With ‘incompetence at every level’, Nantes are staring down the barrel at relegation

Valentin Rongier (centre) and Rennes’ players celebrate their victory. Photograph: Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP/Getty Images

Previous seasons, where they narrowly flirted with but avoided relegation are twisted as success stories owed to his greater influence. And yet he acknowledges that football is “not [his] profession”, but his “stupid hobby”.

Kita showed more fight in the interview than Nantes have all season. No team has scored fewer this term than Les Canaris, who have only four wins to their name, including just two in their last 15. None have come since Halilhodzic was brought out of retirement to save the club.

Antoine Kombouaré, who saved them from the drop back in 2024, was reportedly the preferred candidate. A specialist in the art of avoiding relegation, he instead opted to lead Paris FC to safety. He did so with a seven-game unbeaten run following his arrival in February. But if you have to call in a firefighter every year, the problems run deeper and having circled the drain year after year, Nantes are now on the brink.

Nantes president Waldemar Kita has been deflecting blame for the club’s struggles. Photograph: Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP/Getty Images

It was one of their own, Valentin Rongier, who dealt the potentially fatal blow. Rennes came into Sunday’s derby with two objectives: “Rennes in Europe, Nantes in Ligue 2,” demanded the fans with a pre-match banner. Rongier came through at Nantes and his injury-time goal, which secured a 2-1 win for Franck Haise’s side, is a huge step in Les Rennais’ bid to return to Europe. With three games remaining, Nantes are five points off Auxerre, who occupy the relegation playoff spot. Halihodzic’s side must still face Marseille and Lens, too. Due to their inferior goal difference, Nantes would have to win one of those, as well as their game against Toulouse on the final day, all while hoping that Auxerre don’t pick up any points themselves.

The odds are stacked against Nantes; it is Kita’s gestion à la Nantaise that has brought them here. When he left the club, Halilhodzic warned of the impending doom. “In a sporting sense, it cannot be like that,” he said in 2021. Other recent Nantes managers, Pierre Aristouy and Kombouaré, notably, have made similar remarks. The warnings were not heeded. They will now almost certainly arrive at their inevitable destination, Ligue 2. It will be Halilhodzic, who continues to sound the alarm about the club’s management, that will take them there. But this shipwreck is not his making. He will leave at the end of the season having failed in his mission; he will return to retired life at the end of the season, Nantes will be left toiling.

Talking points

Pierre Sage says he felt betrayed” on a night in which Lens’ title hopes were dealt a blow. The Frenchman was disappointed with his starters as they conceded three in the first 42 minutes against Brest. It was a similarly sluggish start against Toulouse last weekend. On that night, it was a goal in second-half injury-time that completed the comeback from 2-0 down. Les Sang et Or did come roaring back into this one, too. A quickfire double around the hour mark sparked a sense of deja vu, only accentuated when Allan Saint-Maximin netted a third in injury time. This time, Lens’ third of the night was only good enough for one point, and with a rotated PSG side sauntering to a 3-0 win against Angers the following night, Luis Enrique’s side now prepare for the game against Bayern Munich with one hand on a fifth consecutive Ligue 1 title.

In 2024, a year after relegation from Ligue 1, City Group-owned Troyes only remained in Ligue 2 due to Bordeaux’s administrative relegation. Two years later, and they have secured promotion back to the elite. It was earned thanks to a 3-0 win over Ligue 2’s biggest spenders, Saint-Étienne. Mathys Detourbet, a native 18-year-old Troyen, already heavily linked with a move to Manchester City, is one of the architects of their promotion. Detourbet had been highly rated coming through, but the surprise this season came in the form of Tawfik Bentayeb, brought in on loan from Moroccan side Touarga. His 18 league goals, enough to make him the top scorer in the division, have him dreaming of a place in Morocco’s World Cup squad and have taken Troyes back to Ligue 1, two years after their league finish had consigned them to the amateur divisions.