Confirmed Europa League clubs 2023-24 – France and Switzerland

Châteauneuf-du-Pape! With a Gallic shrug of the shoulders, part two of our look at confirmed Europa League participants who Brighton could draw in the 2023-24 competition takes us to France and French-speaking Switzerland.

Marseille, Rennes and Toulouse will represent Ligue 1 in the competition whilst the sole Swiss participant so far are Servette. Will you need to sell a kidney to afford two or three days on the piss in Geneva?

All four clubs are pretty fascinating, from being relegated to financial irregularities to organising the first pan-European club tournament in 1930.

Rennes even loaned Brighton a 6’6 goalkeeper during the Withdean Era… bonus points if you can remember who he was before we recall the tale of his brief yet wonderful Albion career.

Here is everything you could wish to know about the clubs and cities who may lay in store should the Albion be headed to France or Switzerland in their 2023-24 Europa League campaign.

 

Marseille

The football team
One of the most successful clubs in the history of French football, Marseille were founded in 1899 and have won nine league titles, 10 Coupe de France and the 1993 Champions League.

Their victory over AC Milan in Munich’s Olympic Stadoium made Didier Deschamps and Fabien Barthez the youngest captain and goalkeeper to lead a side to European Cup glory.

The triumph was, however, tinted when one year later Marseille were relegated to the second division due to financial irregularities and a match fixing scandal involving then-president Bernard Tapie.

Les Phoceens finished third in Ligue 1 last season. A penalty shootout defeat to Panathinaikos in Champions League qualifying drops them into the Europa League for 2023-24.

The stadium
Stade Velodrome just happens to be the most spectacular stadium your correspondent has ever visited having been in Marseille for THAT England v Russia game at Euro 2016.

So spectacular in fact that it almost made up for the Russians unprovoked attacks on England fans, the friendly locals unprovoked attacks on England fans and the subsequent riots.

It has a capacity of 67,394. Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 3,370 tickets.

Marseille are the best supported club in France with some rather fanatical supporters. A matchday there would be quite the experience.

The place
With its Mediterranean location, Marseille was one of the greatest ports of the French Empire. It linked France with the North African colonies of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

It remains a melting pot of cultures to this day and is currently the second biggest city in France after Paris, home to 870,321 inhabitants.

In 1792, the city became a focal point of the French Revolution. Although the French national anthem (best in the world bar none) was borin in Strasbourg, it was first sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille. Hence, its name of La Marseillaise.

Links with Brighton
Marseille nearly signed Neal Maupay from Brighton before Everton completed a £15 million deal for the French forward last summer.

Having missed out on Maupay, Marseille were forced into signing Alexis Sanchez from Inter Milan instead. Sanchez scored 18 times in 44 appearances on his way to winning Player of the Season. You might say that worked out quite well for Les Phoceens in the end.

 

Rennes

The football team
Stade Rennais Football Club was founded on 10 March 1901 by a group of former students. Their best ever season in Ligue 1 came in the 2019-20 when they finished third, securing Champions League qualification for the first time.

Rennes have enjoyed greater success in the Coupe de France, lifting the trophy on three occasions. The most recent saw them inflict a huge upset on Paris Saint-Germain in 2019.

PSG had won the the competition in the four previous seasons and led Rennes by two goals in the final, only for Les Rennais to launch a famous comeback which led to a 6-5 win on penalties.

Rennes is perhaps best known for its youth academy, which was recognised in 2010 by the French Football Federation (FFF) as the best in the country.

Les Rennais qualified for the Europa League in 2023-24 on account of a fourth place finish in Ligue 1 last time out. In the cosmopolitan world of modern day football, their squad is very homegrown with 18 of their 26 players being French.

The stadium
Rennes play at the 29,778 capacity Roazhon Park. Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 1,490 tickets.

Roazhon Park has been home to Les Rennais since 1912. It underwent a rebuild in 2001 and held six matches at the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

The place
Rennes is a historic city located in Britany which can trace its roots back more more than 2,000 years to a time when it was a small Gallic village named Condate.

It remained pretty rural until after World War II, when it became a centre for the automotive industry. In the 1980s, it became one of the main centres in telecommunication and high-tech industry.

Rennes is now a significant digital innovation centre in France. In 2002, it became the smallest city in the world to have a Metro line.

Now home to 357,327 inhabitants, it was named the most liveable city in France by L’Express in 2018. If Brighton do get paired with Rennes, expect to drink local cider, crepes and Galette-saucisse – something resembling a combination of hot dog and crepe which looks like it could take years off your life expectancy.

Links with Brighton
The Albion signed 6’6 goalkeeper Florent Chaigneau on loan from Rennes for the 2005-06 season. He only played a handful of games, one of which came away at Southampton when Mark McGhee controversially opted to drop Michel Kuipers.

McGhee announcing that he would be starting Chaigneau over Kuipers caused the chaos which eventually led to the infamous incident whereby Leon Knight was rumoured to have been thrown off the team bus in the middle of the New Forest on route to St Mary’s.

If you ask me, that moment alone makes Chaigneau’s brief Brighton career one which has to be considered a complete success.

 

Servette

The football team
Swiss Super League club Servette have a pretty fascinating history. They were formed in 1890 as a rugby team but with nobody in Switzerland really liking rugby, decided to switch to playing football.

This proved to be a sensible decision as with 17 Swiss titles, they are one of the country’s most successful clubs.

Not only that, but they organised the Coupe des Nations in 1930, a pan-European club tournament designed to rival that summer’s first World Cup in Uruguay and now seen as a important in paving the way for the European Cup and Champions League.

The last 15 years have proven particularly dramatic. Servette were declared bankrupt in 2004 and relegated to the third tier. There have been a couple of other financial problems since before the current relative period of stability.

Servette finished as runners up in the Swiss Super League last season. Having seen off Genk in the second round of Champions League qualifying, they were eliminated by Rangers to drop into the 2023-24 Europa League.

The stadium
Servette play at Stade de Geneve, which you do not need to speak French to deduce is located in Geneva. It has a capacity of 30,084, meaning Brighton will receive an allocation of around 1,500 tickets based on a five percent allocation.

Stade de Geneve was built in 2003 and was the venue when England defeated Argentina in an international friendly in 2005. It also hosted three group matches at Euro 2008.

Throughout the 2019–20 season, all the seats inside the stadium were replaced having faded from their original burgundy colour to strange pink/grey.

The place
Geneva is situation in the south west of Switzerland, where the Rhone exits Lake Geneva. It is a worldwide financial and diplomatic centre, home to numerous international organisations and the headquarters of many agencies of the United Nations.

48 percent of the city’s population are resident foreign nationals. French is the most spoken language, followed by English on account of Geneva’s international appeal.

That will mean there should be no language problems for Brighton fans ordering a beer. Neither is the cost as prohibitive as it once was.

Such has the increase in buying a pint in England over the past five years that the £7.20 the average beer costs in Geneva no longer seems totally outrageous. Certainly not compared to a £5.50 scotch egg at the Amex, anyway.

Links with Brighton
Former Brighton striker Martin Chivers played 66 times for Servette in a two season spell a couple of years before he moved to the Goldstone Ground in 1979.

Chivers plundered 33 goals during his time in Geneva after joining from Spurs for £80,000, winning the Swiss Cup in 1978 and the Swiss League Cup in 1977.

 

Toulouse

The football team
The city of Toulouse had been left without a big side in when Toulouse FC sold its players and place in the French top flight to Paris outfit Red Star in 1967.

Three years later and Union Sportive Toulouse rose from the ashes. The club started out in Ligue 2, reclaimed the name Toulouse FC in 1979 and by 1982 were back in Ligue 1.

Toulouse finished 13th last season, one year after securing promotion as Ligue 2 champions. They qualified for the Europa League in 2023-24 by winning the Coup de France, hammering Nantes 5-1 in the final.

Although this was the first time the current incarnation of Toulouse had lifted the trophy, the former club had won it back in 1957.

The stadium
Toulouse play at the 33,150 capacity Stadium de Toulouse. Some real creative genius behind that original name.

Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 1,650 tickets.

The stadium is situated on an island in the heart of Toulouse and opened in 1937. It underwent extensive renovations in 1949 and 1997, whilst a major explosion at a nearby chemical plant caused extensive damage in 2001.

Stadium de Toulouse held matches at the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2016 and played host to Michael Jackson on his Dangerous World Tour in September 1992.

The place
Toulouse is considered the capital of the European aerospace industry. It is home to the headquarters of Airbus, who had the assembly lines for their A320, A330, A350 and A380 planes in the city. Concorde was also built and developed in Toulouse (do not tell Nigel Farage).

The city is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Canal du Midi is a 150 mile canal constructed in the 17th century and considered one of the greatest construction works of its time.

The Basilica of Saint Sernin is the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe. It received World Heritage Status along with the former hospital Hotel-Dieu Saint-Jacques because of their significance to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route.

Foie gras and saucisse de Toulouse are amongst the many great delicacies to come form the area. Goodness knows what Toulouse fans will make of being a served a glass of red wine rendered boiling hot by its storage on top of the pie cabinets at the Amex along with a rock hard burger with one manky gherkin in it.

Links with Brighton
Toulouse have a fierce rivalry with Bordeaux, against whom they contest the Derby de la Garonne. That gives their fans something in common with the powers that be at the Albion – disliking Gus Poyet.

He Who Must Not Be Named spent eight months in charge at Bordeaux between January and August 2018. In classic Gus style, he was suspended and then sacked by the club after criticising the sale of Gaetan Laborde to Montpellier.