The French fairytale continued: How USL Dunkerque are continuing the tradition of overachievement in the French league system
It seems every year that Ligue 1 makes way for a new surprise story, where a relatively unknown or historically underperforming side decides to become a champion’s league contender.
Last year, as covered extensively on a previous article, it was Stade Brestois 29. The year before that it was RC Lens who finished the season just a point behind PSG. And going back even further, who could forget the famous title of LOSC Lille, ending a 3-year dominance of the Parisians.
However, in Ligue 1 this season, things are going as expected towards the top, with the only real surprise at the other end of the table: Stade Rennais sitting just 2 points above the drop, despite a successive run of 6 years in Europe in the previous seasons. However, whilst there are no overachievers this time around in Ligue 1 this season, the division below it tells a different story. USL Dunkerque, a place most familiar to Brits for World War 2 are a club on course to produce their best finish in history.
Les Maritimes are a team with much history, but little to show for it. They hail from a small northern town of just over 80,000 inhabitants and their ground holds just under 5,000 spectators. This places them the second lowest stadium capacity in all of French professional football. And yet, USL are placed 4th in Ligue 2 meaning they are in a play-off spot for promotion. Furthermore, the club has just beaten Lille in the Coupe de France round of 16, scoring a last-minute equaliser and then winning on penalties. Right now, things couldn’t be better for Dunkerque, especially considering that just 2 years ago they were in the 3rd division of France. In fact, for most of their entire existence USL have been a side used to battling it out in the Championnat National and often even lower. The only other time they had even gotten as high as the second tier before their 20/21 promotion was in 1988, in which they enjoyed a 9 year stay before being relegated in 1996. This means the club had waited 25 years to return and they have never come close to making it any further.
However, this may be about to change. It seems as if the management understand this may be their only chance at glory to push to where they have never ventured in their 116 year history. The board have brought in 5 players in the January window including some ambitious signings. For one, Nurio from Gent, a former Champions League and regular Belgian League defender. Another notable signing was the loan acquisition of Sunderland prodigy Abdoullah Ba, a player worth a quarter of the entire team’s value. These signings show that the club is ready to push on for a fairy tale ending and are ambitious enough to believe in themselves. But even if it doesn’t happen it has still been inspiring to see a club pursue a goal that looked almost improbable even last season when they only just survived relegation, finishing in 16th place.
A club with a small stadium, a small fanbase and hailing from a small town making big strides in what may potentially end up being the story of the season, and a story that is continuing the trend of inspirational French over achievement within a league system dominated by one rich superpower.
