Montpellier HSC

Montpellier

Full name	Montpellier Hérault Sport Club
Nickname	La Paillade
Short name	MHSC
Founded	1974; 51 years ago (1974)
Ground	Stade de la Mosson
Capacity	32,900
Owner	Groupe Nicollin [fr]
President	Laurent Nicollin
Head coach	Zoumana Camara
League	Ligue 2
2024–25	Ligue 1, 18th of 18 (relegated)
Website	mhscfoot.com
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (French: [mɔ̃pəlje eʁo spɔʁ klœb]; Occitan: Montpelhièr Erau Sport Club), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC, is a French professional football club based in Montpellier, Occitanie, France. The club's origins date back to 1919, but it was officially founded in 1974 through a merger of both Stade Olympique Montpelliérain and AS Paillade.

The club currently competes in Ligue 2, the second level of French football. They play their home matches at the Stade de la Mosson, located within the city. The first team is managed by Zoumana Camara.

Montpellier is owned by Laurent Nicollin, the son of Louis Nicollin, a French entrepreneur, who had been owner since 1974. The club have produced several famous players in its history, most notably Laurent Blanc, who has served as manager of the France national team. Blanc is also the club's all-time leading goalscorer. Eric Cantona, Roger Milla, Carlos Valderrama and Olivier Giroud are other players who have played in Montpellier's colours. In 2001, Montpellier introduced a women's team.

Montpellier has a long-standing rivalry with nearby team Nîmes Olympique against whom they contest the Derby du Languedoc.

Montpellier was founded in 1919 as Stade Olympique Montpelliérain and soon went on to win the Coupe de France in 1929 in a 2–0 victory over FC Sète. SO Montpelliérain was one of twenty clubs to have played in the inaugural 1932–33 Division 1 season, the first season of professional top flight football in France. In 1974, SO Montpelliérain merged with AS Paillade to form the current interation of the club, Montpellier Hérault Sport Club.

Many decades later, Montpellier went on to win their second Coupe de France in 1990 in a 2–1 victory over RC Paris. The club went on to win the Coupe de la Ligue in 1992 in a 3–1 victory over Angers. The club ended the decade winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1999. Montpellier was relegated to Division 2, as it was known as at the time, at the end of the 1999–2000 season finishing in last place on 31 points. They were promoted the following season, returning to Division 1 for the 2001–02 season. The club was again relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of the 2003–04 season and went on to spend five consecutive seasons in Ligue 2 before being promoted back to Ligue 1 for the 2009–10 season where they finished in 5th place.

At the end of the 2011–12 season, Montpellier won its first Ligue 1 title, finishing the season with 82 points, three points ahead of runners-up Paris Saint-Germain. On 20 May 2012, in a game marred by stoppages for crowd violence, John Utaka scored a brace to secure a 2–1 victory over Auxerre, winning the Ligue 1 title for Montpellier. Olivier Giroud, who finished the season with 21 goals and 9 assists, was the league's top goal scorer. Despite being tied on goals with Paris Saint-Germain attacker Nenê, he was named the league's top scorer by the Ligue de Football Professionnel due to finishing with more goals in open play.

On 26 April 2025, after 16 consecutive seasons in Ligue 1, Montpellier was relegated to Ligue 2.

As of 2 September 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FRA Mathieu Michel 3 DF  MAR Naoufel El Hannach (on loan from Paris Saint-Germain) 5 MF  FRA Everson Junior 6 DF  GLP Christopher Jullien 7 FW  COD Nathanaël Mbuku (on loan from Augsburg) 8 FW  FRA Yanis Issoufou 10 MF  MAR Khalil Fayad 11 MF  FRA Téji Savanier 14 FW  NGA Victor Orakpo (on loan from Nice) 15 DF  FRA Julien Laporte 17 DF  FRA Théo Sainte-Luce 18 FW  FRA Nicolas Pays

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW  GNB Alexandre Mendy 21 DF  FRA Lucas Mincarelli 22 MF  FRA Axel Gueguin 23 DF  FRA Yaël Mouanga 24 FW  UAE Junior Ndiaye 27 DF  SUI Bećir Omeragić 28 FW  BEL Ayanda Sishuba (on loan from Rennes) 29 DF  CMR Enzo Tchato 31 GK  CMR Simon Ngapandouetnbu 33 FW  FRA Fayssal El Mahboub 44 MF  FRA Théo Chennahi 50 GK  SRB Viktor Džodić

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  MLI Modibo Sagnan (at Çaykur Rizespor until 30 June 2026)

Rank	Player	Matches
1	Souleymane Camara	433
2	Pascal Baills	429
3	Bruno Carotti	377
4	Vitorino Hilton	354
5	Kader Ferhaoui	349

Rank	Player	Goals
1	Laurent Blanc	84
2	Souleymane Camara	76
3	Jean-Marc Valadier	70
4	Christophe Sanchez	50
5	Andy Delort	49

Senior club staff

• President: Laurent Nicollin
• Association chairman: Gilbert Varlot
• Sporting Director: Bruno Carotti
• Head of Youth: Francis De Taddeo

Coaching and medical staff

• Head coach: Zoumana Camara
• Assistant head coach: Ghislain Printant
• First-Team coach: Hilton
• Goalkeeper coach: Robin Gasset
• Fitness coach: Claude Duvergne
• Scout: Adrien Bordeau

• Ligue 1
  • Champions (1): 2011–12
• Ligue 2
  • Champions (3): 1945–46, 1960–61, 1986–87
• Coupe de France
  • Champions (2): 1928–29, 1989–90
  • Runners-up (2): 1930–31, 1993–94
• Coupe de la Ligue
  • Champions (1): 1992 [fr]
  • Runners-up (2): 1994, [fr] 2010–11
• Division d'Honneur (Languedoc-Roussillon)
  • Champions (2): 1981, 1992

• UEFA Intertoto Cup
  • Winners (1): 1999

• Division d'Honneur (Sud-Est)
  • Champions (3): 1928, 1932, 1976

• Coupe Gambardella
  • Champions (3): 1996, 2009, 2017
  • Runners-up (3): 1984, 1985, 1997

• Montpellier HSC (women)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Montpellier Hérault Sport Club.

• Official website (in French)