Mondeville Women

Bottom of the table, relegated, and suddenly arguing for its own survival in public: when USO Mondeville finished last in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball at the end of the 2018–19 season, the drop to the second division put more than status at stake.

The academy's record made the argument for itself. Marine Johannès came through Mondeville's youth ranks before winning an Olympic bronze medal, and Aminata Gueye followed a similar route out of the same programme. More recently, Eve Wembanyama, sister of the NBA's Victor Wembanyama, signed with the club in September 2024, by which point Mondeville — known as Les Lionnes Conquérantes since long before the relegation — were playing in Ligue 2 Féminine rather than the top flight they had occupied for most of their history since forming in 1971.

A national title has never come Mondeville's way. The club won the Coupe de France Féminine twice, in 1995 and 1999, and lost three further finals, but its best finish in the league itself was fifth, in 2016–17. Continental football came earlier and higher: four EuroLeague Women campaigns between 2006 and 2011, with the Round of 16 reached twice, and four EuroCup quarter-finals.

None of that history is shared with Rouen or with Le Havre, and that is precisely the point of the fixtures against them. Both are Norman clubs, and matches against either are known locally as the derby normand — the closest thing Mondeville has to a settled rivalry.