Le Mans Sarthe Basket

History

The Modern Sport Club (1939–1993)

In 1928, French businessmen, Léopold Gouloumés arrived at the city Mans and founded the food association: the Société des Comptoirs Modernes. Like many other industries at the time, him and Bernard Gasnal, founded their own sport club called Goulou Club in 1938. But in September 1939 the Second World War broke out and the men were needed to fight. With the male absent, women decided to persuade the Goulou Club into creating a basketball team for them.

In 1941, the French government prohibited sport clubs to use the name of an industry so the Goulou Club changed its name to Modern Sporting Club.

In 1952, Le Mans frills won the title of champions of France. Then following that success Bernard Gasnal founded a men's team. In 1963 the team joined the elite.

The following years from 1969 to 1970 was very successful, they won the French Cup in 1964 and the French League championship in 1978 and 1979.

After the euphoria of the European games, the club was struggling to survive due to the rising dominance of CSP Limoges and Pau-Orthez

The SCM existed after the MSB was created and was concerned about the amateur part of the association.

In continuation (since 2008)

The 2008–2009 season will be more prosperous for the club. In addition to a third place in the regular season followed by a semi-final playoffs (defeated against Orleans), the MSB makes a superb double in gleaning the week of "As" (74-64 victory facing Orleans in the final) then the French Cup (79-65 victory against Nancy in the Final at Bercy). Best of all, Alain Koffi, whom formed the club, is elected the French MVP of the season. However, in Euroleague, the MSB finished again last in their group with two thin victories in ten games.

Despite the departure of several executives in the off season such as Alain Koffi or Nicolas Batum, the MSB plays always the leading roles in the league in 2009 – 2010 because after having a long time to be the first of the regular season, the club finally finished behind Cholet. The two teams meet in the championship final, but Cholet wins the derby at the top (81-65). Le Mans compete in the Eurocup but are eliminated on the wire in the first round. In 2014, the MSB won the Cup leaders.

Since 21 May 2014 the MSB has been trained by Turkish Erman Kunter, former coach of Cholet. He took over succession from JD Jackson. The season is mixed, particularly marked by a heavy defeat in the derby home against Cholet Basket (61-82). Committed in Eurochallenge, the MSB won their first two games against the Belgians from Antwerp Giants (72-66) and Finland KTP Basket (71-52) before a heavy on the floor of Pallacanestro Biella, Italian D2 club ( 82–64).

In 2025, Le Mans won its fourth Leaders Cup, tying the record by Élan Béarnais for most titles.

The club and the society

The company was founded on September 6, 1993 as a local sports cooperative, and was chaired by Jean-Pierre Goisbault until June 30, 2008. Christophe Le Bouille became president on July 1, 2008. The club has a budget of €6,468,000 for the 2024/2025 season.

Furthermore, another structure dedicated to marketing, is also under the name of MSB Promotion. It is she who is responsible for the communication around the club's image.

The coat of arms, the colors, and the supporters

The jersey worn by the players are tango and gray. Tango is inherited from the ancient Moderne Sporting Club.

The logo has existed since 1993 and the acquisition of the new professional status of the team. It uses the colors of the club, accompanied by three letters MSB (acronym of Le Mans Sarthe Basket) written in white. In the summer of 2009, the MSB changed the coat of arms and opted for a lion showing claws and out of the logo, symbol of the feline. The addition of an animal blasonnant the team who follow the custom of other French teams like Pau Orthez and Nancy.

The official group of supporters are called the felines. This exists in the form of an association and follows the club on certain displacements. They even give a reward to the most outstanding players called the reflection feline.

Equipment manufacturers

Derby History

The former Northwest Derby pitted SCM Le Mans against ABC Nantes.

Since 1986, the “Derby de l'Ouest” has pitted Le Mans against Cholet, located in Maine-et-Loire, every season. Since their first clash in the men's N1B division, the two teams have met regularly. Since the 1990–91 season, they have engaged in a fierce annual duel.

Honours

Domestic competitions

• French League : Winners (5): 1977–78, 1978–79, 1981–82, 2005–06, 2017–18 :Runners-up (4): 1979–80, 1980–81, 2009–10, 2011–12
• French Cup :Winners (4): 1964, 2004, 2008–09, 2015–16 :Runners-up (4): 1970, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2024–25
• Leaders Cup :Winners (4): 2006, 2009, 2014, 2025 :Runners-up (4): 2004, 2007, 2015, 2018

Season by season

: Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

Players

Current roster

Notable players

• FRA Pape Badiane
• FRA Nicolas Batum
• FRA Rodrigue Beaubois
• FRA Éric Beugnot
• FRA Grégor Beugnot
• FRA Yannick Bokolo
• FRA Nobel Boungou Colo
• FRA Petr Cornelie
• FRA Vincent Collet
• FRA Antoine Diot
• FRA Makan Dioumassi
• FRA Hervé Dubuisson
• FRA Youssoupha Fall
• FRA Claude Gasnal
• FRA Mickaël Gelabale
• FRA Charles Kahudi
• FRA Alain Koffi
• FRA Lahaou Konaté
• FRA Jérémy Leloup
• FRA Noah Penda
• FRA Thierry Rupert
• FRA Amara Sy
• FRA Pape Sy
• FRA Terry Tarpey
• FRA Will Yeguete
• BEL Jonathan Tabu
• BEN Mouphtaou Yarou
• BIH Zack Wright
• BRA João Paulo Batista
• CAN Olivier Hanlan
• CAN J.D. Jackson
• CIV Pape-Philippe Amagou
• CRO Sandro Nicević
• CRO Mate Skelin
• FIN Gerald Lee
• GEO Taurean Green
• GRE Michalis Kakiouzis
• ISR David Blu
• ISR Ido Kozikaro
• ISR Raviv Limonad
• MKD Richard Hendrix
• MKD Romeo Travis
• MNE Nebojša Bogavac
• MNE Justin Cobbs
• MNE Taylor Rochestie
• NGA Obi Emegano
• POL Michał Ignerski
• LTU Egidijus Mockevičius
• SRB Luka Bogdanović
• SRB Marko Kešelj
• TUR Hüseyin Beşok
• TUR Bobby Dixon
• TUR İzzet Türkyılmaz
• USA Alex Acker
• USA Eric Campbell
• USA Brian Chase
• USA Sam Clancy
• USA Cameron Clark
• USA Robert Dozier
• USA Khalid El-Amin
• USA Daniel Ewing
• USA Taurean Green
• USA Kenny Gregory
• USA Jermaine Guice
• USA Rico Hill
• USA Dennis Hopson
• USA Trevor Hudgins
• USA Keith Jennings
• USA Arthur Kenney
• USA Darius Johnson-Odom
• USA Larry Lawrence (basketball)
• USA Chris Lofton
• USA Matt Morgan
• USA Ryan Pearson
• USA Hollis Price
• USA Mykal Riley
• USA Marc Salyers
• USA Dewarick Spencer
• USA D.J. Stephens
• USA Michael Thompson
• USA Darius Washington
• USA DaShaun Wood
• USA Zack Wright
• VIR Cuthbert Victor

Head coaches

• France André Buffière
• USA Bill Sweek
• France Vincent Collet
• France J. D. Jackson
• France Turkey Erman Kunter

References

References

1. "Equipe".
2. "Le Mans crée l'exploit face à Monaco et s'impose en finale de la Leaders Cup".