Football Season Guide

Dunkerque have made their return to the second flight of French football after an absence of 24 years. During the intervening time, they dipped as low as the fifth tier but have won promotion in each of the last three seasons to sprint back to Ligue 2. Last term, they finished second in the Championnat National behind Pau, edging Boulogne for promotion when the season was halted after 25 games. Fabien Mercadal, a fan of the team, is the man charged with keeping them in Ligue 2, with Claude Robin, who won promotion for the team not offered a new deal at the end of June. Mercadal has pedigree at this level with Tour, Paris FC and Caen, but was last coaching Cercle Brugge, where he was sacked. A change on the management front has seen a dramatic change in the personnel, too. On the wings, Dunkerque have good experience now with Billy Ketkeophomphone and Kevin Rocheteau added from Cholet – they have proven themselves at this level in the past. Mercadal has admitted that a genuine centre-forward is needed with Jorris Romil and Thibaut Vialla, though capable of playing in that role, a little makeshift in that position. Risks have been taken by adding young players to the squad or those from lower leagues. Redouane Kerrouche typifies this. He excelled with Paris FC at this level three years ago but has barely played since then and arrives with much to prove, while goalkeeper Jeremy Vachoux, added from Orleans, was not considered good enough to start at this level previously. Meanwhile, the club are confident they have done good business in signing Ibrahim Cisse from Angers and Alioune Ba from Orleans to strengthen their defence, though Mercadal has himself admitted that a high turnover of players could cause cohesion problems early in the season.