Thonon Evian Grand Genève Football Club, formerly Evian Thonon Gaillard FC (), commonly referred to as Thonon Evian or just Evian, is a French association football club based in Thonon-les-Bains that was founded on 1 July 2007, this incarnation however was founded in 2020. They compete in the Championnat National 3, the fifth tier of the French football league system.
One of Evian's predecessors were known as FC Gaillard and existed from 1924 to 2003. Gaillard's only notable success was winning the Division d'Honneur of the Rhône-Alpes region in 1999. Evian proved more successful, ascending to the professional divisions after just three seasons. The club won the Championnat de France Amateur in 2008, the Championnat National in 2010, and finally the Ligue 2 in 2011.
Evian currently play their home matches at the Stade Joseph-Moynat in Thonon-les-Bains but moved to the Parc des Sports in nearby Annecy from the 2010–11 season to the 2015–16 season as the Joseph-Moynat did not meet the standards of the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The move was a temporary measure while the club contemplated building a new facility or renovating the Stade Joseph-Moynat. Prior to moving to Annecy, Evian sought to play at the Stade de Genève over the Swiss border in nearby Geneva. Until the 2013–14 season, the club's main sponsor was Groupe Danone, owner of the Evian brand of mineral water. Danone's CEO Franck Riboud was honorary president and the man behind the success of the club.
At the end of the 2015–16 season, the club was relegated from Ligue 2, and further demoted by the DNCG to the Championnat de France Amateur, the fourth level of football in France. The club then entered receivership meaning that, even if it had survived, it would have suffered a further administrative relegation should they go into another stage of bankruptcy related to the one from 2014 to 2016 at the end of the 2016–17 season. The club withdrew from the competition on 9 August to avoid financial troubles.
The club reformed in Regional 2, and won back-to-back promotions in 2019 and 2020 to gain a place in Championnat National 3 for the 2020–21 season. In May 2021, it was announced that the club had become a member of the STRIVE football group, with US team FC Miami City and Belgian team Royal FC Mandel United.
History
Football in Thonon: Olympique Thonon Chablais
In 1909, a handful of enthusiasts founded a multi-sport association in Thonon, the Club sportif de Thonon, soon to be devoted entirely to football.History of association sport in the Thonon region on the Thonon Athletics Club website, accessed on 4 June 2011
After several dozen seasons in the Regional championships of Lyonnais (the historical equivalent of the Ligue Rhône-Alpes de Football – At the time, the Division d'Honneur was the 4th division of French football) -, the first team was promoted to Division 3 and then to Division 2 the following year, in 1979. Three seasons later, in the 1981-1982 French D2 Football Championship, the club failed to win the Group A title against Toulouse FC on goal difference. Then, little by little, the club slipped down the national and regional league ladders.
It all began with a double financial relegation in 1987, the year in which the downward slide began and the year in which the club changed its name to Olympique Thonon Chablais. The club returned to Division 4, where it remained for 6 seasons until 1992/1993, when it was administratively relegated to the French National 3 Football Championship. That same year, the club merged with another local club, Stella Thonon, the team from the Thonon Portuguese community of lower level (Promotion Honneur Régionale). However it did not remain at this level for long, winning the championship title for Group F at the end of the 1993-94 National 3 season. However, this promotion was followed by several relegations in a row from 1996 to 1997, until they reached the Division d'Honneur (7th in 1998–99) and then the Promotion d'Honneur (8th in 2000–01). The club did regain promotion to the DHR in 2004–05, but was finally relegated at the end of the season.
Football in Gaillard: FC Gaillard and FC Ville-le-Grand
Back in 1924 in Gaillard, a group of friends who had returned from the First World War six years earlier wanted to continue their adventures through sport, and football in particular. Matches were played near the Arve (a river that runs through Haute-Savoie and empties into the Rhône at Geneva), at the Stade des Corbeaux, near a farm where goats and horses were reared, their droppings attracting swarms of birds (hence the name of the plain on the outskirts of the town). The first president was Édouard Bozio, who also played for the club, before François Croset took over as president, player-coach and captain, alongside another club icon, Auguste Paterlini, known as Kiki. At the time, the club's headquarters were at Monsieur Grognux's, who ran a café outside the church. The establishment also served as changing rooms where the players changed before cycling to the stadium. The club took part in various departmental championships, flying the colours of what were then known as 'les Maraîchers'. In 1940, while the team was playing in the 'Promotion de District', war broke out and Haute-Savoie was occupied by Germany (Second World War), forcing the club to temporarily suspend its activities. However, once peace was restored, football was resumed in Gaillard in 1946 under the leadership of Robert Bartschi. On 2 August 1948, a team entered the then 'Deuxième Série Départementale', and by 1950 had returned to the 'Promotion de District'. In 1957, the team, led by club legend Roland Détruche, entered the 'Promotion de Ligue' (second regional division, the antechamber to the Division d'Honneur), but was instantly demoted to the 'Promotion de District', where it remained for three seasons, before finally returning to the 'Première Série de District' in 1961, having finished the season in thirteenth place. The 1960s saw the team move up to League level and the start of the club's structuring, with yellow and black becoming the club's symbolic colours. The Gaillard team won the 'First District Division' championship in 1963, then finished runners-up in the 'Promotion District' the year they were promoted to the top flight. However, the League Promotion campaign proved too tough for the team, which finished eighth and was relegated by one point at the end of the 1964–1965 season. However, the team did not shy away from the upward mobility that showed their ambition and determination, bouncing back the year they were relegated (finishing second in the Promotion de District behind US La Roche-sur-Foron) and temporarily settling into the Promotion de Ligue, where they played from 1967 to 1970. From 1970 to 1982, after two consecutive relegations, the team played in the District championships, stagnating in the First Division between holding on (ninth in 1978) and missing out on promotion (second in 1976 and 1980). Until 1975, the club continued to play at the Stade des Corbeaux, then moved to the new Stade Louis Simon, gradually moving up towards the centre of the commune of Gaillard, which subsequently developed close to this area. The club's headquarters are now located in the Lambrigger brewery, and it now has 120 members, divided into eight teams: undergraduates, pupils, minimes, cadets, juniors and three senior teams. The first team included Salvatore Mazzeo, future club director and local councillor. In 1985, the Yellow and Blacks moved up to the 'Promotion Honneur Régional' of the Rhône-Alpes Football League (equivalent to the former 'Promotion de Ligue', the region's 3rd division). At the end of this first season in the PHR, the club held its own and even finished in second place. However, it was not until the 1989–1990 season that they moved up to the Division d'Honneur Régional (finishing as champions of Poule B two points ahead of CA Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. After a year in the DHR, the directors, Maryan Baquerot and Salvatore Mazzeo, in consultation with coach Jacques Veggia begin the necessary structuring of the club.
Pascal Dupraz Era In 1991, Pascal Dupraz was already thinking about his professional retraining and was still attracting interest from a number of second division clubs, notably SC Bastia, who then offered him a contract that he considered interesting. But when Baquerot offered him the chance to return to his native region to help the first team of his local club, he had no hesitation in accepting, especially as Baquerot, who was also director of human resources at Palais des Nations guaranteed him a salaried position at the United Nations Office in Geneva, initially in charge of maintenance, he would eventually become head of the logistics department of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Dupraz concedes that he made a few sacrifices when he decided to sign up with Gaillard, tipping over the edge into amateurism, with upright, may not be professional, who give their all on the pitch but nothing more. However, he had no regrets about this choice, made official on 1 July 1991, and considered by club historians to be a major one: both for the club and for his own professional and personal life. The results would prove it very quickly. Indeed, as early as 1993, the team, including future club director Maurice Payot, was promoted to Division d'Honneur, the highest regional level, following a play-off match (for Group B) at the Stade Municipal de Chambéry against the reserves of Grenoble Norcap. As for the Coupe de France, in February of the same year, the team only lost in the eight round of the competition, in extra time of a match lost three goals to nil to FC Martigues, marked by the injury of the leader Dupraz to the Achilles tendon.
In 2003, Pascal Dupraz wanted to turn the club around, fearing that it would fall into decline for non-sporting reasons, particularly financial ones. In fact, he declared that despite the efforts made by everyone at Gaillard to take the club as far as possible (such as the moral and financial encouragement from the municipality via the mayor, Renée Magnin), the club would not succeed without outside help. However, at the time, the two clubs from the Annemasse suburbs were not on good terms and even refused to allow any friendly matches to be organised between them, from the youth teams through to the seniors. Pascal Dupraz then contacted the vice-president of FC Ville-la-Grand, Paul Perelli, explaining to him his fear that the two clubs would die on their own if there were no rapprochement. Relations between the two clubs gradually began to ease and, after seven attempts at a meeting, Manuel Augusto (president of FC Ville-la-Grand) and Maurice Payot (president of FC Gaillard) finally got together. Five months of discussions later (a weekly meeting attended by eight administrators from each club), in May, the Gaillard and Ville-la-Grand clubs agreed to merge to form Football Croix-de-Savoie 74, effective in the Summer. Jo Dupraz, who was involved in the merger with Bernard Zanetti (on the Gaillard side), stated that it was imperative to have synergy with another club in the region to obtain additional sports facilities as well as additional financial support. With the support of the mayors of the two towns, the presidents of the two clubs – Maurice Payot for FC Gaillard and Manuel Augusto for FC Ville-le-Grand – became co-presidents of the newly created club, with Pascal Dupraz, who had coached FC Gaillard since 1991, taking over as coach. This administrative merger, considered crucial by the club's historians, was celebrated on 19 May at the Casino in Annemasse in the presence of the various local players.
Football in Gaillard: Croix de Savoie 74