2026/2027 season

Ligue 1

Team page
Ligue 1 · Team page
Le Mans FC
Head coach: Patrick Videira · Non confirmé précisément dans les sources consultées
Rank
15th
Pts
6
P
7
Form
🟡 Average

The essentials at a glance

The summary of this page: estimated level of play, form trend and qualitative verdict. For the details, head to the other tabs.

Editors' ratings
5/10
Attack
3/10
Defence
3/10
Form
5/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:High

15th with 6 pts from 7 matches: 1 win, 3 draws, 3 defeats.

10 goals scored, 15 conceded.

First defeat in 17 home matches at Le Mans. Battus 3-0 by the TFC, the Manceaux recognized the technical and physical superiority of the Toulousans. But the promoted ones are not shot down.

RMC Sport — Ligue 1 · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

Winning on his lawn, against Toulouse FC on Day 7 of Ligue 1, Patrick Videira coach of Le Mans FC spoke at a press conference about his opponent.

RMC Sport — Ligue 1 · 16 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

Despite their defeat against the French champions, the Manceaux showed that they had the resources to compete with the best teams in the championship. Back in front of their audience, they now hope to turn this beautiful resistance into a victory against the Toulousans. Here is all the information to follow this poster live.

RMC Sport — Ligue 1 · 16 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

On Friday, Le Mans opened the reopening of its training centre, more than a decade after a fall that had led it to the sixth division. The Sarthois club (...)

Foot Mercato · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

Match-by-match results, record and rhythm of the current season.

Latest matches
Lvs Toulouse FC (H) · 0-3
Lvs Paris Saint-Germain FC (A) · 1-3
Wvs FC Lorient (H) · 2-1
Dvs Racing Club de Lens (H) · 2-2
Dvs OGC Nice (A) · 1-1
WDDDLLL
10 scored / 15 conceded over 7 matches played
Rest: 2 days since the last match · 2 matches played in the last 15 days
Home form
1W - 2D - 1L
Away form
0W - 1D - 2L
Statistics

Computed from this season's scores, every time the page is shown.

Goals scored per match
1.2
Goals conceded per match
2.0
At home
4 scored · 6 conceded in 3 matches
Away
2 scored · 4 conceded in 2 matches
Over 2.5 goals
4 of 5
Both teams score
4 of 5
Clean sheets
0 of 5
Failed to score
1 of 5
Cumulative points vs league average

Not enough matchdays recorded yet for this curve — history builds up with every standings refresh.

How Le Mans FC play

System, playing identity, and what sets the team apart at both ends of the pitch.

Playing identity
Preferred system
Non confirmé précisément dans les sources consultées
Philosophy
A continuity project with a coach developed internally at the club over the promotion in 2 seasons from the National.
Attacking strengths
2 goals scored in Brittany on the return to Ligue 1, an encouraging result.
Defensive solidity
2 goals conceded, the room for improvement against tougher opponents remains to be assessed.
Pressing
Not precisely documented.
Transitions
Not precisely documented.
StrengthContinuity and cohesion of the staff built over 2 consecutive promotion seasons.
WeaknessA probable gap in level between the National/Ligue 2 and Ligue 1, to be confirmed over time.

The mood around the club, and who is missing

Internal climate, relationship with the supporters, and known absences before the next match.

Mood
Squad confidence
The promoted side are coming off a defeat that leaves more regret than doubt: 2-0 down at the Roazhon Park, Le Mans came back thanks to a Louis Mafouta brace before conceding a penalty in the 96th minute. Patrick Videira acknowledged the quality of Rennes's aggression in winning the ball back and pointed to the comfort given to Estéban Lepaul. The refereeing authority's endorsement of the penalty closes any hope of moral redress, as does VAR's disallowing of a Le Mans penalty for offside. The squad nonetheless retains the certainty of having stood up to a European contender for most of the match.
Coach / players / board relationship
Videira, given a new contract after promotion, keeps the voice of a coach rather than a complainant: he analysed Rennes's central aggression and his own team's defensive positioning without going after the referee, despite a hotly disputed finish. The board, for its part, is sending signals of stability: signing an international forward until 2029 on deadline day and extending a long-standing partner until 2028. President Pedro Oliveira stressed the partners' loyalty “at the moment Le Mans FC returns to Ligue 1”.
Mood with the supporters
The enthusiasm of the return to Ligue 1, sixteen years on, is not fading: 1,047 Le Mans supporters filled the away end at the Roazhon Park, a sold-out away section, with arrangements set out in detail by the club (gate 14, voucher required, coach parking in P1). The extended partnership with Matines comes with an activation aimed at the public, the “Défi Matines”, which will involve two supporters at every home Ligue 1 match. The trip to Nice on Saturday night will be a further test of away mobilisation.
Pressure on the head coach
Low. Patrick Videira has the credit of promotion and an openly stated survival project, in a league marked by a record number of managerial changes this summer. His handling of the squad after the defeat at Rennes, without refereeing controversy, has if anything strengthened his position.
Club objectives
Survival remains the only horizon, with an attack strengthened by the arrival of Habib Diallo, signed until 2029 and with 175 Ligue 1 appearances behind him. In parallel the club is consolidating its business model by securing its local partnerships until 2028. The trip to Nice, and then hosting the bigger clubs, will say whether the margin is sufficient.
Recent internal tensions
No internal tension reported. The only dispute is refereeing and is now officially closed: the refereeing authority upheld the 96th-minute penalty conceded for handball by Noa Boissé, after Romain Lissorgue consulted the monitor, and VAR had previously disallowed a Le Mans penalty for offside.
Absences
SuspendedDjibril Sidibé — Sent off at Rennes on 30 August in the 68th minute, seconds after coming on: automatic suspension.
DoubtfulNicolas Kocik — A goalkeeper who went off in the 81st minute at Rennes after a collision with Arnaud Nordin; his availability for Nice has not been specified.

Before kick-off

What to know before the next match: statistical form, qualitative analysis, and a computed estimate of the 1/X/2 probabilities.

Next match

AJ Auxerre — Le Mans FC

AwaySunday 25 October at 17:15Matchday 8
In 7 days. Kick-off time confirmed by the league. Paris time · football-data.org fixtures.

Prediction, odds and form of both teams →

What the press says

No preview found for this fixture. The press mostly covers the big games, and usually the day before.

Prediction
EstimateAJ Auxerre — Le Mans FC
46 %
1 · AJ Auxerre
21 %
X · draw
33 %
2 · Le Mans FC
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 6 matches played by AJ Auxerre, 7 matches by Le Mans FC. Confidence: medium
The formula, in plain words — with this match's figures
  1. League average. 170 goals scored over 116 team-matches played (18 teams taken into account), i.e. μ = 1.47 goal scored per team per match. This is the reference point: everything that follows is expressed relative to it.
  2. Attacking and defensive strengths. Goals scored (or conceded) per match, divided by μ. 1.00 = exactly average; in defence, above 1.00 means “concedes more than average”.
    TeamGoalsRawKept
    AJ Auxerre — attack8 in 6 matches0.910.95
    AJ Auxerre — defence16 in 6 matches1.821.41
    Le Mans FC — attack10 in 7 matches0.970.99
    Le Mans FC — defence15 in 7 matches1.461.25
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.50 for AJ Auxerre and 0.54 for Le Mans FC. The rest of the weight goes to the league average. This is what stops a lone 5-0 from producing an attack at 3.3 times the average — and hence a 95% probability.
  3. Home advantage (γ). Measured on the league itself: 1.61 goal scored on average by the host against 1.30 by the visitor, over the 46 fixtures present in each team's last 5 matches. Raw ratio 1.24; shrunk towards 1 (weight 0.42, on the log of the ratio) then capped at 1.25 → γ = 1.10. Shrinkage goes towards 1, i.e. no advantage at all: while the sample is small, the model does not assert a home advantage it cannot measure.
  4. Venue correction, specific to each team. Drawn from the home/away split: points per match at the venue concerned are compared to points per match over all fixtures, with stronger shrinkage (weight = P / (P + 8)) and a bound of ±12%.
    AJ Auxerre at home: 2.00 pts/match versus 1.00 overall over 3 matches → ×1.120
    Le Mans FC away: 0.33 pts/match versus 0.86 overall over 3 matches → ×0.880
  5. Expected goals. One side's attack is set against the other's defence. γ applies to the host only: applying it the other way round too would count the home advantage twice.
    λAJ Auxerre = 1.47 × 0.95 × 1.25 × 1.10 × 1.120 = 2.15
    λLe Mans FC = 1.47 × 0.99 × 1.41 × 0.880 = 1.79
  6. Poisson grid. Probability of every exact score from 0-0 to 8-8, assuming the two goal totals are independent, then adding up the cells: home win 46.5%, draw 20.6%, away win 32.9% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 2-1 (only 8.0%, which says enough about how unpredictable an exact score is).
Limits of this model — they are not anecdotal.
  • It only knows goals and a venue. Neither absences, suspensions, line-ups, fatigue, stakes, weather nor club context enter the calculation — while the other tabs of this page show that they matter.
  • The assumption that the two goal totals are independent is false in reality: it slightly underestimates tight scores, hence the draw.
  • γ is measured over a rolling window (each team's last 5 matches), not over the whole season.
  • The shrinkage constants (6, 60, 8) and the bounds are choices, not measurements. They were tuned to be cautious early in the season; they were not calibrated on a results history, as none is available here.
  • No after-the-fact evaluation has been made: at this stage, nobody knows whether this model is better or worse calibrated than another.
What other sources say
No external source has been collected for this match. That is the normal state: readings are taken by hand, and an empty box is better than an unverified figure.
This block shows probability estimates, not predictions, and carries no advisory value. The in-house estimate is the result of a formula applied to a small sample; the figures from external sources are reproduced as they were collected, without their method having been verified.

The full squad

The professional squad by position, captain marked with an armband.

Goalkeepers
  • Ewan Hatfout
  • Augustin Delbecque
  • Nicolas Kocik
Defenders
  • Ryan Bidounga
  • Harold Voyer
  • Noa Boissé
  • Raúl Torrente
  • Samuel Yohou
  • Djibril Sidibé
  • Théo Eyoum
  • Lucas Calodat
  • Yasser Larouci
Midfielders
  • Edwin Quarshie
  • Alexandre LaurayC
  • Jean Vercruysse
  • Adil Bourabaa
  • Lucas Buades
  • Milan Robin
  • Rayan Bamba
  • Martin Rossignol
  • Lucas Bretelle
Forwards
  • Billal Brahimi
  • Antoine Rabillard
  • Louis Mafouta
  • William Harhouz
  • Dame Guèye
  • Erwan Colas
Squad last verified on 30 Aug 2026 — source: footmercato.net; captain confirmed by webgirondins.com (Le Mans-Brest match, 22/08/2026).

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss16 Oct 2026
Le Mans - Toulouse: on which channel and at what time watch the Ligue 1 game live?
Source: RMC Sport — Ligue 1
rss17 Oct 2026
Toulouse trolle Le Mans after his victory
Source: Foot Mercato
rss16 Oct 2026
Le Mans 0-3 Toulouse: "It's a very nice team, better than us," says Videira after the defeat
Source: RMC Sport — Ligue 1
rss16 Oct 2026
Crushed by Toulouse, Le Mans concedes his first home defeat in over a year
Source: Foot Mercato
rss17 Oct 2026
How Le Mans aims to become one of the best French training centres?
Source: Foot Mercato
rss17 Oct 2026
Le Mans 0-3 Toulouse: "It was going too fast," says Gueye
Source: RMC Sport
Institutional3 Sep 2026
Le Mans FC and Matines have extended their partnership until 2028. The brand, headquartered at La Bazoge near Le Mans, remains on the professional shirt and is launching the “Défi Matines”, which will invite two supporters at every home Ligue 1 match to a shooting contest into a giant egg cup at half-time.
Source: Le Mans FC (site officiel)
Other3 Sep 2026
The refereeing authority has upheld the penalty awarded to Rennes in stoppage time: on an acrobatic effort from Arnaud Nordin, Noa Boissé's arm “artificially increased the area covered by his body” and deflected the ball, which justifies the decision under Law 12. Romain Lissorgue had initially not given it before consulting the monitor.
Source: Stade Rennais Online
Result2 Sep 2026
For matchday 3, the promoted side travel to OGC Nice on Saturday 5 September at 20:45, in a multiplex shown on Ligue 1+.
Source: Foot Mercato
Contract1 Sep 2026
Habib Diallo has signed until 2029 and will wear number 13. The 31-year-old Senegal international, who arrived from FC Metz, has 175 appearances and 57 goals in Ligue 1 with Metz and Strasbourg, 40 caps and 9 goals, and was crowned African champion in 2022.
Source: Le Mans FC (site officiel)
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Le Mans FC confirmed the arrival of forward Habib Diallo on the day the summer window closed.
Source: Foot Mercato
Injury31 Aug 2026
Goalkeeper Nicolas Kocik had to leave the pitch in the 81st minute at Rennes after a collision with Arnaud Nordin that went unpunished by the referee.
Source: Le Mans FC (site officiel)
Head coach31 Aug 2026
Patrick Videira pointed to his team's defensive slackness on Estéban Lepaul: “We leave him far too much peace in that decisive area and he is a genuine killer.” He also described Rennes's pressing: “As soon as we won the ball back, this is a team that comes at you immediately in that central area.”
Source: Stade Rennais Online
Result30 Aug 2026
The promoted side lost 3-2 at Rennes having pulled level thanks to a Louis Mafouta brace, before Rennes won it through an Esteban Lepaul penalty in stoppage time.
Source: Foot Mercato
Supporters29 Aug 2026
The club announced 1,047 Le Mans supporters at the Roazhon Park, with a sold-out away section: access through gate 14 on presentation of a voucher, car park P1 reserved for coaches and no left-luggage facility on site.
Source: Le Mans FC (site officiel)
Transfers25 Aug 2026
Unconfirmed rumour: the future of midfielder Milan Robin, an architect of the promotion to Ligue 1, is uncertain — several clubs (Charlton, QPR, Racing Santander, Málaga) are said to be interested.
Source: Foot Mercato
News last verified on 17 Oct 2026. Sources: sports press (L'Équipe, Le Parisien, Foot Mercato, regional press…) and official club websites — see the link on each item.
Editorial content (playing style, mood, absences, external prediction sources) last verified on 3 Sep 2026. The standings/form data above are refreshed automatically — as is the 1/X/2 estimate, recomputed on every view.