Amiens

In 1990 the Sporting Club d'Amiens went into financial liquidation and the hockey section it had housed since 1967 had to walk away on its own. It kept the ice but dropped the blue from its jersey, took red and black instead, and Hockey Club Amiens Somme was the paperwork name; the terraces just called it the Gothiques from then on.

The title came in 1999, then again in 2004, the second one under Antoine Richer, who had already given the club its most recognisable playing career — he captained France to the quarter-finals at the 1992 Albertville Olympics before returning to Amiens to coach. His number 25 hangs retired at the Coliséum alongside goalkeeper Antoine Mindjimba's 31.

The academy did its own work quietly: Kevin Hecquefeuille came through it and was named the country's best French player in 2003, then again in 2011.

Rouen remains the fixture that matters most, the Derby des Plaines. Amiens has not added to its Ligue Magnus count since 2004, but it found another route to silverware, taking the French Cup in 2019 and again in 2020 — two trophies in consecutive years.