There is one video that is on repeat on the Nantes players’ phones: Lucie Calba’s goal in last weekend’s 3-0 win against Strasbourg, an exceptional passage of play in which eight players touched the ball to move it up the entire pitch in just 18 seconds. “It’s very satisfying because we’re able to reproduce everything we work on in training in matches,” says Camille Robillard, the team’s No 10 and a product of the club’s academy, clearly fascinated by the goal getting so much attention. A goal “in the Nantes style,” referring to the men’s team of the 1990s, known for their attacking, fluid play and constant movement.
The goal is the result of a philosophy championed by Nicolas Chabot, head coach of the women’s team since the 2022-23 season. The 31-year-old says he has always believed in “a style of football based on combinations and teamwork, where technique and tactics come before athleticism”.
Chabot has enjoyed tremendous success since taking over: immediate promotion from Seconde Ligue to Première Ligue followed by a very respectable seventh-place finish in their first season in the top flight. This season they have outdone themselves again, sitting second in the top flight behind OL Lyonnes, although that is partly to do with a nine-point penalty handed to Paris St-Germain for a paperwork error.
At the start of the season, the goal was simply to improve on last year’s effort and to break into the top six. “We tried to build on the quality players we already had: those with some experience in D1 and recruit profiles that fitted together both on and off the pitch,” says Chabot, who has often changed around 50% of the playing personnel in the summer.
Nantes’ success – and playing style – has helped attract players such as the two Morocco internationals, Imane Saoud and Melissa Bethi, as well as France international Léa Khelifi and Calba, a France Under-23 international who impressed during a six-month spell at Reims last season. “Given our situation, we couldn’t afford to sign players already performing at the highest level,” adds Chabot, who is also the club’s sporting director.
Another player who has impressed since joining is Mariam Toloba, a Belgian international from Standard Liège who scored against Spain in the Nations League in February 2025. She recalls being contacted by the Nantes coach … on Instagram: “I didn’t know much about Nantes, but I knew Moses Simon, who played here for the men’s team,” she says. “I’d also played futsal tournaments here before. Moses Simon told me, ‘Why don’t you come play for Nantes? The women’s team is good.’ About a month later, Nico messaged me on Instagram. He showed me videos … The staff had real ambitions and so did I. The club’s philosophy really appealed to me.”
Chabot says he is lucky to be “the coach, manager, sporting director … everything” as he negotiates with the club directors for some extra funding to organise a surprise for his players. “If things don’t work, it’s on you; and when they do, it’s also your decisions. With the staff, we’re doing the work of 15 people. I’ve lost a few years of my life over it,” he says with a smile.
The women’s section of the club consists of around a dozen staff. Financially the gap to other teams in the division is enormous. “One player at Lyonnes earns roughly the same as 21 players do here,” notes Chabot. Nantes salaries range from €2,200 to €4,600 before tax, far from top European standards.
The women’s team still operate out of temporary buildings: the offices, the cafeteria, the video room, the changing rooms … everything has been set up quickly to meet the needs of a team whose results are progressing faster than any investment. “Right now, we’re close to the maximum of what we can do with our current facilities. There have been improvements to the main exercise room, gym and dining area and we have slightly better access to grass pitches than last season, although it’s still not enough,” says the coach, whose team trained twice on grass last week and changed location four times.
But the Nantes players have other strengths. As they finish their lunch, pasta with chicken or fish, Bethi takes control of the cafeteria TV and plays Réfléchir by Wejdene, a French singer. It is sung in unison by the younger and the older players while the staff look at their notes before the afternoon session. “You see: that’s why it works!” laughs the captain, Maureen Cosson. Signed in 2023 to play in D3, she is now living a dream at her childhood club.
“I think the secret of FC Nantes is everything we put in daily: we train a lot, we fully buy into the playing philosophy … and we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” she says. “We’re always laughing, keeping things light. We play like friends, that’s our strength.”
Chabot has made “being bold” key words in his pre-match talks and it has paid off. Some players have been just that from the very start of the season, despite it being only Nantes’ second year in the top flight. “Some were already talking about Europe back then and we, the older players, told them, ‘You’ll see, it’s tough’,” says Cosson. “We laughed about it, but now we’re fighting for those spots.”
With four matches remaining Nantes are second with 36 points, level with Paris FC and one ahead of PSG. They are well positioned to finish in the top four and qualify for the playoffs. A second– or third-place finish would mean qualification for the Champions League. “When you watch us play, we don’t have to hide – we’re playing football at the level of teams like Lyon or PSG,” says Toloba. Chabot adds: “It costs nothing to dream about Europe, because factually, we’re in the race, and a playoff spot would be the minimum reward for the work done.”
The men’s team are at risk of being relegated, which could have an impact on the budget for the women’s team, but they are focused on this season, with a key match at La Beaujoire, the club’s iconic stadium, against PSG next Saturday. They have already broken their own attendance once this season (17,491 against Marseille, the sixth-best in the league this season) and expect more than 13,000 for the PSG game.
It is the perfect stage to try to pull off an upset against a major rival in the race for Europe. “La Beaujoire is where anything can happen in our story. Every time we’ve played here, something special has happened,” says Chabot, who experienced the women’s historic first match at the stadium last season, also against PSG.
Since then, the women’s section has grown in stature. “We feel more and more considered at the club, but also on the outside,” says Cosson. “People stop us in the street, follow our results.” And Chabot concludes: “We don’t realise everything we are achieving from the inside … this small group of girls is leaving a permanent mark on the club’s history.”
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