Stade Rochelais (), commonly called La Rochelle, is a French professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club based in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

, France that competes in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

. Founded in 1898 and wearing yellow and black, the club's first-team plays its home matches at Stade Marcel-Deflandre. Alongside other French club Brive, La Rochelle is one of only two clubs that won the

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

(twice in its case; beating

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

in both

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

finals) without succeeding in winning its domestic championship losing on both occasions against

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

in the final: the first time in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and the second in

. Owned by several shareholders, including club president and

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

magnate Vincent Merling, the club is renowned for the fervour of its supporters and its continual sold-out home matches.

History

Originally formed in 1898, Stade Rochelais won three regional Atlantic championships in the early part of the 20th century, qualifying them for the French Championship, where they reached the quarter-finals twice and the semi-finals once. The popularity of rugby league in the area lessened the number of available players, and in 1935 Stade Rochelais merged with neighbours Union Sportive Rochelaise. Occupation of La Rochelle by troops from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, accompanied by a banning of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

by the

Vichy Government Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

, forced the city's rugby league club La Rochelle-Etudiants XIII to also be merged into Stade Rochelais in 1941. This was overseen by club President Marcel Deflandre, who was later executed for his role as part of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

- the club's stadium is named Stade Marcel-Deflandre in his honour. The club formed a school for training players and coaches in the 1950s, resulting in them reaching the French Championship quarter-finals three times in the 1960s. They were relegated in 1985, returning in 1997. They were again relegated in 2002, though they won the

Challenge Yves du Manoir The Challenge Yves du Manoir was a rugby union club competition that was played in France between 1931 and 2003 under different names. It is named after former player Yves du Manoir. History The Challenge Yves du Manoir was officially created on ...

that same year. They retained the Challenge title the following year but were not promoted again until 2010. They spent one season in Top 16 before being relegated again. Les Maritimes came third in the 2013–14 Rugby Pro D2 season and were promoting after beating

Agen Agen (, , ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne, southeast of Bordeaux. In 2021, the commune had a population of 32,485. Geography The city of Agen l ...

in the play-off final. In May 2022, they won both their first ever trophy and first ever Champions Cup defeating

24–21 at 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 ...

. In May 2023, they retained the Champions Cup again defeating Leinster this time 27–26 at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...

Honours

** Champions (2):

** Runners-up (1):

* French championship Top 14 ** Runners-up (2):

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

** Runners-up (1):

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

* League Cup ** Champions (2): 2002, 2003

Finals results

French Championship

European Rugby Champions Cup

European Rugby Challenge Cup

Current standings

Current squad

The La Rochelle squad for the 2024–25 season is:

Espoirs squad

Notable former players

* Facundo Bosch * Ramiro Herrera * Germán Llanes *

Federico Todeschini Federico Todeschini (born August 8, 1975 in Rosario) is an Argentine rugby union footballer. He has played for several teams in Argentina, Italy and France, he has also represented the Argentina national rugby union team on several occasions sin ...

* Zack Holmes * Brock James *

Ryan Lamb Ryan Lamb (born 18 May 1986 in Gloucester) is an English former rugby union player who played at fly-half. Club career A former pupil of St Peter's High School, he made his professional debut in the European Challenge Cup quarter final aga ...

* Lopeti Timani * Julien Berger * Jason Marshall *

Lesley Vainikolo Lesley Paea 'I'muli Vainikolo (born 4 May 1979) is a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. A dual code international, he has played for the New Zealand Kiwis in rugby league and England in rugby union. He began his care ...

* Sireli Bobo * Eneriko Buliruarua * Norman Ligairi * Kini Murimurivalu * Jone Qovu * Seru Rabeni * Alipate Ratini * Savenaca Rawaca * Albert Vulivuli * Marc Andreu * Julien Audy * Alexi Balès * Jean-Pascal Barraque *

Steeve Barry Steeve Barry (born 18 April 1991) is a French rugby seven back who competed at the 2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-s ...

* Pierre Bérard * Mohamed Boughanmi * Benoît Bourrust *

Damien Cler Damien Cler (born 2 October 1983) is a French rugby seven forward who competed at the 2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international mult ...

* Thomas Combezou * Manoël Dall'igna * Benjamin Dambielle * Vincent Debaty * Yacine Dekkiche * William Demotte * Geoffrey Doumayrou * Luc Ducalcon * Arnaud Élissalde *

Jean-Baptiste Élissalde Jean-Baptiste Élissalde (born 23 November 1977) is a former French Rugby Union, French rugby union player, playing either as a Scrum-half (rugby union), scrum-half or as a Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half, and most recently defense coach for Mo ...

* Jean-Pierre Élissalde * Sébastien Fauqué * Lionel Faure * Romain Frou *

Loann Goujon Loann Goujon (; born 23 April 1989) is a French rugby union player. He currently plays for Stade Rochelais, La Rochelle in the Top 14, normally playing at Flanker or Number 8. Career Goujon first started playing rugby in 2003 at Junior rugby le ...

Jean-Philippe Grandclaude Jean-Philippe Grandclaude (born 4 August 1982 in Fréjus, Var (department), Var) is a French rugby union footballer who plays for USA Perpignan. He mainly plays at Centre (rugby union), centre. His professional career started with AS Béziers H� ...

* Gabriel Lacroix * Damien Lagrange * Grégory Lamboley * Benjamin Lapeyre * Benoit Lecouls * Henri Magois *

Gérald Merceron Gérald Merceron (born 25 February 1973) is a French former rugby union player He played at Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half. Unusually he favoured a cone when kicking at goal; the only other player in the modern game to do the same is Chris Elli ...

* Jean Pambrun * Vincent Pelo * Julien Pierre * Jules Plisson * Dany Priso * Vincent Rattez *

Arthur Retière Arthur Retière (born 1 August 1997) is a French rugby union winger or full-back and he currently plays for Bordeaux Bègles Honours Club ; La Rochelle * 1x European Rugby Champions Cup: 2022 ; Toulouse * 1x European Rugby Champions Cup: ...

* David Roumieu * Christophe Samson * Laurent Simutoga * Jérémy Sinzelle *

Rémi Talès Rémi Talès (born 2 May 1984) is a French rugby union player. His position is fly-half and he currently plays for Mont-de-Marsan in the Pro D2. He began his career with Stade Montois before moving to La Rochelle. He established himself as a ...

* Jean-Teiva Jacquelain * Gagi Bazadze *

Guram Papidze Guram Papidze (born June 16, 1997) in Tbilisi, Georgia is a Georgian rugby union player. He plays as Prop for Section Paloise in Top 14. Papidze began his career in France with Lyon OU before joining Nevers, which enabled him to be a JIFF player ...

* Robert Mohr * Gonzalo Canale * Pietro Ceccarelli * Leandro Cedaro *

Jason Eaton Jason John Eaton (born 21 August 1982) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He played as a lock. Early life Although born in Palmerston North, Eaton grew up on a farm near the small community of Colyton. He attended Feilding Intermedi ...

* Hamish Gard * Romana Graham *

David Raikuna David Raikuna (born 24 August 1987 in Suva, Fiji), is a professional rugby union player. He currently plays for Stade Rochelais in the Top 14. He has also played for the New Zealand sevens team. Raikuna plays predominantly as a winger, althou ...

* Rene Ranger * Victor Vito * Ihaia West * Petrișor Toderașc * Alofa Alofa * Piula Faʻasalele * Tamato Leupolu * Ricky Januarie * Paul Jordaan Arnaud, then his son Jean-Pierre and his grandson Jean-Baptiste all played for La Rochelle as scrum-halves.

Coaches

Well known former coaches include * Arnaud Élissalde * Jean-Pierre Élissalde * Patrice Collazo * Xavier Garbajosa *

Ronan O'Gara Ronan John Ross O'Gara (born 7 March 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland's third most-capped player and second highest points scorer. He i ...

The club only had five head coaches from 1992 to 2025 including Ronan O'Gara since 2019.

Leadership and management

Vincent Merling, president as of 2017, had guided the club for 25 years. He was the driving force behind the "Grow Together" campaign launched in 2015 that persuaded 500 local businesses to support/sponsor the club.

References

External links

* {{European Rugby Champions Cup winners

Rugby clubs established in 1898 Sport in La Rochelle