Season Preview #1: Angers SCO

With the 2024/25 Ligue 1 season fast-approaching, we’re running through every team in the league, giving you all you need to become a Ligue 1 expert. Every day from now until the season kicks off on August 16, we’ll preview two clubs every day, breaking down their key moves and how the season is likely to unfold for them.

Angers SCO

Founded: 1919

Stadium: Stade Raymond Kopa

Nickname(s): Le SCO

Manager: Alexandre Dujeux (third season)
A well-traveled defender as a player, Dujeux has been in charge at Angers for a little over a year, having given the club some stability following a period of tumult after the departure of longtime boss Stéphane Moulin, having arrived in March 2023 and guided the team back into the top flight at the first time of asking.

Last season: 2nd, Ligue 2 (Promoted)

Cult hero: Pierrick Capelle

Playing past his 37th birthday, Capelle has appeared more than 300 times for Angers, having joined the team on their return to the top flight in 2015. Renowned for his versatility, he has featured on both flanks, as a fullback and in a range of midfield positions. If this is to be his last season, he will surely give his all to keep his team in the top flight.

Key arrivals:

Much like last season, there has been little money to spend for Angers, but that hasn’t stopped them from bringing in several intriguing players, notably winger Jim Allevinah, a mainstay for Clermont Foot in recent seasons, as well as vastly experienced former Strasbourg midfielder Jean-Eudes Aholou. Alongside the likes of fellow veterans like Capelle and Loïs Diony, these signings will offer a measure of experience of which most promoted sides could only dream.

Key departures:

Yan Valery has departed for English side Sheffield Wednesday, with Carlens Arcus, late of Lille and Auxerre among other sides, his likely replacement, but at the time of writing, the club have yet to sanction any other major exits.

Season Outlook:

Last season, Angers were a model of team play. While Diony notched an impressive fifteen goals in the league, he was ably supported by an array of talented attackers, including Farid El Melali and Himad Abdelli. Both are back, and with the addition of Allevinah, in combination with Diony, a striker adept at linking play, Le SCO should be a threat going forward. In goal, Côte d’Ivoire international Yahia Fofana has been a revelation since becoming first choice, even helping his team to the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year. He should continue to impress behind a defence that boasts the likes of Cédric Hountondji and Jordan Lefort, two seasoned center backs. Survival is far from assured, but continuity on the bench and the pitch have given this side plenty of reason for cautious optimism.

Likely XI (4-2-3-1): Fofana; Arcus, Hountondji, Lefort, Hanin; Aholou, Capelle; Allevinah, Abdelli, El Melali; Diony