FC Fleury 91 Women

Fleury-Mérogis is a small commune in the Essonne department, south of Paris, and for two decades its football club has carried the area's name into the top flight of the women's game. The team began life in 2003 as FCF Val d'Orge, and only became FC Fleury 91 Cœur d'Essonne in 2017, when it merged with the men's club founded in Fleury back in 1970. The players go by Les Lionnes, and they train and play at the Stade Auguste Gentelet, in front of crowds that fit inside its 2,000 seats.

Promotion came in the 2016-17 season, when Fleury won Division 2 Féminine and stepped up to Division 1. Since then they have settled into the division without quite breaking into its top tier, finishing fourth three seasons running, in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24. The closest they have come to silverware was the Coupe de France Féminine final in 2023-24, lost 1-0 to Paris Saint-Germain, a defeat that stung more given how the club had eliminated Paris FC, the department's other big name, on penalties in the semi-finals two years earlier. That tie carried the weight of the Derby de l'Essonne, a rivalry that traces back to Paris FC's roots in FCF Juvisy, once the area's dominant women's side.

The squad has leaned on imported talent to close the gap on the division's leaders: defender Aïssatou Tounkara arrived on loan from Paris Saint-Germain for the 2024-25 season, a curious twist for a club still measuring itself against the side that beat them in a cup final. What Fleury have not managed yet is a league title of their own, or a Coupe de France to put next to the promotion banner from 2017.