Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (French:[mɔ̃pəljeeʁospɔʁklœb];
Occitan: Montpelhièr Erau Sport Club), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, 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 1, the top 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
Michel Der Zakarian and
captained by
Teji Savanier.
Montpellier is owned by Laurent Nicollin, the son of the late 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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, and the
UEFA Intertoto Cup in
1999.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]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.[2]
Souleymane Camara
Pascal Baills
Hilton
Kader Ferhaoui
Víctor Montaño
(in French)
