Rodez

Rodez has spent parts of its history without a professional licence at all. In 2006 the club dropped out of the professional ranks over its finances and rebuilt from the amateur divisions. It took until 2019 for Rodez to reach Ligue 2 again, 26 years after it had last played there.

What changed in between was ownership. In 2012, with the club still finding its feet outside the professional game, former players Olivier Dacourt and Zinedine Zidane became co-owners. Zidane's son Enzo later wore the shirt himself, in the 2021/22 season.

Rodez's honours read like a record of that climb back up rather than a cabinet of major silverware: regional titles in the Midi-Pyrénées Division d'Honneur through the 1950s to the 1980s, then a string of amateur championships — Division 4, Division 3 twice, CFA and CFA 2 — collected on the way through the pyramid.

Home games are played at the Stade Paul-Lignon. Matches against Montpellier carry their own weight locally, billed as the Derby d'Occitanie, with Toulouse the other name supporters bring up first.

A renovation finished in time for the 2024/25 season lifted capacity from 5,955 to 6,761 for league matches, and to 7,500 when the Coupe de France comes to town.