There's just a couple of places in France where you can still smell a piece of the famous EURO 1984 in France, Stade de la Beaujoire is one of those places. But also nowadays it's fun and worth a visit: FC Nantes and probably always will be one of the real institutions of French football.
Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly, Claude Makélélé; these are just some names of top players that grew up at FC Nantes. Thanks to this, FC Nantes is seen as a legendary club, an institution that stands for a great youth academy, an attacking style of play and many successes in the past. Today, we find Les Canaris mostly at the bottom of the table, still for most French people, FC Nantes feels like a top team.
If you turn into the parking lot and discovered the well-hidden Stade de la Beaujoire between the trees, you're confronted with a gigantic gray concrete construction, built for EURO 1984, organized and won by France. While from the outside, La Beaujoire isn't quite a beauty, as lovely is the inside. Especially since the grey seats were replaced by yellow and green ones. The fanatics at Tribune Loire behind the goal do their part magnificent, but you better take a place on a side stand: behind the goal, it feels miles away from the pitch.
Close to the city center you'll find at Quai de Malakoff the Stade Marcel Saupin, named after the founder and chairman of the club. Here, next to the river Loire, FC Nantes celebrated most of their successes and formed their beloved style of play Jeu à la Nantaise. The original character of the stadium might have been gone since it was almost completely rebuilt, for elder Nantes fans this spot will always be holy ground.
Shortly after the founding of the club during World War II, FC Nantes played some of their matches in Stade de Procé at the Boulevard Clovis Constant, in the west of Nantes. Along the pitch there is a beautiful, wooden stand dating from 1936, which has been remarkably untouched by the heavy bombings of Nantes during the War.
In the city center, at the Place de la Bourse, you'll find an important place in the history of FC Nantes. On 21 april 1943, in the narrow building at number 11, Football Club de Nantes saw the light of day. The Grand Café des Allies where the event took place is gone, but the building still has more or less the same meaning as it had back then. It's called Maximo Club now, a trendy bar with fancy cocktails.
Rue de la Fosse takes you from Place de la Bourse to Place Royale, the most beautiful square of the town. Here, the fans of FC Nantes celebrate their titles around the fountain, with some daredevils even on top of it. But also in dark days the Nantais come to the Place Royale. When in 2019 their striker Emiliano Sala, on his way to new club Cardiff City, disappeared with a plane above The Channel, the fans came en masse to the fountain. The imaging of the fans bringing flowers and burning candles for their hero were seen all over the world. Unfortunately, after weeks Sala and his plane were found on the bottom of the sea.
You can buy your tickets on the official website of FC Nantes. Usually it's quite easy, but make sure you hurry up when it's a game against Bordeaux, Marseille or PSG.
La Beaujoire is in the north of Nantes, right next to exit 40 of the N844. From the city you can take the tram as well: tram 1 goes from the city center (at Place du Commerce) to the stadium.
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