2009–10 Chamois Niortais F.C. season

The 2009–10 season marks Chamois Niortais' 84th season as a football club. After their relegation from the Championnat National in 2008–09 following a 17th-placed finish, Chamois Niortais return to the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth tier of the French football league system, for the first time since 1984. The relegation also saw Chamois Niortais lose the professional status that they had held since achieving promotion to Division 2 in 1985, becoming a semi-professional team.

News

04.06.09: Pascal Gastien is appointed as head coach of the first-team following the dismissal of Denis Troch.

10.06.09: Quentin Bernard and Johan Gastien sign new deals with the club, whilst Simon Pontdemé leaves for Brest.

12.06.09: Kévin Aubeneau, Maxime Ras, Vincent Bolot, Simon Hébras and Pierre Jamin agree new deals with the club.

15.06.09: Goalkeeper Pascal Landais becomes the club's first new signing of the summer from Thouars.

17.06.09: Nicolas Marti signs a new one-year deal with Niort.

22.06.09: Despite having agreed to new deals with the club, Maxime Ras and Vincent Bolot sign for Raon-l'Etape.

25.06.09: Niort re-sign defender Djibril Konaté from Fontenay, their second signing of the summer. Mamadou Camara signs a new contract.

29.06.09: Niort continue the trend of re-signing former players with the capture of Vincent Durand.

01.07.09: Germain Lugier becomes the fourth new signing of the transfer window. Striker Romain Jacuzzi joins Stade Laval.

05.07.09: Defender Vincent Guignery arrives from AS Beauvais Oise, signing a one-year deal.

10.07.09: Senegalese international striker Mouhamadou Diaw becomes the club's sixth new player. The fixtures for the Championnat de France amateur Group C are released and Niort discover that they will start the season at home to Bordeaux Réserve.

11.07.09: Johan Letzelter is announced as the seventh signing of the summer.

16.07.09: France under-19 international defender Damien Da Silva joins Ligue 2 side LB Châteauroux.

29.07.09: Carl Tourenne returns to his first club, becoming their eighth summer signing.

31.07.09: Veteran striker Arnaud Gonzalez signs a new two-year deal with Niort.

06.08.09: Midfielder Ronan Biger leaves Chamois Niortais to join newly-promoted Championnat National side AS Moulins.

08.08.09: Chamois Niortais begin their CFA campaign with a 3–0 victory over Bordeaux Réserve.

12.09.09: After a convincing start of five unbeaten matches, Niort suffer their first defeat of the season, a 0–1 loss away to Red Star Saint-Ouen.

03.10.09: The side progess to the fifth round of the Coupe de France with a 6–2 win over Angoulême CFC, a game which included a second-half hat-trick by striker Mouhamadou Diaw.

05.01.10: Former striker Luigi Glombard is the club's first signing of the January transfer window.

First-team squad

During the summer of 2009, Chamois Niortais made a total of eight new signings, whilst a total of sixteen players left the club and three players were promoted from the youth team. The summer also saw a change of management, with former Chamois Niortais player Pascal Gastien being appointed for his third spell in charge of the club, replacing Denis Troch, who was sacked following the relegation to the CFA.

Current squad

Non-playing staff

Transfers

In

Out

Statistics

League position

Pld = Games played, W = Games won, D = Games drawn, L = Games lost, F = Goals scored, A = Goals against, GD = Goal difference, Pts = Points (Win = 4 points, Draw = 2 points, Loss = 1 point)
1st position gains promotion to Championnat National.
16th, 17th and 18th positions are relegated to Championnat de France amateur 2.
Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion to the National; in the event of a reserve team winning the league, promotion will be awarded to the highest-placed senior team.

Goalscorers

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by firstly league goals, and then alphabetical order, when total goals are equal.

Matches

Pre-season

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For their pre-season, Chamois Niortais played friendly matches against a series of Championnat de France amateur and Championnat de France amateur 2 sides. Two of the teams, Les Herbiers VF and Vendée Fontenay Foot, will be in the same division as Niort this season.

The team began their pre-season campaign with a convincing 6–0 victory over CFA2 side SO Châtellerault at the Stade de la Montée Rouge, with the goals being scored by six different players including new signings Djibril Konaté, Mouhamadou Diaw and Germain Lugier. They followed this up with their only pre-season game to be played at the Stade René Gaillard, a comfortable 2–0 defeat of Les Herbiers VF, where both goals were scored by long-time Chamois Niortais striker Arnaud Gonzalez.

On 22 July 2009, trialist Gilles Fabien scored a hat-trick and recent signings Diaw and Konaté each scored their second goals of the pre-season as Chamois Niortais drew 5–5 with local club Vendée Fontenay Foot. Three days later, Chamois Niortais won away from home at CFA2 outfit USSA Vertou by two goals to one, eventually scraping victory thanks to a second-half strike from trialist Si Salem. The team's final pre-season friendly ended in a "cruel" 0–3 defeat to CFA2 side SO Cholet, with the result being described as "one to be placed among the accidents".

CFA Group C

Coupe de France

Along with all the clubs in the Championnat de France amateur, Chamois Niortais entered the competition at the fourth-round stage this season. The draw for the fourth round was made on 23 September 2009 and Niort were drawn at home to Division d'Honneur outfit Angoulême CFC. Niort reached the fifth round with a convincing 6–2 victory over Angoulême, a game which saw the club's first hat-trick of the season, scored by Mouhamadou Diaw, and were again drawn against a Division d'Honneur side, this time away to Ligugé. On 17 October 2009, the side secured a 5–0 win over Ligugé to progress to the sixth round. After another 5–0 victory over SO Châtellerault in the sixth round, the side were handed a seventh round away tie at seventh-division outfit FC Saint-Jean-le-Blanc. Niort were eventually knocked out of the competition in the eighth round following a 3–1 defeat away at SA Thiers.

Fourth round

Fifth round

Sixth round

Seventh round

Eighth round

External links

• Chamois Niortais official website