Roanne

Roanne has no single derby, and the nearest thing to a grudge match is a trip to Annecy. Those games get called "capital" matches in the region, a nod to how strong Annecy have historically been in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Valence, Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand supply the rest of the calendar, so the Foxes seldom get an easy night in their own corner of France.

The club has climbed against that background. Les Renards de Roanne won the Division 3 title in 2012–13, and that promotion took them up to Division 2, where they still play. The Coupe de France has brought them further than the league table suggests: they reached the quarter-finals in 2019–20 and again in 2023–24.

The home rink, the Patinoire Fontalon, holds around 500 and sits on rue Général Giraud. The colours are black and yellow. Below the senior side the club runs youth teams from under-6 to under-20, plus a leisure team.

Running through all of it is one family. Dominique Bonnefond was 16 when the club was set up in 1977, and his daughter Brigitte has been president since 2003.