US Boulogne

Early years

US Boulogne were originally founded in December 1898 by a group of young local athletes. While they mainly focused originally on athletic events, they created a football team to provide themselves with sporting competition in the winter months, and made a decent job in their first few years as a football club. Boulogne won the Maritime Championship three years running between 1904 and 1906. They next won the Championship in 1909 and their final victory of this division was in 1922. In 1924, Boulogne moved to the Northern Championship and fared well. The team also did well in the Coupe de France – reaching the quarterfinals in 1929 and the last 16 three times. In 1926, Boulogne won the Northern League and only six years later, they decided to become a professional club. In 1935, under chairman Marcel Lacroix, the team joined the professional leagues. However, they played averagely in Division Two, but in the Coupe de France 1937 competition Boulogne reached the semi-finals, where they were convincingly beaten by FC Sochaux 6–0. After the war, Boulogne, reverted to amateur status – and only decided to become a professional team again in 1957, when they were re-elected into Division Two. They stayed comfortably in Division Two for 22 years but then plummeted through the divisions – suffering consecutive relegations. The Coupe de France competition only provided little respite, as the team made the last 16 three times. Robert Senechal arrived in 1983 and…