Football Club Istres Ouest Provence (; commonly referred to as simply Istres) is a French association football club based in

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location ...

. The club was formed in 1920 and currently play their home matches at the Stade Parsemain in Fos-sur-Mer, a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Arrondissement of Istres The arrondissement of Istres is an arrondissement of France in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It has 21 communes. Its population is 327,971 (2016), and its area is . Composition The communes of the ar ...

History

FC Istres was founded in 1920 by Édouard Guizonnier as SS Istréenne. In 1969, SS Istréenne was merged into the more general sports club Istres Sports, who chose to keep Istréenne's distinctive purple and black colours. In 1977 the club made young entrepreneur Michel Aviet the club's president and ex-Yugoslav goalkeeper Georges Korac the club's manager. During the Aviet-Korac years, the club advanced from France's lower regional divisions all the way up to Ligue 2. In the 2004–05 season, the club reached Ligue 1 for the first time but finished last and was relegated to Ligue 2 the following year. The club returned to Ligue 2 for the 2009–10 season after winning the Championnat National 2008–09. The club got relegated from Ligue 2 in 2013–14 season after a 2–4 defeat to Dijon FCO. In July 2015, the club was relegated to the 7th tier for financial reasons.

Naming history

*SS Istréenne (1920–1969) *Istres Sports (1969–1990) *FC Istres Ville Nouvelle (1990–2004)

Players

Current squad

''Updated as of 17 May 2022.'' None of the players have a fixed/assigned shirt number by the club.

Notable former players

''For a list of former FC Istres players, see below''

Rivalries

The club has two major rivalries. First is with neighbours

FC Martigues Football Club de Martigues, known as FC Martigues or just Martigues, is a French professional football club which plays in the Championnat National, the third level of football in France. The club plays at the Stade Francis Turcan, which has a ...

, with many encounters over the years. The second is the Provence derby against AC Arles-Avignon.

Honours

* National **''Champions'' (1): 2008–09 * Méditerranée Division d'Honneur **''Champions'' (2): 1982, 1990 * Coupe de Provence **''Champions'' (4): 1933, 1982, 1987, 1989

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Istres Association football clubs established in 1920 Sport in Bouches-du-Rhône Publicly traded sports companies 1920 establishments in France Football clubs in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur