Formation and early success (1928–1938) Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard was founded on 14 June 1928 under the name
Football Club Sochaux by Jean-Pierre Peugeot, a director of
Peugeot, a French car manufacturing company.
Peugeot sought to create a football club for the leisure time of the company's workers. He installed Louis Maillard-Salin as the club's first president, and made Maurice Bailly the club's first manager. Bailly was also a member of the team. Sochaux played its first match on 2 September 1928 against the reserve team of local club
AS Montbéliard. The club was inserted into the lowest level of league football in the
Franche-Comté region and played its first league match three weeks later winning 12–1. final in 1937.
Peugeot was among the first to advocate for the professionalisation of French football and, in 1929, went as far as to admit to paying his players, which was strictly forbidden during this time. The subsequent recruitment of several French internationals and players from abroad led to Sochaux gaining a stranglehold on the region easily disposing of local rivals
AS Montbéliard and
AS Valentigney. In June 1930, Montbéliard decided to merge with Sochaux to form the club that exists today. The following month, the National Council of the
French Football Federation voted 128–20 in support of professionalism in French football. With Peugeot being a strong advocate for professionalism, Sochaux were among the first clubs to adopt the new statute and, subsequently, became professional. In the
league's inaugural season, Sochaux finished 3rd in its group. The club's final position was later moved to 2nd after
Antibes, the champions of the group, was disqualified from the league for suspected bribery. In the
1934–35 season, Sochaux captured its first league title finishing one point ahead of
Strasbourg. Led by Uruguayan manager Conrad Ross, as well as captain
Étienne Mattler, known as
Le Lion de Belfort, and strikers
Roger Courtois and
Bernard Williams, Sochaux dominated the league losing only four times. Two seasons later, the same team, with the addition of
goalkeeper Laurent Di Lorto and the Swiss duo of
André Abegglen and Maxime Lehmann, Sochaux won its first
Coupe de France title. The club faced league rivals Strasbourg in the final and defeated the
Alsatians 2–1 courtesy of goals from Williams and the
Argentine Miguel Angel Lauri. Ross finished his career at Sochaux by winning another league title in
1938.
World War II and relegation (1939–1946) After the
1938–39 season, Ross and several players departed the club to play and manage abroad due to the onset of
World War II. The non-deserters were, subsequently, called into action to fight with the
French Army, which ultimately caused the club to limit its aspiring ambitions. During war-time, in an effort to survive financially, Sochaux formed an interim merger with local rivals
AS Valentigney. The club, known as
FC Sochaux-Valentigney, participated in the war-time championships from 1942 to 1944. Following the conclusion of the war, Sochaux dissolved the merger, turn professional again, and returned to its original name. The club, however, failed to get back to its form prior to the war and, subsequently, made the decision to forgo entering bidding wars for players, which was becoming the norm and, instead, focus on keeping the team's budget even. As a result,
in the first season after the war, Sochaux suffered relegation after finishing in last place with only 15 points. Sochaux spent only one season in the second division and returned to Division 1 for the
1947–48 season.
Return to Division 1 and further cup wins (1947–1959) The club spent the next 13 seasons playing in Division 1 with its best finish coming during the
1952–53 season when the club finished runner-up to champions
Stade Reims. In the same season, Sochaux won its first honour since 1938 after winning the
Coupe Charles Drago. In 1959, the club returned to the Coupe de France final, however, the outcome was not in Sochaux's favour, with the club losing 3–0 to
Le Havre in a replay after a 2–2 draw.
Continued success and European football (1960–2001) In the early 1960s, despite playing in Division 2, Sochaux won the Coupe Drago in back-to-back seasons. The club made its return to Division 1 in 1964, and remained in the league for over 20 years, regularly finishing in the top ten before falling down to Division 2 in the
1987–88 season. During Sochaux's 24-year run in the first division, the club played in European competitions four times. In the 1980–81 season, Sochaux surprised many by reaching the semi-finals of the
UEFA Cup. In the round, the club was defeated by Dutch club
AZ 4–3 on aggregate. The club's successful play during this stint was predominantly due to the creation of the club's academy in 1974, which paid immediate dividends. Player such as
Bernard Genghini,
Yannick Stopyra,
Joël Bats and
Philippe Anziani were among the inaugural graduates who were instrumental in Sochaux's domestic success.
New millennium (2001–2014) After hovering between the first division and the second division in the 1990s, Sochaux returned to the first division, now called Ligue 1, at the start of the new millennium. The club surprised many by finishing in the top ten in its first three seasons back. Also included in that three-year run was an appearance in the
Coupe de la Ligue final and, in the ensuing year, a league cup title. In the
2003 final, Sochaux, led by manager
Guy Lacombe and academy graduates
Pierre-Alain Frau,
Jérémy Mathieu, and
Benoît Pedretti, were defeated 4–1 by
Monaco. In the following season, a more experienced Sochaux returned to the final, where the club faced
Nantes. Sochaux defeated Nantes 5–4 on penalties to win its first major title since winning the Coupe Drago 40 years previously. It did not take the club another 40 years to claim its next title as Sochaux were surprise winners of the Coupe de France in the
2006–07 season after defeating Marseille on penalties. Marseille were heavy favourites heading into match, mainly due to its 4–2 thrashing of Sochaux just 12 days before. However, Sochaux, led by
Alain Perrin, stunned the nation and claimed its first Coupe de France title since 1937.
Peugeot sells Sochaux (2015–2022) In July 2015, Peugeot sold the team to Hong Kong company Ledus. In 2018 it was announced that Spanish club
Alavés (whose owners had a stake in Ledus) was starting a partnership with Sochaux; however the agreement lasted only a few months, ending abruptly in December of the same year. With
Omar Daf as coach, FCSM win the last game of season against
Grenoble Foot 38 and save his
Ligue 2 place. Club finish 16th in Ligue 2 but is demoted to National by the
DNCG (National Directorate of Management Control), for not having presented balanced accounts. Chinese real estate group
Nenking, who unofficially take the reins of the club, following the economic problems encountered by Tech Pro, inject money into the coffers to save him from relegation. Nenking also appoint Samuel Laurent to the position of general director. In April 2020, the Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard SASP (Société Anonyme Sportive Professionnelle) officially became the property of the
Nenking Group. "This sale to the group whose founding president is Mr. Zhong Naixiong comes in accordance with the agreements previously made with Ledus" and Frankie Yau become president. On 28 June 2023, the DNCG confirmed the administrative relegation of Sochaux to Championnat National due to their financial crisis. ==Stadium==