Nîmes Olympique

Heartbreak#17110.1

Nîmes, Nîmes · France · Ligue 1

Top-2 finishes
4
Top-4 finishes
8

Power-ranking history

Rank (1 = best)1530Score (per-season normalised)0.00.51.059/6069/7079/8089/9099/0009/1019/20

Against expectation

Every French top-flight match this club has played in the Ligue 1, scored against the odds an Elo rating gave it before kick-off. Over 38 seasons from 1932-33 to 2020-21 it has fallen short of them by −14.8 match points.

1932-33 to 2020-21one bar per season · height in match points

Best season against expectation
1958-59 +8.2 league pts
53 points on 44.9 expected as Nimes Olympique
Worst season against expectation
1933-34 −11.2 league pts
15 points on 26.2 expected as SC Nimes

Season points use that season’s own scoring, two for a win before 1994-95 and three from it; the bars use match points so the whole series is comparable. Played as SC Nimes, then Nimes Olympique. The rating only starts telling you much after about 1960. Before that, knowing the era’s home-and-away split is almost as good as knowing the teams.

2019-20 table not final: abandoned at the COVID-19 shutdown, 279 of 380 played.

Nîmes against expectation →How this is measured →

What the squad was worth

Total market value of the squad, EUR millions, by month; the player count beside it is the size of the priced squad.

How this is measured

Drawn as a step, not a curve: Transfermarkt reprices every squad in December and June (marked with a small tick on the axis) and revalues continuously between, so the line only moves when a real valuation changed, never by interpolation.

A month renders no value at all once the priced squad falls below 15 players, so a thin squad is never shown as a cheap one. The series is floored at July 2012 on purpose: earlier Transfermarkt totals reflect which players happened to be priced yet rather than the squad’s real worth, and are excluded rather than shown misleadingly low.

Upstream (dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets) has been paused since July 2026, so the series ends where the source ends rather than where the season does.

Player valuations from Transfermarkt via github.com/dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets (CC0).

What the squad was worth€6m
0509915-1617-1819-2021-2223-24

Peak
€92m in Sep 2019 · 34 players valued
Most recent
€6m in Dec 2024 · 17 players valued

Nîmes on the rankings →

The money ledger

Fees paid and received each season, and what the squad was worth once the trading is netted out.

How this is measured

Spent is the fees paid for players arriving, received the fees for players leaving, both in EUR millions by the July-to-June season of the move. A move with no fee on record (a free, a loan, an undisclosed sum) is counted, never priced: the small figure beside each total is the moves with a fee, plus those without (so 4+3 is four priced arrivals and three unpriced), and a quiet window is not mistaken for a cheap one. Wages are not here: they are estimates nobody licenses, and fees are documented.

Appreciation is the season’s change in squad value with the net spend taken out: buy 100m of players and finish 100m higher is zero; finish 120m higher and the club made 20m of players better, or the market repriced them. It needs a priced squad at both ends of the season (the same 15-player floor as the value chart), so it is blank rather than guessed for a season that lacks one.

The source has been paused since 6 July 2026, so the final row holds only the opening days of its window.

Transfer fees and player valuations from Transfermarkt via github.com/dcaribou/transfermarkt-datasets (CC0).

The money ledger+€9m
Spent
€16m
8 arrivals with a fee
Received
€25m
8 departures with a fee
Net
+€9m
64 moves with no fee
Appreciation
+€7m
8 seasons with a priced squad

Grown or bought: in 2025-26, trading €0m and appreciation —. Over the last 5 seasons (2021-22–2025-26), trading +€9m and appreciation unpriced.

The director’s ledger: 8 arrivals graded since 2022-23, 100% EV-positive. No fee-paying arrivals to grade a multiplier on.

2025-26 spent — received —
1 moves, no fee on record
—
unpriced
2024-25 spent — received —
4 moves, no fee on record
—
unpriced
2023-24 spent — received €1m
out: Rafiki Saïd €1m
−€6m
squad gain
2022-23 spent — received €3m
out: Niclas Eliasson €2m
−€13m
squad gain
2021-22 spent — received €6m
out: Birger Meling €3m
−€23m
squad gain
2020-21 spent €7m received —
in: Niclas Eliasson €3m
+€3m
squad gain
2019-20 spent €5m received €16m
in: Lamine Fomba €4m
−€32m
squad gain
2018-19 spent €3m received —
in: Denis Bouanga €3m
+€60m
squad gain

Money against football

Every priced club-season in the six leagues: points against expectation across, squad value gained beyond the net spend up. This club’s seasons are joined.

● the frontier: no other club-season beat it on both axes · ● this club, season by season, the largest dot the latest

Every club’s return on the transfer window →

Greatest games

Nîmes Olympique's top matches by the club Game Score: closeness, stakes, quality and upset over one unified rating of league and European play. H, A and N mark home, away and a neutral venue; a ★ is a curated all-time classic (tap it for the model's own score).All-time board.

1
1951-04-15 · Division 1
60.8
game score
2
1996-05-04 · Coupe de France · Final
60.3
game score
3
1962-05-20 · Division 1
59.4
game score
4
1951-05-20 · Division 1
59.0
game score
5
1954-03-11 · Division 1
57.5
game score
6
2005-04-20 · Coupe de France · Quarterfinals
57.2
game score
7
1951-11-18 · Division 1
56.8
game score
8
1952-02-17 · Division 1
56.8
game score
9
1952-03-02 · Division 1
56.3
game score
10
1996-04-12 · Coupe de France · Semifinals
56.3
game score

Footprint

Tiers played
L1
Top-flight (L1) seasons
39
First season
1933
Most recent season
2021

The Heartbreak Index10.1 · #171

The Tortured · Never won it, waiting since 1933

10.1
Heartbreak
#171
of 1,138 clubs
#91
in Football
10.1
agony
The clocks
  • First major trophy since 193311.2
  • Major final appearance since 19964.9
Heaviest wounds

relegated from the top flight, 2021 · league runner-up, 1960 · league runner-up, 1959 · league runner-up, 1958

One formula, every club the site covers. See the whole board →

Season-by-season

Most recent season first. Covers Ligue 1 only. Rows tagged "national playoff" are pre-modern formats where the workbook records only playoff participants, not round-robin standings.

2021
Ligue 1 (1) · P19↓
38 P · 9-8-21 · 40:71 · -31
35
pts
2020
Ligue 1 (1) · P18
28 P · 7-6-15 · 29:44 · -15
27
pts
2019
Ligue 1 (1) · P9
38 P · 15-8-15 · 57:58 · -1
53
pts
1993
Division 1 (1) · P20↓
38 P · 3-16-19 · 32:66 · -34
22
pts
1992
Division 1 (1) · P15
38 P · 9-14-15 · 31:50 · -19
32
pts
1984
Division 1 (1) · P19↓
38 P · 6-13-19 · 36:70 · -34
25
pts
1981
Division 1 (1) · P19↓
38 P · 6-14-18 · 46:66 · -20
26
pts
1980
Division 1 (1) · P10
38 P · 15-8-15 · 45:50 · -5
38
pts
1979
Division 1 (1) · P8
38 P · 15-9-14 · 61:50 · +11
39
pts
1978
Division 1 (1) · P13
38 P · 11-11-16 · 49:63 · -14
33
pts
1977
Division 1 (1) · P14
38 P · 12-10-16 · 45:56 · -11
34
pts
1976
Division 1 (1) · P11
38 P · 14-9-15 · 50:53 · -3
40
pts
Domestic Cup Finals

Most recent first. Every domestic cup final the club has played, including losses. Scheduled finals (date not yet passed) are flagged.

1996
Coupe de France
Runner-up
1961
Coupe de France
Runner-up
1958
Coupe de France
Runner-up
1958
Trophée des Champions
Runner-up
European competition appearances

Most recent first. One row per entry showing the deepest round reached. A Cup Winner badge marks tournaments the club won: gold for the European Cup / Champions League, silver for every other UEFA or Intercontinental trophy.

1996-97
Cup Winners Cup(CWC)
Round of 16
1972-73
UEFA Cup(UC)
Round of 32 / qualifying
1971-72
UEFA Cup(UC)
Round of 32 / qualifying