Gravelines-Dunkerque

On 24 December 2023 the Sportica burned to the ground. The likely cause was a fault in the boiler of the swimming pool that shares the complex, or an electrical incident. Training moved to Loon-Plage, and home games were spread across the Salle Roger Lemerre in Dunkirk, which holds about 3,000, and venues in Calais. The Sportica had seated 3,043.

The fire came in a season that was already going badly. BCM finished 2023–24 in 15th place and stayed up by a single win over Blois. The temporary arrangements carried over into 2024–25.

The club has been in worse places, but rarely so far from its best. It was founded in 1984 as BCM Gravelines and won the second-tier Pro B title in 1988. In 2002 it took the name Gravelines-Dunkerque after a partnership with the Dunkirk Urban Community, so that it would represent the whole conurbation and not only the small town on the coast. Its strongest years came soon after. It lost the 2004 Pro A final, and in 2005 it beat Cholet 91–79 to win the Coupe de France under Fabrice Courcier. The Match des Champions followed the same year.

Christian Monschau coached the second wave. Under him BCM won the Semaine des As, the Leaders Cup, in 2011 and again in 2013. That same year it reached the Final Four of the EuroChallenge.

The fixture that matters most in the north is against ESSM Le Portel, a short drive along the coast. The "Opalico", also called the Derby du Nord, pits the two clubs of the same stretch of coast against each other.