Football Season Guide

22 years after their last presence in Ligue 2, last spring Martigues managed to obtain an unexpected promotion back among the professionals from the Championnat National. They had started the season rather slowly, floating around the 7th place, and succeeded setting their foot in the third place only at the end of November. Then, thanks to 3 wins in the last 4 games, including a famous one away against second-placed Chamois Niortais, they reached the top 2 and gained promotion. Martigues succeeded obtaining such a result mainly thanks to their outstanding defence. In fact, it was by far the best of the Championnat National, with just 28 goals conceded, 6 less than Red Star, and 15 clean sheets. Coach Gregory Poirier, who led them to promotion at the third time of asking, was lured away by fellow neo-promoted Red Star and so Martigues hired experienced Thierry Laurey in his stead. For their return to the Ligue 2, Martigues will not immediately be able to play in their own venue, Stade Francis-Turcan, which is undergoing renovation, and will therefore have to play some of their home games at Olympique Marseille’s Velodrome. At the moment, the squad are still a bit of a work in progress, as coach Laurey can only count on 17 professionals. Over the summer, they lost no less than 12 players and not all of them were actually replaced yet. First of all, they saw the departure of their top scorer, with 9 goals and 3 assists, attacking midfielder Hemia. Experienced Siby, coming on loan from Malmo, is much less prolific and hardly impressed with Bastia last season. Then, starting left-back Zouaoui, gone to Le Havre, should be replaced by 20-year-old Amraoui, who left no mark at Amiens last season while starting centre-back Calvet may be substituted by 32-year-old Falette, who has plenty of Ligue 2 experience, or Solvet, a debutant at this level. Last but not least, with Cagnon gone, Etile will be the new back-up goalie.