high-quality mineral water and the Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral made of pure black volcanic stone have become one of Clermont-Ferrand's calling cards. Clermont-Ferrand has a city area of about 42.67 square kilometers and a population of about 300,000. Clermont-Ferrand is about 350 km south of Paris and just 135 km due west of Lyon, the second largest city in France.
Young Clermont Knight
According to the official website of the Clermont Club, the current Clermont Football Club was founded in June 1990, and the club was formerly a team founded in 1911, but the team declared bankruptcy in 1990.
Yves Quinty is the main founder of the Clermont Club. The club's current home stadium is the Gabriel Galleria de la Peland (named after Gabriel Peel, who was mayor of Clermont-Ferrand from 1944 to 1973), with only 10,800 seats, making it the second least seat Ligue 1 home of the season (just more than Ajaccio from Corsica).
The Clermont Club has embarked on plans to expand the Gabriel Montskin Stadium to 16,200 seats next season and to 30,000 in the future.
It is worth mentioning that although Clermont is the only top-flight football team in the region, Clermont Rugby Club, which once won the French championship, is undoubtedly the more successful ball club in the region. Interestingly, the mascot of the Clermont Club is a knight in armor and a shield like the character in the team logo.
Club historical achievements
Twelve years to upgrade the French Second Division
Clermont has been wandering in the French lower leagues since its formation, and the team's first highlight came in the Copa de France in the 96/97 season. Clermont defeated Lorient and Mattiguez, who were in Ligue 2 at the time, in the French Cup that season, and reached the 1/8 final against Ligue 1 giants Paris. Clermont, who was in France's fourth division at the time, staged a miraculous comeback at home, beating Paris Saint-Germain, who had won the European Cup Winners' Cup the previous season, in a penalty shoot-out to set a French Cup best.
Although Clermont lost to Nice, the eventual winner of the Copa de France that season, in the quarterfinals, the team's miracle at home ignited the city that had never been a city of football for its own. Clermont was successfully promoted to Ligue C in 1999 , and the club also plans to attack Ligue 2 and Ligue 1. Clermont didn't keep fans waiting long, and in the 01/02 season, the team won the Ligue 2 title and was promoted to Ligue 2 for the first time in history. The stage of France's top league also seems to be waiting for the young knight.
From Ligue B to Ligue 1, a long 19-year wait
Clermont did not have the strength and money to strengthen after entering the Ligue 2, and the team could barely relegate in the first three seasons of the Ligue 2, but the Cavaliers finished second to last in the fourth season of the Ligue 2 and suffered their first relegation. Although Clermont returned to Ligue 2 after just one season and set an all-time best result in Ligue 2 in the 07/08 season, the club's strength seems to be far from Ligue 1.
Swiss investor Schaefer's acquisition of Clermont in March 2019 marked a turning point in the course of the club's history, with the new owner bringing targets to attack Ligue 1. Although the club did not invest a lot of money in signings, the team with the change of manager equalled the team's best result in Ligue 2 (5th in Ligue 2) in the first season of the new owner's arrival.
The team became the favourites to rush to the first division in the 19/20 season, when Clermont was only 3 points away from direct promotion after the 28th round of the French second division, but the pandemic brought the French professional league to an early end and the team unfortunately missed the opportunity to rush to the first division.
In the 20/21 season, Clermont made a comeback, finishing second in the league at fifth place in the league, and Clermont was also the best offensive and defensive team in Ligue 2 that season. After 31 years of waiting, the Clermont-Ferrand finally welcomed the first French football top-flight club in their hometown.
Ligue 1 debut season is the lowest
Although Clermont made history for the city, the club did not have a decent investment before the start of its debut season in Ligue 1, and the new signings who arrived in the team were almost always on free transfer or loan.
Clermont brought in practical players such as Olior Butskecz (then worth 2 million euros) who debuted in La Masia's academy with zero transfer fees, Tunisian midfielder Edin Xavi (worth 1.8 million euros at the time) from Marseille, and French center forward Kiye (then worth 1.5 million euros). Even so, Clermont's €55.1 million squad is worth the lowest in Ligue 1 in 21/22.
Ligue 1 made a stunning start and was relegated
At 9 p.m. Beijing time on August 8, 2021, this time became one of the most important moments in Clermont's history. Clermont made his French top-flight debut at the 42,000-seat Mattermut de l'Atláctic de Bordeaux in the first round of Ligue 1 in 21/22.
Clermont's own academy striker Bayeux scored Clermont's first Ligue 1 goal in the second half in the 81st minute, while Senegalese striker Dosso sealed the victory before the end and Clermont claimed his first Ligue 1 victory in franchise history.
Clermont also beat Troyes 2-0 at home in the second round, and the team started Ligue 1 with a perfect start to two consecutive wins. Clermont ended up with nine wins the season, including highlights such as away wins over Marseille and Nice and home victories over defending champions Lille.
Clermont's first season in Ligue 1 was magically relegated by four points, and Guinean striker Bayeux, who debuted in Clermont's youth academy, became one of the biggest contributors to the team's relegation with 14 league goals. The club sold Bayeux to Lille for a transfer fee of €14 million at the start of the season, which also set a record for the club's transfer fee.
This season, the value of the team has shrunk, and the results have not decreased, but increased
Team profile for the season
Clermont's total of 24 players this season have an average age of 25.8 years, the fifth highest average age in Ligue 1 this season, with only nine homegrown players and seven international internationals, of which only Ghanaian centre-back Saedou has played at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The team's total value of 32.9 million euros is about 13 million euros from last season, ranking second from the bottom of the Ligue 1 list, and about 12 million euros less than Angers, who are currently at the bottom of the Ligue 1 ranking. The most valuable player in the squad is Ghanaian centre-back Seydou (€4.5 million), who made two starts at the World Cup in Qatar. Only Seydou and Austrian midfielder Cham are worth more than €3 million this season, with about nine players worth less than €1 million.
It is worth mentioning that Clermont has not only not invested heavily in the transfer market since his promotion last season, but the club has also reaped a transfer profit of 19.1 million euros, which can be ranked 8th in the Ligue 1 team transfer profit list in the same period.
Defense has been key to relegation this season
The team has won eight of the first 24 rounds of the season and has 30 league points with 14 rounds remaining, just six points away from last season's end of league points.
Clermont has only lost at home to Troyes in this season's games against direct relegation rivals, in addition to windfalls such as away beats against Lyon and Hoenice and a draw away to Monaco. The team have conceded just 33 goals in the first 24 rounds of Ligue 1 this season, with main goalkeeper Dior having the seventh highest number of saves in the league, and the 29-year-old Senegalese goalkeeper has kept six clean sheets in the first 24 rounds of the season.
Clermont is ranked 11th in the league in goals conceded and 8th in interceptions this season, and excellent defense has been a key factor in the team's early relegation advantage this season.
The striker left the team, and the offense did not decline significantly
Despite the departure of Bayeux, the team's top scorer last season, Clermont's offensive performance has not declined significantly this season, with the team averaging one goal per game in the first 24 league games this season, the same as last season's league goals. The team is fourth from the bottom in the league in goals this season, third from the bottom in the league in shots on goal and bottom in the league in shots on target.
It is worth mentioning that Clermont has as many as 10 shots hitting the goal frame in the first 24 rounds of this season, a statistic tied for sixth in the league with Nice, and the top scorers in the team are Serbian striker Andrić and Austrian midfielder Cham. The team has as many as 10 players who have scored goals this season.
The lowest-paid manager in Ligue 1, Clermont boss Gastian
According to the salary list of Ligue 1 managers of last season disclosed by the French team newspaper in March last year, Clermont manager Gastian became the lowest-paid manager in Ligue 1 last season with a monthly salary of 25,000 euros. The 59-year-old French coach also became the second-longest serving manager of the Ligue 1 team this season with five and a half consecutive years in charge, behind French compatriot Pantaloni, who has been in charge of Ajaccio for more than eight years.
As a player, Gastián helped Marseille win Ligue 1 and the French Cup in the 88/89 season. Gastien's coaching career has coached French side Neote (now Ligue 2) and Chartroux (now Ligue 2), but he never had top-flight experience before coaching Clermont.
As the team's historic Ligue 1 promotion and successful relegation in Ligue 1, Gastián ranks second in Clermont's history with a coaching win rate of 38.9%. It is worth mentioning that Gastian's predecessor is the first female coach in France to obtain a professional coaching certificate - Diagir.
The small town of Clermont-Ferrand is glorious
From playing in the lower leagues to striving for years to stand in the top flights, Clermont's mental journey may be a typical development path for many French small town teams.
While Clermont became a Ligue 1 team, the club also has its own U17 and U19 echelons and a women's team that is striving to upgrade from Ligue 2, its own youth players have also achieved success stories in Bayeux, and the expansion plan of the club's stadium is also in order.
What is remarkable is that Clermont's successful relegation in the past two seasons not only did not invest a lot of signings, but the club also reaped a lot of transfer profits. Through more than 30 years of development, Clermont-Ferrand has shown us the dedication and patience of Clermont-Ferrand people to football, and the club has also rewarded the long-term support of fans with visible growth.
epilogue
Compared with the high cost of relegation in the Premier League, although the Ligue 1 league is different from the Premier League in terms of viewing and commercial value, the Ligue 1 has given many small town clubs like Ajaccio and Clermont more opportunities to show themselves on the top league stage, and the inclusiveness of the top league has also given many French players from the bottom a bigger stage, which may be one of the reasons why the French national team has performed prominently in the past two World Cups.
Do you think Clermont can stay in Ligue 1 for a long time in the future? How does Clermont's story make you feel? See you in our comment section.
Friends who like this article can move their fingers to add a follow, like, follow me, and share interesting football stories with you
Original articles, reproduction without permission, is strictly prohibited