History

Football Club de Gueugnon was founded in 1940. The small "village" is located in the south of Burgundy. FCG won the amateur title in 1947. Not bad for a village of 4000 souls ! Supported by the local steelworks (hence the nickname "Forgeron" means Blacksmith), the club reached D2 in 1970-71. In 1974, with playmaker Casimir Nowotarski, the Gueugnonnais made the play-offs for promotion to D1, missing out to FC Rouen. In 1979, they won the championship with players such as Trivino, Berthommier, Duch, Stropoli. In addition Gueugnon enjoyed a cup run, including eliminating the great Saint-Etienne. They later lost out to Auxerre in front of a crowd of 10 000. The 1980's steel crisis forced the club to turn pro, and after several seasons of struggles against the drop, the tide turned in 1991 with a cup semi-final against Monaco, then in 1995 promotion to the top flight. This was to be short-lived and despite a game effort, just one missing point meannt that the tiny club slipped back into D2. In 2000 the club progressed through to the Cup 1/8 final, losing to Nantes on penalties, but in an earlier round produced a major surpise in eliminating Marseille at Marseille 4-3, even leading 4-0 at one point ! In the League Cup, the "Forgerons" made history, becoming the first team of D2 winning the cup, against PSG 2-0 at Stade de France ! At the end of the seaon, the club couldn't keep their best players such as Distin or Roda. The following season, the club played the UEFA Cup but lost against Iraklis Salonique (0-0 ; 0-1). Since that great season, the club didn't manage to get back on the top of the league and even avoided relegation by miracle in 2004 (winning the last game of the season at Lorient 5-0 !!).

Honours

French Amateurs Champions 1947 and 1952

French Division 2 1979

League Cup Winner 2000