Montpellier HSC

This article is about the men's football club. For the women's football club, see Montpellier HSC (women).

Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (French: [mɔ̃pəlje eʁo spɔʁ klœb]; Occitan: Montpelhièr Erau Sport Club), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current incarnation was founded through a merger in 1974. Montpellier currently plays in Ligue 2, the second level of French football and plays its home matches at the Stade de la Mosson, located within the city. The first team is managed by Zoumana Camara.

Montpellier

Full name	Montpellier Hérault Sport Club
Nickname(s)	La Paillade[1]
Short name	MHSC
Founded	1919; 106 years ago (1919) (as Stade Olympique Montpelliérain)
Ground	Stade de la Mosson
Capacity	32,900
Owner	Groupe Nicollin [fr]
President	Laurent Nicollin
Head coach	Zoumana Camara
League	Ligue 2
2024–25	Ligue 1, 18th of 18 (relegated)
Website	mhscfoot.com
Home colours
Current season

Montpellier is owned by Laurent Nicollin, the son of Louis Nicollin, a French entrepreneur, who had been owner since 1974. The club have produced several famous players in its history, most notably Laurent Blanc, who has served as manager of the France national team. Blanc is also the club's all-time leading goalscorer. Eric Cantona, Roger Milla, Carlos Valderrama and Olivier Giroud are other players who have played in Montpellier's colours. In 2001, Montpellier introduced a women's team.

History

Montpellier was founded under the name Stade Olympique Montpelliérain (SOM) and played under the name for most of its existence.^[2] In 1989, after playing under various names, the club changed its name to its current form. Montpellier is one of the founding members of the first division of French football.^[3] Along with Marseille, Rennes and Nice, Montpellier is one of only a few clubs to have played in the inaugural 1932–33 season and is still playing in the first division.^[3] The club won Ligue 1 for the first time in the 2011–12 season. Montpellier's other honours to date include winning the Coupe de France in 1929 and 1990, the Coupe de la Ligue in 1992, and the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1999.^[4]

In the 2011–12 season, Montpellier won its first Ligue 1 title, finishing the season with 82 points, three points ahead of runners-up Paris Saint-Germain. On 20 May 2012, in a game marred by stoppages for crowd violence, John Utaka scored a brace to secure a 2–1 victory over Auxerre and win the Ligue 1 title for Montpellier. Olivier Giroud, who finished the season with 21 goals and 9 assists, was the league's top goal scorer. Despite being tied on goals with Paris Saint-Germain attacker Nenê, he was named the league's top scorer by the Ligue de Football Professionnel due to finishing with more goals in open play.^[5][6]

On 26 April 2025, after 16 consecutive seasons in the top flight, Montpellier was relegated to Ligue 2.^[7]

Players

Current squad

As of 26 July 2025^[8]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FRA Mathieu Michel 3 DF  MAR Naoufel El Hannach (on loan from Paris Saint-Germain) 4 DF  MLI Boubakar Kouyaté 6 DF  GLP Christopher Jullien 7 FW  COD Nathanaël Mbuku (on loan from Augsburg) 8 FW  FRA Yanis Issoufou 10 MF  MAR Khalil Fayad 11 MF  FRA Téji Savanier 12 MF  FRA Jordan Ferri 13 MF  FRA Joris Chotard 14 FW  NGA Victor Orakpo (on loan from Nice) 15 DF  FRA Julien Laporte 17 DF  FRA Théo Sainte-Luce

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  FRA Nicolas Pays 19 FW  GNB Alexandre Mendy 20 MF  MLI Birama Touré 21 DF  FRA Lucas Mincarelli 22 FW  FRA Axel Gueguin 23 DF  FRA Yaël Mouanga 24 FW  UAE Junior Ndiaye 27 DF  SUI Bećir Omeragić 28 FW  CMR Glenn Ngosso 29 DF  CMR Enzo Tchato 44 MF  FRA Théo Chennahi 70 FW  FRA Tanguy Coulibaly 77 DF  MLI Falaye Sacko

Records

Most appearances

Rank	Player	Matches
1	Souleymane Camara	433
2	Pascal Baills	429
3	Bruno Carotti	377
4	Vitorino Hilton	354
5	Kader Ferhaoui	349

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Goals
1	Laurent Blanc	84
2	Souleymane Camara	76
3	Jean-Marc Valadier	70
4	Christophe Sanchez	50
5	Andy Delort	49

Management and staff

Club officials

Montpellier HSC headquarters

Senior club staff^[9]

• President: Laurent Nicollin
• Association chairman: Gilbert Varlot
• Sporting Director: Bruno Carotti
• Head of Youth: Francis De Taddeo

Coaching and medical staff^[10]

• Head coach: Zoumana Camara
• Assistant head coach: Ghislain Printant
• First-Team coach: Hilton
• Goalkeeper coach: Robin Gasset
• Fitness coach: Claude Duvergne
• Scout: Adrien Bordeau

Coaching history

Tenure[11] Manager 1924–1925 Victor Gibson 1936–1937 Jules Dewaquez 1937–1938 Istvan Berecz 1938–1939 Georges Azema 1945–1946 Gabriel Bénézech 1946–1948 Georges Kramer 1948–1950 Georges Winckelmans 1950–1951 Jean Bastien 1951–1952 Istvan Zavadsky 1952–1953 Luis Cazarro 1953–1954 Julien Darui 1954–1956 Marcel Tomazover 1956–1958 Istvan Zavadsky 1958–1963 Hervé Mirouze 1963–1968 Louis Favre 1968–1969 Roger Rolhion 1969–1970 Marian Borowski 1970–1974 Hervé Mirouze 1974–1976 André Cristol 1976 Louis Favre 1 July 1976 – 30 June 1980 Robert Nouzaret 1 July 1980 – 30 June 1982 Kader Firoud 1982–1984 Jacques Bonnet 1 July 1983 – 30 June 1985 Robert Nouzaret 1 July 1985 – 30 June 1987 Michel Mézy

Tenure Manager 1 July 1987 – 30 June 1989 Pierre Mosca 1989–1990 Aimé Jacquet 12 February 1990 – 30 June 1990 Michel Mézy 1990–1992 Henryk Kasperczak 1992–1994 Gérard Gili 1 November 1994 – 30 June 1998 Michel Mézy 1 July 1998 – 30 November 1999 Jean-Louis Gasset 30 November 1999 – 1 November 2002 Michel Mézy 1 November 2002 – 10 February 2004 Gérard Bernardet 10 February 2004 – 29 August 2004 Robert Nouzaret 29 August 2004 – 24 April 2007 Jean-François Domergue 29 April 2007 – 30 June 2009 Rolland Courbis 1 July 2009 – 30 June 2013 René Girard 1 July 2013 – 5 December 2013 Jean Fernandez 9 December 2013– 25 December 2015 Rolland Courbis 27 December 2015 – 26 January 2016 Pascal Baills Bruno Martini 26 January 2016 – 30 January 2017 Frédéric Hantz 30 January 2017 – 23 May 2017 Jean-Louis Gasset 23 May 2017 – 24 May 2021 Michel Der Zakarian 1 June 2021 – 17 October 2022 Olivier Dall'Oglio 14 November 2022 – 7 February 2023 Romain Pitau 8 February 2023 – 20 October 2024 Michel Der Zakarian 22 October 2024 – 7 April 2025 Jean-Louis Gasset 8 April 2025 – present Zoumana Camara

Honours

Domestic

• Ligue 1
  • Champions (1): 2011–12
• Ligue 2
  • Champions (3): 1945–46, 1960–61, 1986–87
• Coupe de France
  • Champions (2): 1928–29, 1989–90
  • Runners-up (2): 1930–31, 1993–94
• Coupe de la Ligue
  • Champions (1): 1992 [fr]
  • Runners-up (2): 1994, [fr] 2010–11
• Division d'Honneur (Languedoc-Roussillon)
  • Champions (2): 1981, 1992^[12]

Europe

• UEFA Intertoto Cup
  • Winners (1): 1999

Other

• Division d'Honneur (Sud-Est)
  • Champions (3): 1928, 1932, 1976

U19

• Coupe Gambardella
  • Champions (3): 1996, 2009, 2017
  • Runners-up (3): 1984, 1985, 1997

See also

• Montpellier HSC (women)