Rouen

In 2013 the club went bankrupt for the third time in 18 years and dropped to the seventh tier of French football. The first collapse, in 1995, had produced FC du Grand Rouen. The second, in 1997, produced Olympique du Grand Rouen. The name FC Rouen 1899 came back in 2000 and carried the club until 2013.

The fall was steep because Rouen had once sat near the top. They finished fourth in Division 1 in 1936–37 and 1937–38, and again in 1960–61 and 1968–69. The 1969–70 season took them to the quarter-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In the 1980s Robert Vicot led them to their modern peak in the top flight. The Coupe de France final of 1925 is remembered for a different reason: they lost 3–2 to CASG Paris after a replay. Two wartime championships, in 1940 and 1945, are not recognised by the French Football Federation.

The club began as a rugby side in 1896, set up by an English merchant named Willing. The football section was declared at the prefecture on 11 July 1899, and the "Red Devils" nickname followed in 1903. Their home, the Stade Robert-Diochon, stands in Le Petit-Quevilly, across the boundary from Rouen. It opened as Les Bruyères and took the name of long-serving president Robert Diochon in 1953. The neighbours there are Quevilly-Rouen Métropole.

Jorge Trezeguet played for Rouen from 1976 to 1979. His son David, later a World Cup winner, was born in the city during those years.

A Turkish businessman, Tarkan Ser, rescued the club from bankruptcy in 2024. That same year Rouen were promoted to National 1, the third tier. The club's all-time top scorer, Jean Nicolas, scored 330 goals for them in the 1930s.