Nîmes Olympique

Nîmes Olympique, also known by its initials NO, is a French football club from the city of Nîmes. From the 2025–26 season it will compete in the Championnat National 2, the first time in its history that it will play in the fourth tier of national football.

It was founded in April 1937 to recreate a professional football club in the city following the disappearance that same year of Sporting Club Nîmois (SCN), which had competed in the first division in 1935. The club was formed with many local players and played in the same stadium as SCN, the Stade Jean Bouin. The team's players wear red and white. They are nicknamed the “crocodiles”, the animal emblem of the city.

In 1950, the club won the second division title and reached the top flight for the first time in its history. Alongside Stade de Reims, it became one of the best teams in the country of the decade, finishing runner-up in France three times between 1958 and 1960. In the 1960s, the “crocodiles” played two Coupe de France finals without winning either. They were relegated to Division 2 in 1967, but returned to the first division the following year. Despite its limited financial resources, Nîmes Olympique rebuilt itself with several players produced by its youth academy, made its debut in the UEFA Cup and was crowned runner-up in the French League in the 1971–72 season.

In 1981, the club was relegated and gradually settled at this level. Strengthened by the presence of players such as Laurent Blanc and Éric Cantona, it played in the first division from 1991 to 1993. Faced with financial difficulties, the club dropped back to the second division. During the 1995–96 season, it discovered the third division for the first time in its history. During the same season, it achieved a feat in the Coupe de France by reaching the final. Since then, it has stabilised in Ligue 2 following its return in 2008. Although there have been changes of president and an alleged match-fixing scandal in 2014, it briefly returned to Ligue 1 under Bernard Blaquart in 2018. In the early 2020s, it was relegated twice and returned to the third division.

After playing at the Stade Jean-Bouin, the club moved to the Stade des Costières in 1989. Since 2022, it has played at the Stade des Antonins. It maintains a rivalry with Montpellier Hérault Sport Club, a team from the neighbouring department, against whom it plays the Languedoc derby.