A fan’s guide – the club from early doors to today
Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Charles N’Zogbia head the list of Premier League stars who never played for Le Havre AC – but who owe much of their development to the club’s successful academy. Riyad Mahrez, Lassana Diarra and Vikash Dhorasoo also started out their senior careers in the ciel & marine of Le Havre before going on to win titles in England, Spain and France.
All these players were nurtured by a club whose trophy cabinet rarely needs dusting and whose presence in Ligue 1 was minimal during their time here on Normandy’s north coast and, indeed, after it.
But the formative years of Pogba, Payet and others dovetailed with the presidency of one of the most influential yet unsung directors in the modern French game: Jean-Pierre Louvel.
Under this locally born administrator, head of Le Havre between 2000 and 2015, the club also gained a new stadium, one of the most impressive at club level in the French game. Financed entirely by local, regional and state coffers, Stade Océane replaced two grounds rooted in pre-war sport, one a venue for the 1938 World Cup, the other the home ground of the Ciel & Marine from the 1920s to the 1960s.
While the Stade Jules-Deschaseaux opposite the contemporary arena now accommodates Le Havre’s equally venerable rugby team, the Stade de la Cavée Verte towards Sanvic is where the football club’s youth and reserve sides are put through their paces.
It’s a place Louvel is very familiar with, having been given control of the club’s academy by his predecessor, Jean-Pierre Hureau, back in 1985, 40 years before he would himself bow out as club president. Hureau had started his playing career at HAC, to use the long-recognised acronym.
Born in Le Havre in 1932, Hureau would have probably remembered the one game staged by his home town at the 1938 World Cup, a 3-0 win in extra-time by Czechoslovakia over Holland at the then recently opened Stade Municipal, today’s Stade Jules-Deschaseaux.
That same summer, HAC reached the professional Division 1 for the first time, the league another recent innovation. Although Hureau made his name as a player at rivals Rouen and then Quevilly, where he twice won the French Amateur Cup, he returned to his native Le Havre to run notable restaurants and become involved once more at the Club Doyen, as the distinguished HAC are also known.
It was Hureau who set up HAC’s training centre and directed the club’s gradual rise from the third tier, twice making him Director of the Year in the expert eyes of France Football. He also oversaw the renovation of the Stade Jules-Deschaseaux, where HAC had moved after leaving the Stade de la Cavée Verte in 1971.
Hureau passed away in June 2024 in Sainte-Adresse, where Jean-Pierre Louvel was born in 1950. The two men not only provided an unbroken link in the venerable legacy of HAC – from a ground completed by German POWs during World War I to a venue for the 1938 World Cup to a contemporary arena opened in 2012 – they are also connected by location.
Further round the Normandy coast from nearby Le Havre, genteel Sainte-Adresse was where British shipping administrators and coffee traders resided, overlooking the same seafront Claude Monet had painted a few years earlier.
British sailors had brought the game to Le Havre in 1872, although that game was more a football/rugby hybrid known as ‘combination’. After local expats working in maritime traffic and coffee importing picked up the ball and ran with it, sailing over to Southampton for a match against Portswood Park FC, these unwitting pioneers continued to play at Sainte-Adresse.
This continued for a few years until an official Havre Athletic Club was set up as a multisports association by pastor Jeffery Edward Orlebar in 1884. But not even this event can be used as a foundation date for the club we know today as HAC, aka les HACmen. While the pitch at rue Louis Leprévost in Sanvic, alongside Sainte-Adresse, is the oldest of its kind in France, it is as a rugby ground.
It is now called Stade Langstaff after the head of HAC’s rugby club, William Ramsay Langstaff, a former Cambridge blue who nailed his colours to the mast when introducing the alternating shades of sky blue and navy to Le Havre, the ciel & marine.
A football section wasn’t established at HAC until 1894, the same year that a four-team, all-Parisian USFSA Football Championship was inaugurated in the French capital.
Le Havre, too, had four teams by now, although old hands HAC were not only top dogs at home, whipping local rivals Blue Star 5-0 in February 1895, they proved themselves superior to the best that Paris had to offer. In 1895, they made short work of USFSA title-holders Standard AC, swatted aside 4-0 at Sanvic.
No wonder, then, when Le Havre suggested a game against recently crowned USFSA champions Club Français in 1896, the Parisians declined, even refusing to face the feisty Normans when the authorities broadened the league in 1899. HAC duly won their first major silverware by a walkover.
In the subsequent Olympic year of 1900, HAC won the title fair and square, a solitary header by Roberts settling the USFSA final against Club Français. Les HACmen repeated the feat that same year in the Challenge International du Nord for clubs either side of the Channel. Dominated by teams from Belgium in the run-up to World War I, this was also perhaps the only European trophy ever won by Eastbourne FC.
Significantly, though, when invited to take part in the Coupe Manier, a dainty gravy-boat of a trophy presented by a Parisian club owner of the same name, HAC were only allowed to compete with three British players in their team. Club Français beat them 5-3.
By now, however, French players were beginning to shine, none more so than locally born half-back who made his HAC debut in 1899. Despite his English name, Charles Henry Wilkes, this cultivated passer of the ball made such an impression that he became the first Le Havre player to be capped by France. The occasion was no less than the national team’s home debut, at the Parc des Princes in 1905, a 1-0 win over Switzerland.
Although he wasn’t mentioned in dispatches, Wilkes would go on to make three more appearances for his country. Significantly, these were as a member of Le Havre Sports, a rival local club created in 1902, who poached HAC’s top players, including Wilkes in 1905.
Moreover, looking at the list of HACmen capped for France while still in the ciel & marine, they all occurred before World War II or in the immediate period after it.
Derby games with Rouen, either in the Normandy Championship or, from 1934 onwards, in professional Ligues 1 or 2, may have brought crowds out in force, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that HAC shone once more.
In a city devastated by Allied bombing, Le Havre quickly emerged as a team to be reckoned with. Reaching Division 1 in 1950, HAC bloodied players too young to have taken part in the war, most notably prolific Jean Saunier. Born in Sanvic in 1929, Saunier made his Le Havre debut in the club’s promotion season and then hit 21 goals in 25 games for les HACmen to finish third in the top flight, an achievement they would never better.
Fittingly, this France B cap saved his best till last, returning to the Normandy coast for his farewell season in 1958-59 after spells at Monaco, Toulouse and Nantes. The six goals Saunier scored (out of HAC’s huge haul of 93) pushed the Ciel & Marine to the Ligue 2 title, while also battling through to the final of the French Cup.
In his last game in a sky-blue-and-navy shirt, Saunier strode out at Colombes to lead the line against Sochaux, though sadly not a fortnight later after the first match finished 2-2. Le Havre’s 3-0 win in the replay represented the first and, until exactly 50 years later, the only time, that a club from France’s second flight won the Coupe de France.
Scorer in the second game, a cheeky near-post strike, young Cameroon-born striker Frédéric N’Doumbé went on to have a stellar career at St-Étienne, where his daughter, singing star Norma Ray, was born.
HAC then won a third trophy in just over a month, the Challenge des Champions against recently crowned league winners, Nice. This would be the last time that Le Havre reached such heights.
Franco-Algerian striker Hocine Bouchache, who scored in the cup final and in the surprise win over Nice, impressed in Le Havre’s creditable return to Ligue 1 but was soon swept up in the globe-trotting FLN team which played games from Czechoslovakia to China to publicise the Algerian cause in the War of Independence from France.
His compatriot, coach Lucien Jasseron, a defender with HAC when he was included in France’s squad for the 1938 World Cup, left Le Havre in 1962 for further success at Olympique Lyon.
The HAC club Jean-Pierre Hureau took over as director 20 years after the three-trophy triumph of 1959 was in a pretty sorry state. Within six years, Hureau had set up an academy, with his later successor Jean-Pierre Louvel in charge, and overseen Le Havre’s return to Ligue 1 after 24 years, promoted as champions after beating Nice in a play-off.
Hureau even persuaded former Arsenal star Frank Stapleton, who had just captained Ireland at the Euro ’88 finals, to don the ciel & marine shirt for a season. Savvy purchases – Ibrahim Ba from Chantilly, Pierre Aubameyang, father of Pierre-Emerick, from Laval – helped keep Le Havre afloat and occasionally buoyant in Ligue 1 for a whole decade in the 1990s. As a fan culture developed at the Stade Jules-Deschaseaux – derbies with Caen became fiery affairs –HAC were buzzing after 40 years in the doldrums.
Beyond retirement age, and with impressive talent soon to come through the academy, Hureau had taken Le Havre as far as he could. The club had just been relegated when he handed the reins over to Jean-Pierre Louvel in 2000. After hiring Euro ’84 hero Jean-François Domergue as coach to take HAC back to the top flight, albeit briefly, Louvel transformed the structure of the club, now a limited company with shareholders.
Whatever Le Havre’s divisional status – and Louvel took a lot of flak as the team remained becalmed in Ligue 2 in the early 2000s – he knew that the club could not operate as a credible force in the contemporary game at the Stade Jules-Deschaseaux. Venue for a World Cup 70 years previously, it belonged to the past.
Following the business model adopted by Montpellier to have their new stadium built a decade before, one that co-hosted the recent 1998 World Cup, Louvel persuaded authorities at local and regional levels to back his project. At one point, it was to be named after the acronym for the Greater Le Havre Community before urban residents – not HAC supporters – were asked to vote. They chose Stade Océane.
Opened in 2012, on what could be loosely be termed the club’s 140th anniversary, the eco-friendly arena witnessed exclusively second-tier football until Le Havre’s promotion in 2023.
In between, Louvel passed on chairmanship and ownership to US entrepreneur Vincent Volpe, in many ways an ideal candidate. Moving to Normandy in 1990 with his steam-turbine manufacturers Dresser-Rand, married to a woman from Le Havre, Volpe bought up 90% of shares in HAC shortly after selling his previous company to Siemens in 2014.
With les HACmen still stuck in Ligue 2, and a seemingly failed venture in opening France’s first stadium hotel, results after the takeover were by no means immediate. But the 2022 appointment of Jean-Michel Roussier as managing director, the man who revived Olympique Marseille in the post-Tapie era, can now be seen as a masterstroke.
A low-scoring HAC side conceded only 19 goals and three games to win Ligue 2 in 2022-23, above Bordeaux and, most satisfyingly, Caen, to return to Ligue 1 after 14 years. Putting in place Mathieu Bodmer as sporting director, rescuing the former Caen and Lyon midfielder from TV punditry, and hiring a panel of match analysts, Roussier engineered a famous if unspectacular triumph.
Despite a poor spell after the winter break, Le Havre maintained top-flight status in 2023-24, the Stade Océane welcoming the French elite for the first time. Bringing in old boy Didier Digard, another HAC academy graduate, as coach, Le Havre started 2024-25 with a spring in their step although survival was uppermost in most HAC fans’ minds.
Stadium Guide
The field of dreams – and the story behind it
Sweeping in its design yet intimate within, the Stade Océane https://stadeoceane.com/ is diminutive enough to seamlessly accommodate smaller crowds when regular tenants HAC are going through a fallow period – gates averaged around 7,500 in Ligue 2 – but impressive enough to carry off the big occasion, such as the Women’s World Cup of 2019. Few of the 24,000 who were there will quickly forget the epic match between France and Brazil, settled in extra-time.
Its undulating roof echoing its oceanic theme, the stadium benefits from the happy coincidence that hosts HAC have been associated with the same Oxbridge colour for nearly a century and a half. This allowed designers Maxime Barbier and Luc Delamain, co-founders of prominent Parisians architects SCAU, to use blue for the seating and translucent cladding, illuminated after dark.
Their bold approach – Barbier was still in her mid-thirties – and the universal praise they garnered, named Best New Stadium above London’s Olympic arena and others at industry awards in 2013, soon earned the team a prestigious commission to transform the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.
Just as they were sporting pioneers during the age of steam, so Le Havre, both club and the urban authority backing the project, should be congratulated for such innovation. Sustainability and energy-saving were also factored in, electricity generated from photovoltaic panels on the roof and rainwater continually recovered.
Match days are designed to be family-friendly, with a play zone behind the Tribune Sud and a fan zone in the communal space behind the Parvis Est. Most of Tribune Sud is a family section – visiting supporters are allocated sectors S6 and S7 (Porte G) over the corner flag where it meets the Main Stand/Tribune Ouest.
The former kop from the Stade Jules-Deschaseaux opposite occupies sector N4 immediately behind the north goal, the Tribune Nord given over to the loudest HAC support, accessed through Porte B.
getting here
Going to the stadium – tips and timings
The stadium is east of town, a good 10-15mins’ walk from Le Havre station, 10mins more from the city centre.
On match days, a free shuttle runs from platform E of Le Havre bus station (Gare Routière) on the city side of the train terminus, the other side of cours Lafayette from the Novotel Hotel. The schedule is linked on the same page.
Buses drop off at rue Henri Gautier, a five-minute walk to the ground, setting off from the same place after the final whistle.
Staff dress in the marine & ciel of HAC and passengers are greeted by mascot, Saly, Le Havre surely the only club to have a salamander as their lucky charm.
There are regular buses, too: the Stade Océane has its own stop by the stadium on the hourly 11, 12, 15 and 21 routes directly linked to Gares for the bus and train stations. Note that only the 12 and 21 run at weekends.
Le Havre Graville station is also close to the stadium but the Lézard Express Régionale line it serves from Le Havre closed in September 2024 due to the construction of tramway C, and won’t reopen until 2027.
getting in
Buying tickets – when, where, how and how much
With average gates around 21,000 and capacity at a shade above 25,000, availability shouldn’t be a problem at the Stade Océane, although buy your ticket early for PSG, Marseille and Lille games – and if Caen ever share the same divisional status as HAC.
The club sells tickets online (French-only), usually a month ahead of time, and there’s a ticket office at the club shop (Wed-Sat 11am-6.30pm) on the boulevard Leningrad side of the stadium. If a game is sold out, the club operates a reliable resale platform.
On match days, an outlet operates from a container beside the HAC shop and Stadium Bar&Grill on the Parvis Est (Portes C/D). For away fans, it’s at Porte G.
Given that the Tribune Nord is usually taken by season-ticket holders, the cheapest seats are in the Tribune Sud opposite, a family section, online €18, €6 under-18s. Along the long sideline, Tribune Est Basse/Lower, towards the corner flag, it’s €26, €16 12-18s, €12 under-12s, and nearer the halfway line, upper tier (Tribune Haute) €34, youth discount €20/€16, lower tier (Tribune Basse) €38, youth discount €24/€18.
The best seats in the main Tribune Ouest Centrale, W4/W5, are €42 (youth discount €26/€20).
what to buy
Shirts, kits, merchandise and gifts
The HAC club shop (Wed-Sat 11am-6.30pm, match days/nights) is on the boulevard Leningrad side of the stadium. The storied ciel & marine is displayed in a half-and-half design for 2024-25, white collar and cuffs also fringed with sky blue and navy. Away is white with a navy sash, third-choice all black with gold touches to the collar and cuffs.
Coffee mugs display the HAC salamander badge and the skyline of Le Havre, and if you’re spending the weekend on the Normandy coast, you might need the branded beach towel. Beermats, chopping boards and aprons all carry the HAC logo.
Where to Drink
Pre-match beers for fans and casual visitors
Even though the club used the Stade Jules-Deschaseaux opposite for more than 40 years, there are precious few bars or restaurants around it. The Stade Océane occupies former marshalling yards, surrounded by railway tracks, warehouses and the main road to Rouen.
By the club shop at the corner of the Tribunes Nord and Est, the Stadium Bar&Grill (Mon-Fri noon-3pm, also HAC games home and away) is large enough to accommodate 19 big screens and 300 customers. On quieter weekdays, there’s a plat du jour, with finger-food snacks laid out whenever HAC play.
For home matches, in the build-up to kick-off, food trucks and drinks outlets line the Fan Zone in the Parvis Est behind the East Stand. Inside, plenty of buvettes mean you won’t go thirsty or hungry during the game.
