Ligue 1’ s knight on a horse

Les Lanciers twice had a female boss – now they’re in Ligue 1 for the first time

Clermont Foot have reached France’s top flight for the first time, and their historic season began appropriately – with a knight in shorts, riding a horse into the city.

The club are nicknamed the Lancers – they’re based in the city of Clermont- Ferrand in the Massif Central mountain range, famous for the Battle of Gergovia when Julius Caesar was defeated by Vercingetorix and his rowdy locals in 52 BC.

Vercingetorix may have later been imprisoned in Rome and beheaded, but he’s a folk hero in Clermont- Ferrand. As well as being one of the inspirations for comic book icon Asterix, he was the man Clermont Foot had in mind when they unveiled a new mascot for 2020- 21, named Torix.

The club had been in Ligue 2 since 2007 but struggled to progress further, prompting a change of strategy in 2014. Helena Costa became the first female to manage in the top two tiers of a men’s European league... or would have been, if she hadn’t resigned before the campaign even started.

The Portuguese former manager of the Qatar and Iraq women’s national teams ( right) quit within a month after being unveiled, upset that signings had been made and friendlies arranged without her knowledge, and believing she was being used as the face of the club.

“She’s a woman,” bemoaned tactful club president, Claude Michy. “They are capable of leading us to believe in certain things and then… she simply said, ‘ I’m going’. Was she scared? I don’t know. We couldn’t make her change her mind. I am not the first man to be deserted by a woman.”

So naturally, he swiftly appointed another female boss: Corinne Diacre, ex- assistant coach of the French women’s team. Diacre helped the club finish seventh in 2015- 16, but left after her third season to boss the female national side.

Under Pascal Gastien, Clermont Foot climbed up to fifth by 2019- 20, then pushed for promotion in 2020- 21. That threatened to be derailed when 29 members of the club, including 15 players, tested positive for COVID in March, and they took only one point from three games after a brief break from action. But four straight wins helped them defy a relatively small budget and secure second place, earning a spot in Ligue 1 for the first time in their 110- year history.

It’s surely one of the region’s greatest triumphs since the Battle of Gergovia – let’s just hope their historic campaign doesn’t end with Torix being carted off to Rome.