Église Saint-Sébastien - Villeneuve-d'Ascq

Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; pcd, Neuvile-Ask) is 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

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

department in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the

Métropole Européenne de Lille The Métropole Européenne de Lille (MEL; en, "European Metropolis of Lille") is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, composed by a network of big cities (Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Villeneuve d'Ascq, Armentières etc.) whose major ...

and the largest in area (27.46 km²) after

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

. It is also one of the main cities of the

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. The ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. Built up owing to the merger between the former

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

Ascq Ascq (; pcd, Ask) is a former commune on the Marque river in the Nord department in northern France, at seven kilometers from Belgium. Agricultural village until the Industrial Revolution, the former independent commune merged with others to bec ...

Annappes Annappes () is a village and former commune of the Nord Department of France, on the river Marque. In 1970, it was merged with the communes of Ascq and Flers-lez-Lille to form the new commune of Villeneuve d'Ascq.Flers-lez-Lille Flers-lez-Lille is a former commune in the Nord department in northern France, merged into Villeneuve-d'Ascq in 1970.

, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is a

new town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

and the cradle of the first automatic metro system of the world (

VAL Val may refer to: Val-a Film * ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Sov ...

). Villeneuve-d'Ascq is nicknamed the 'green

technopole A technopole, commonly referred to as a high-technology cluster or tech hub, refers to a center of high-tech manufacturing and information-based quaternary industry. The term was coined by Allen J. Scott in 1990 to describe regions in Southern C ...

' thanks to the implantation of many researchers, including two campuses of the

University of Lille The University of Lille (french: Université de Lille, abbreviated as ULille, UDL or univ-lille) is a French public research university based in Lille, Hauts-de-France. It has its origins in the University of Douai (1559), and resulted from th ...

and many graduate engineering schools, and companies in a pleasant living environment. Owing to its

activity centre Activity centre is a term used in urban planning and design for a mixed-use urban area where there is a concentration of commercial and other land uses. For example, the central business districts of cities (CBD) are also known as “Central Activ ...

s, its

Haute Borne Haute Borne is a new district of Villeneuve d'Ascq city, in France. It hosts the ''Haute Borne European scientific park''. The aim of this area is to be home from high-tech companies and research and development centers, which can take advantage o ...

European scientific park and two

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

s, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is one of the main economic spots of the

;

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

s such as

Bonduelle Bonduelle is a French company producing processed vegetables. History * The company was founded in 1853, when Louis Bonduelle-Dalle (23 October 1802 - 13 November 1880) and Louis Lesaffre-Roussel (1802–1869) established a grain and juniper b ...

Cofidis Cofidis is a French company, now majority owned by Crédit Mutuel, based in Villeneuve-d'Ascq. Founded in 1982 by 3 Suisses International in cooperation with Cetelem, Cofidis specialized in the consumer credit business of the 3 Suisses Group. I ...

and

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

have their head office there. Outside its academic, scientific and business facilities, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is known for its sporting events, boasting two stadiums (

Stade Pierre-Mauroy The Stade Pierre-Mauroy, also known as the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre-Mauroy for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-use retractable roof stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Métropole Européenne de Lille), France, that opened in August 2012. It ha ...

and

Stadium Lille Métropole Stadium Lille-Métropole is a multi-purpose stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. The stadium was built in 1976 and is able to hold 18,154 spectators. The architect of the stadium was Roger Taillibert. It was used as the temporary home stadium of ...

) and some top division sports teams, its museums, e.g. the

Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art The Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art (LaM), formerly known as Villeneuve d'Ascq Museum of Modern Art, is an art museum in Villeneuve d'Ascq, France. With more than 4,500 artworks on a exhibition area, the LaM is ...

), its green spaces, and its facilities for disabled people.

Name

Its name means "new city of Ascq" in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. Ascq is possibly derived from the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

word for "ash". The name of the city is generally written without the customary (official) hyphen.

Geography

The city counts approximately of greenspace, lakes, forests and arable lands. It is located between

and Roubaix, at the crossroads of the principal freeways towards

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

History

Development on what is now Villeneuve-d'Ascq can be traced back to the Celtic

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

era, and are anchored in two feudal mounds, a

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

site and a

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

one. The area was selected in the 1960s to accommodate a

then designated the name ''Lille-Est'', which was to channel the growth of the agglomeration of Lille city and development of institutions based in the area. The commune of Villeneuve-d'Ascq was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the communes of

Annappes Annappes () is a village and former commune of the Nord Department of France, on the river Marque. In 1970, it was merged with the communes of Ascq and Flers-lez-Lille to form the new commune of Villeneuve d'Ascq.Flers.INSEE commune file
/ref> Its name evokes at the same time the new (''neuve'') and the old: former commune Ascq and its memory as martyr town of 1 April 1944, date on which the Nazis massacred 86 men ( Ascq massacre). The city's merger with Lille was contentious and failed twice (1972 and 1976).

Population

Data before 1970 in the table and graph below refer to the old commune Annappes, before the merger with Ascq and Flers-lez-Lille.

Economy

Businesses and public organizations

Different kinds of businesses have their headquarters in Villeneuve d'Ascq because of the availability of land, the presence of researchers (in particular in the Cité Scientifique and

) and the proximity to both

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe ...

and

economic regions. Villeneuve d'Ascq notably hosts the headquarters of the food processing company

, the financial services provider

, the sporting goods retailer

, the chocolate manufacturer Bouquet d'Or, the disposable dishes manufacturer Tifany Industrie, the IT security company Netasq, the restaurant chains

Flunch Flunch is a French cafeteria-style fast casual restaurant chain owned by the Agapes Restauration group which belongs to Association Familiale Mulliez group. It operates over 160 locations in France and also 6 in Italy. Flunch restaurants are opera ...

, Les 3 Brasseurs, Pizza Paï. Furthermore, Villeneuve d'Ascq hosts the Europe, the Middle East and Africa headquarters of IT consulting company SoftThinks and the European headquarters and R&D center of Canadian frozen foods company

McCain Foods McCain may refer to: * McCain (surname), a surname (includes a list of persons and characters) Companies * McCain Foods Limited, a producer of frozen foods * McCain, Inc., privately held American manufacturing company headquartered in Vista ...

. It is home to the central buying service of international retail group

Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% ...

, a R&D center of multinational agri-processor

Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle PLC is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage ingredients to industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s it began to diversify, eventually divesting its sugar business i ...

, and a data processing center of American company

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from St ...

. Villeneuve d'Ascq also hosts numerous administration and public organizations offices. The Northern headquarters of French national meteorological service

Météo-France Météo-France is the French national meteorological service. Organisation The organisation was established by decree in June 1993 and is a department of the Ministry of Transportation. It is headquartered in Paris but many domestic operations ...

, large barracks of the

National Gendarmerie The National Gendarmerie (french: Gendarmerie nationale, ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Mini ...

(450 gendarmes and their family), the Northern headquarters of the Regional Center for Traffic Information and Coordination ( :fr:Centre régional d'information et de circulation routière). Since 1998, there are large offices of the mobile network operator and Internet service provider

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, along with the information computing center of

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

for the Northern and Western France region. From 1984 to 1994 Villeneuve d'Ascq housed a

Groupe Bull Bull SAS (also known as Groupe Bull, Bull Information Systems, or simply Bull) is a French computer company headquartered in Les Clayes-sous-Bois, in the western suburbs of Paris. The company has also been known at various times as Bull General E ...

factory that developed, manufactured and marketed desktops personal computers; the site is currently used by offices of

. There was also a

Rhône-Poulenc Rhône-Poulenc () was a French chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1928. In 1999 it merged with Hoechst AG to form Aventis. As of 2015, the pharmaceutical operations of Rhône-Poulenc are part of Sanofi and the chemicals divisions a ...

chemical factory, now housing offices of mail order company

3 Suisses 3 Suisses is a French mail order and e-commerce company, with headquarters in Villeneuve-d'Ascq. It is the biggest of the 16 e-commerce brands of . Everett Hutt is the current CEO as of 2022. Since 1981, Otto GmbH owned a 51% in the company and ...

. Villeneuve d'Ascq hosts the Northern head office of Textile and Clothing French Institute (IFTH) which assist industry for their technological and economical development. Finally, 2000 businesses are implanted in the city.

Shops and trade

Two huge shopping centers are located in the technopole. The indoor/roofed ''Centre commercial V2'', founded in 1977, which, when created, was the largest shopping center north of Paris and is still the largest in the

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais ...

area. A new outdoor one opened in 2009, ''Heron Parc'', a shopping center located near ''V2'', hosting numerous stores of Groupe Auchan and a 12 auditoriums movie theater.

Education and science

Villeneuve d'Ascq is the first academic pole of the metropolitan area. Numerous academic and scientific facilities are located there (around 42,000 students and 2,500 researchers).

Universities and tertiary institutions

The city hosts two main campuses of the

: "Cité Scientifique" (Science and Technology); and "Pont de Bois" (Social sciences, Humanities, Literature and Arts). Those two campuses count a half of the Community of Universities and Institutions (COMUE) Lille Nord de France students. Villeneuve d'Ascq hosts also a University Institute for Technology (IUT A), the school in architecture École nationale supérieure d'architecture et de paysage de Lille, along with five graduate schools :

École centrale de Lille Located in the campus of Science and Technology (Cité Scientifique) of the University of Lille in Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Métropole Européenne de Lille, European Metropolis of Lille - Hauts-de-France); École Centrale de Lille is a renowned graduat ...

École nationale supérieure de chimie de Lille The École nationale supérieure de chimie de Lille (ENSCL or Chimie Lille) was founded in 1894 as the Institut de chimie de Lille. It is part of the Community of Universities and Institutions (COMUE) Lille Nord de France. It is located on the s ...

, Polytech'Lille (formerly EUDIL), École des Mines-Télécom de Lille-Douai (IMT) (formerly ENIC, TELECOM LILLE), École supérieure des techniques industrielles et des textiles (ESTIT).

Primary and secondary education

There are 20 public ''maternelles'' (preschools/nurseries), 17 public ''élémentaires'' (primary schools), and 6 public combined preschools and elementary schools. There are also five public ''collèges'' (junior high schools): Camille Claudel, Simone de Beauvoir, Moliere, Rimbaud, and Triolo. The two public ''lycées'' (senior high schools/sixth-form colleges) in the commune are Lycée Raymond Queneau and Lycée professionnel Dinah Derycke.Écoles à Villeneuve d'Ascq
" Villeneuve-d'Ascq Town Hall. Retrieved on May 9, 2017
Read online
/ref> There is one combined private elementary through high school, École Saint-Adrien. There is also a private junior high school, Collège privé communautaire; and four private combined preschool and elementary schools, Notre-Dame, Saint-Pierre d'Ascq, Cardinal Liénart, and Saint-Henri.

Miscellaneous education

200 public and private laboratories whose 31 of them members of

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

are located in the technopole. Some main research institute are situated in Villeneuve d'Ascq, for example IEMN (

Institut d'électronique de microélectronique et de nanotechnologie The Institute of Electronics, Microelectronics and Nanotechnology or IEMN (''Institut d'électronique de microélectronique et de nanotechnologie'' in French) is a research institute of University of Lille, CNRS and École Centrale de Lille (UMR C ...

), INRIA Lille (

National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control The National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) () is a French national research institution focusing on computer science and applied mathematics. It was created under the name ''Institut de recherche en informatiq ...

IFSTTAR The French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (french: Institut français des sciences et technologies des transports, de l'aménagement et des réseaux, IFSTTAR) is a public research institution (a Public ...

(

Institut national de recherche sur les transports et leur sécurité Institut national de recherche sur les transports et leur sécurité (INRETS) is the former French national institute for transport and safety research. INRETS and the LCPC (the French Central Laboratory of Roads and Bridges) have been merged since ...

), INRA ( Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), the veterinary laboratory of the Nord department, l'IRIS (Institut de recherche de l'industrie sucrière), ITF-Nord (Institut textile de France). At last but not least, the technopole hosts the European scientific park ''Haute Borne'', 150 hectare next to Université Lille 1.

Administration

Having succeeded Gérard Caudron as mayor from 1977 to 2001, Jean-Michel Stievenard and his team wish to maintain balances the environnement and the economic development, the greenery and technology, the daily wellbeing and the great projects, the social one and quality, opening on its internal comfort and rest of the world, its finance and high degree of public utility. The mayors of Villeneuve-d'Ascq since 1977 have been members of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

(Parti socialiste).In 2008, the local elections brought back to the city council Gerard Caudron as mayor. Villeneuve-d'Ascq is the seat of the canton of Villeneuve-d'Ascq.

Transport

As a part of the

, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is connected to Lille city centre by a

, a type of fully automatic (driverless) light rubber-tired metro. The VAL metro line runs through Villeneuve-d'Ascq from Quatre-Cantons and Cité Scientifique stations and drives up to Lille historical city centre and railways stations in about ten minutes. In fact, while the

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

VAL now officially stands for ''Véhicule Automatique Léger'' (automatic light vehicle), it was originally for ''Villeneuve-d'Ascq à Lille'' (meaning Villeneuve-d'Ascq to Lille), the route of the first line to be projected, and inaugurated on 25 April 1983. The Villeneuve d'Ascq metro station is under the Place

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

(Salvadore Allende Square) and a shopping centre which includes

as one of its main tenants. Villeneuve-d'Ascq is also served by the train station

Gare d'Ascq Ascq station ( French: ''Gare d'Ascq'') is a railway station serving the former village of Ascq, now part of Villeneuve-d'Ascq city, Nord department, northern France. History In nineteenth century the industrial revolution is developing indu ...

, which offers connections to Lille, Orchies and Tournai and Liège in Belgium.

Sport

Honours and statistics

The city received many awards for its sporting activities. In 1994, the newspaper L'Equipe ranked Villeneuve d'Ascq in the five most sportive cities in France. In 1996, Villeneuve d'Ascq was elected the 'most sportive city of France', and in 1999, 'the most disabled sportive city'. It is a logical result because the city invests a lot in sport. In 2009, 21,700 inhabitants had a sport licence in the sport club of Villeneuve d'Ascq (one third of the global population of the city) ; the city hosts 158 different sport associations, 58 different sports and 14% of the city operating budget is dedicated to sport. The city has 10.99 hectares of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

fields, of

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

facilities and of hiking trails.

Facilities

Villeneuve d'Ascq has two

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

s ('piscine du Triolo' and 'centre nautique Babylone') both equipped with a 50m long water slide, an outside grass area, saunas and a training gym. The city hosts two major stadiums,

(21,650 seats) and

(50,186 seats). Villeneuve d'Ascq have 16 soccer fields, 2 rugby fields (stadium E. Théry, Tradition street), 17 municipal

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...

nasiums plus 8 academic gymnasiums (E.S.U.M.), a sport complex called 'Palacium' (Pont de Bois avenue) and a gymnasium (salle d'Agrees, Breughel street) dedicated to gymnastics. The city hosts a sailing base, two shooting galleries, a bow and arrow gallery, two golf courses, 12 tennis courts, two athletics facilities (Parmentier street and Lieutenant Colpin street). Finally, we can find in Villeneuve d'Ascq two dojos, a big wall for wall-climbing (salle Tamise), a bourloire in

, a boulodrome in Residence and a

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

in Hôtel de Ville.

Sporting events and teams

Football (soccer)

Villeneuve d'Ascq is home to several football teams which play in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais football league, in Flandre district: US Ascq (promotion d'honneur), Villeneuve d'Ascq Métropole (promotion d'honneur) and Flers OS Villeneuve d'Ascq (1ère division de district). The Stadium Nord hosted two international exhibition games: France - Tunisia in 1978 and France - Armenia in 1996. The Stadium Nord is the official stadium of the Lille Olympique Sporting Club Lille Métropole team (Ligue 1) since the 2004-2005 season, and also the official stadium of the Entente Sportive de Wasquehal team since 1997-1998 season (formerly Ligue 2, today CFA 2). In 1997, Stadium Nord was the home stadium of the Royal Excelsior Mouscron for the UEFA Europa League. The stadium hosted the UEFA Europa League matches of Lille Olympique Sporting Club Lille Métropole, so prestigious clubs such as Fenerbahçe SK, FC Sevilla, Valencia CF and Liverpool FC came to Villeneuve d'Ascq. In 2010, the Fédération française de football organised in Stadium Nord the ''Festifoot féminin'', an event with 500 feminine soccer player footballeuses. The

France women's national football team The France women's national football team (french: Équipe de France féminine de football, sometimes shortened as Féminin A) represents France in international women's football. The team is directed by the French Football Federation (FFF). F ...

were there and also some women's international footballers. In May, 2010

was selected by the Fédération française de football (FFF) to host matches in the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

, hosted by France.

Rugby

Villeneuve d'Ascq is home to a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

team, Lille Métropole Rugby Club Villeneuvois (ex-Rugby Club Villeneuve d'Ascq), whose senior women's team takes part in France women's rugby union championship. The women's team is in Division 1 since 1999 and in Elite since his victory ath the Challenge Armelle Auclair in 2006. The Stadium Nord hosted the quarter-final of Rugby World cup in 1991 New Zealand vs. Canada (36 000 spectators). It also hosted the semi-final of European Rugby Cup 2000-2001 Stade français vs. Munster. In 2005, Stadium Nord hosted matches from the under 17 y.o. rugby tournament. The Stadium Nord frequently hosts exhibition matches of the France rugby A team.

Track and field

The Stadium Nord hosts every year since 1988 an international meeting of

(formerly called ''meeting open Gaz de France'', then ''Open du Nord'' and now ''meeting d'athlétisme Lille Métropole''). The meeting is part of the national athletism league since 2007. In Stadium Nord took place the Track and field European Cup in 1995 and the Disabled Track and field World Cup in 2002.

Other sports

Villeneuve d'Ascq has a famous

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club, ESB Villeneuve-d'Ascq which plays in

Ligue Féminine de Basketball The Ligue Féminine de Basketball (LFB; ''Women's Basketball League'') is the top women's French professional basketball league. Champions * precedes the score of the team playing at home. Clubs Current season (2021–22) * Union Féminine ...

. The city has also an

american football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

club, Vikings de Villeneuve d'Ascq (Division 2) and a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

club, Hand Ball Club Villeneuve d'Ascq (HBCV) (Division 2). The cycling tournament

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

arrived in Villeneuve d'Ascq in 1988. Sportsmen who came from Villeneuve d'Ascq clubs include tennis players

Sarah Pitkowski Sarah Pitkowski-Malcor (born 13 November 1975) is a former professional tennis player from France. Her career-high singles ranking is world No. 29, which she achieved on 1 November 1999. Pitkowski won her only career WTA Tour singles final in ...

and

Nathalie Dechy Nathalie Dechy (born 21 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from France. Dechy is a three-time doubles Grand Slam champion, winning the 2006 US Open women's doubles title with Vera Zvonareva, the 2007 French Open mixed doubl ...

Culture

The city keeps of its past of many vestiges, sites and equipment. Villeneuve-d'Ascq possesses a famous museum, the

( LaM). One can visit the forum of sciences

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

, the rebuildings of a Gaulois village to the archeological park Asnapio.

Twin towns – sister cities

Villeneuve-d'Ascq is twinned with: *

Haidari HaidariFor the spelling, see thmunicipal website ( el, Χαϊδάρι, ''Khaidari'') is a suburb in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, west of central Athens. Geography The municipality has an area of 22.655 km2. The geography of ...

, Greece *

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

, Romania *

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is o ...

, Germany *

Ouidah Ouidah () or Whydah (; ''Ouidah'', ''Juida'', and ''Juda'' by the French; ''Ajudá'' by the Portuguese; and ''Fida'' by the Dutch) and known locally as Glexwe, formerly the chief port of the Kingdom of Whydah, is a city on the coast of the Repub ...

, Benin *

La Possession La Possession () is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the northwest side of the island of Réunion, between the capital of Saint-Denis and the commune of Le Port. To the territory of this commune belong ...

, Réunion, France *

Racibórz Racibórz (german: Ratibor, cz, Ratiboř, szl, Racibōrz) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County. With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being ...

, Poland *

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, Scotland *

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Eurome ...

, Belgium

Gallery

Cité scientifique (Métro de Lille).jpg Jielbeaumadier lac heron3 2007.jpg Cité scientifique IFSTTAR, Meteo France & parc technologique.jpg Jielbeaumadier moulins vda 2008.jpg Jielbeaumadier triolo allee talleyrand 2007.jpg Jielbeaumadier metro ligne2 vda 2010.jpg