Epinal

Épinal spent one afternoon in the winter of 2012–13 knocking out Lyon and Nantes in the Coupe de France, both on penalties, to reach the last sixteen.

The club itself came together on 15 January 1941, when Stade Saint-Michel merged with Athlétique Club Spinalien, itself a renamed descendant of a side founded back in 1909. Its first coach, Auguste Jordan, was a French international of Austrian descent who had ended up a prisoner of war in Épinal during the Second World War. The Buttercups, as they're known locally for their yellow and blue colours, reached Division 2 for the only sustained spell in their history between 1974 and 1979, finishing seventh in 1976–77, and have never gone higher. A financial collapse in 1998 sent them back down to regional football, from where they climbed out again through National titles in 2004, 2009, 2014 and, most recently, 2023.

Games against SR Saint-Dié carry the weight of the Derby Vosgien, while the meetings with AS Nancy-Lorraine are treated as the Derby Lorrain, a fixture that draws on old Lorraine rivalries rather than league standing.

Esteban Lepaul is the name supporters bring up first. He came through at Épinal, left for Angers, returned for the 2023–24 season, and then moved on to Rennes, where he finished as Ligue 1's top scorer in 2025–26.