Football Club de Martigues, known as FC Martigues or just Martigues, is a French professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Martigues Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte. A ...

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( ; , ; ; "the Mouths of the Rhône") is a Departments of France, department in southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var (department), Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the sout ...

. It competes in

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

from 2025–26, the third level of

football in France Association football is the most popular sport in France. In 2024, 53% of people in France declared an interest in football, with 26% being very interested. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the natio ...

, having following relegation from the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

in 2024–25. The club plays at the Stade Francis-Turcan, which has a capacity of 11,500, in

. Their principal rivals are

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 I ...

History

The club was founded in 1921 and played regional football until the early 1970s when they gained promotion to the professional Division 2. The club's greatest achievement was winning promotion to the First Division in 1993. The club played for three seasons in the top flight, until it was relegated down to

in 1996. A failed attempt to win promotion at once was followed by relegation to the

(third level) in 1998. Two years later the club won promotion back to Second Division, but only remained at that level for two seasons. In 2002, the club was relegated again and after another near miss at promotion in 2003, financial problems saw the club go into liquidation and reform in the

Championnat de France Amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue 2 ...

. They finished the 2006–07 season in the Championnat National as 14th. They were relegated to CFA in 2007–08 season as 19th in the Championnat National. The club was promoted back to the Championnat National in 2022, after ten years in lower divisions. On 18 May 2024, Martigues secured promotion to

, ending a 22-year absence from the second tier. They defeated

Nîmes Olympique Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was founded on 12 April 1937 and currently plays in the Championnat National, the third tier of French football. The Sta ...

1–0 on the final matchday of the 2023–24 Championnat National season to earn promotion as runners-up to

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

. While waiting for the Stade Francis-Turcan to be renovated to Ligue 2 standards, Martigues began the season at

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Stade Vélodrome The Stade Vélodrome (), known for sponsorship reasons as the Orange Vélodrome since June 2016, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, and has ...

. On 10 May 2025, Martigues secure relegation to

from next season after defeat from

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

5–1 at away games in

Stade du Moustoir The Stade du Moustoir - Yves Allainmat, known as the Stade du Moustoir (), is a multi-use stadium in Lorient, France. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of FC Lorient. The stadium can hold up to 18,110 with t ...

on final matchweek and ended one year in second tier.

Current squad

Staff

Coaches

Honours

** Runner-up (1): 2023–24 *

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system be ...

** Champions (1): 2021–22

Notable players

* Ali Benarbia *

Djamel Belmadi Djamel Belmadi (; born 25 March 1976) is a professional football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Qatar Stars League side Al-Duhail. Born in France, he represented Algeria internationally between 2000 and 2004. As a pl ...

* Daniel Cousin * Tomasz Frankowski * Kasim Yildiz * Lubomir Luhovy *

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French former professional footballer who is currently an actor. In his football career Eric Cantona was a physically strong, hard-working and tenacious player. He combined technical skill a ...

* Nicolas Perez * Andre-Pierre Gignac * Rudi Garcia * Jean-Marc Ferreri * Eric Di Meco

References

Association football clubs established in 1921 Sport in Bouches-du-Rhône 1921 establishments in France Football clubs in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Ligue 1 clubs {{France-footyclub-stub