Nowhere you experience the south of France as good as in Montpellier. Ideale for some late sunshine in the autumn or a summerly spring. Everything feels right here, from the climate to the location of the Stade de la Mosson, a classic in the genre. A great visit when you're on a camping nearby as well.
The sun seems to shine almost always, the sea is just ten minutes away and every small ally leads to another new square with terraces. Life is good in Montpellier, a real student city in the Languedoc. Probably not a real football city - rugby is at least as popular - but it's an ideal weekend trip for everyone who loves food, drinks and football.
Montpellier Hérault Sporting Club, as the blue-orange club is called in full, played half a century quite anonymous in the margin of French football, until 1974, when the club was taken over by Louis Nicollin. The local businessman was a remarkable figure, with his stout posture and sharp quotes. Under his supervision, special players like Carlos Valderrama and Roger Milla came to the club and MHSC grew out to a stable club, with the ultimate highlight in 2012, when Montpellier surprised the world by winning the French league. With a then unknown top scorer called Olivier Giroud, La Paillade managed to stay in front of the big spenders of PSG.
Take tram 1 from the city center until Stade de la Mosson, and you'll find yourself in a gray area of Montpellier. It's La Palliade, the suburb where Montpellier HSC owes its nickname to. On the edge of the quarter is the Stade de la Mosson located, already good visible from the tram stop, thanks to the giant side stand, built for the World Cup of 1998. With its three uncovered tiers it looks a little bit like Mestalla, although the third tier in Montpellier is always never used. The other three stands are connected to each other and built in the same style, with just two tiers and a roof. Tribune Haut Languedoc offers you the best views to the huge side stand, the fanatics on the Tribune Heidelberg and the Tribune Mosson.
The central square of Montpellier is exactly how a central square should be: beautiful architecture, terraces everywhere and mostly car-free. Place de la Comédie seduces you to spent a lovely afternoon, and you can take the tram to La Mosson on the square as well. In 2012, the square was completely packed for the most important day in the history of MHSC. Ten of thousands Montpelliérains watched the final match of the season here, and saw their team win the league in Auxerre. The next day, the champions were honored for even more fans than the day before. Montpellier no football city? If you were there, you simply can't agree.
A little east of Montpellier is Domaine de Grammont located, a ranch and castle that used to serve as a monastery. You imagine yourself being in a picturesque French village, but in the park surrounding Domaine de Grammont you'll find the training ground, offices and academy of Montpellier HSC. A beautiful place to wander around, and the training complex is usually good accessible to watch the first team train.
From its foundation, Montpellier used to play at Avenue du Pont Juvénal, later in the Stade Richter, but both grounds disappeared completely after the club moved to the Stade de la Mosson in 1976. But still you can find a great piece of football history in Stade Sabathé, at the Rue du Mas de Lemasson. A rugby ground, but older Montpellier-fans will recognize one of the old stands of La Mosson immediately. The stand had to move for the big side stand of the stadium, and was during the renovations in the nineties transplanted to Stade Sabathé.
For Montpellier you can easily get tickets, simply by buying them on the official website of the club, against any opponent you like. Even for matches against PSG or Marseille, if you make sure you buy them on time. You can buy tickets in the fan store of the club as well, which is in shopping mall Odysseum, right next to the A9 motorway.
If you come by car, you can park your car at tram stop Mosson (not to confuse with stop Stade de la Mosson), from where it's a 10 minute-walk to the stadium. But don't wait too long with your trip to Montpellier, because the end of Stade de la Mosson is near. Because of it's location, during heavy rainfall and bad weather, the stadium floods from time to time. In 2014 even 30 centimeters, and the damaged it caused meant Montpellier had to move out for months. That's why the club and the city want a new stadium in the south of Montpellier, not far from the airport. It should be finished in 2024 and will be named after Louis Nicollin.
Beeld: Shutterstock, BSR Agency
