Valenciennes FC

Heartbreak#2638.1

Valenciennes, Valenciennes · France · Ligue 1

Top-4 finishes
2

Power-ranking history

Rank (1 = best)1594Score (per-season normalised)0.00.51.059/6064/6569/7074/7579/8084/8589/9094/9599/0004/0509/10

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 8 seasons from 2006-07 to 2013-14 it has fallen short of them by −6.1 match points.

2006-07 to 2013-14one bar per season · height in match points

Best season against expectation
2009-10 +4.2 league pts
52 points on 47.8 expected as Valenciennes FC
Worst season against expectation
2013-14 −13.1 league pts
29 points on 42.1 expected as Valenciennes FC

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.

Valenciennes 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€7m
0244712-1314-1516-1718-1920-21

Peak
€44m in Jul 2012 · 26 players valued
Most recent
€7m in May 2024 · 15 players valued

Valenciennes 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+€24m
Spent
€2m
2 arrivals with a fee
Received
€26m
12 departures with a fee
Net
+€24m
93 moves with no fee
Appreciation
−€12m
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 +€10m and appreciation unpriced.

The director’s ledger: 21 arrivals graded since 2022-23, 100% EV-positive. No fee-paying arrivals to grade a multiplier on.

2025-26 spent — received —
4 moves, no fee on record
—
unpriced
2024-25 spent — received €5m
out: Joachim Kayi Sanda €5m
—
unpriced
2023-24 spent — received €3m
out: Mohamed Kaba €3m
—
unpriced
2022-23 spent — received —
14 moves, no fee on record
—
unpriced
2021-22 spent — received €2m
out: Ismaël Doukouré €2m
—
unpriced
2020-21 spent — received —
5 moves, no fee on record
—
unpriced
2019-20 spent — received —
9 moves, no fee on record
−€1m
squad gain
2018-19 spent — received €3m
out: Sikou Niakaté €3m
+€3m
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

Valenciennes FC'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
1961-06-04 · Division 1
62.5
game score
2
1971-06-26 · Division 1
57.2
game score
3
2012-02-08 · Coupe de France · Round of 16
54.8
game score
4
1973-05-12 · Division 1
53.5
game score
5
1970-06-10 · Division 1
52.9
game score
6
1970-06-03 · Division 1
51.5
game score
7
1957-04-14 · Division 1
50.6
game score
8
1980-04-25 · Division 1
50.4
game score
9
1963-05-18 · Division 1
49.3
game score
10
2012-05-13 · Ligue 1
48.9
game score

Footprint

Tiers played
L1
Top-flight (L1) seasons
33
First season
1936
Most recent season
2014

The Heartbreak Index8.1 · #263

The Tortured · Never won it, waiting since 1936

8.1
Heartbreak
#263
of 1,138 clubs
#160
in Football
8.1
agony
The clocks
  • First major trophy since 19369.6
  • Major final appearance since 19514.8
Heaviest wounds

relegated from the top flight, 2014 · relegated from the top flight, 1993 · relegated from the top flight, 1961 · relegated from the top flight, 1971

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.

2014
Ligue 1 (1) · P19↓
38 P · 7-8-23 · 37:65 · -28
29
pts
2013
Ligue 1 (1) · P11
38 P · 12-12-14 · 49:53 · -4
48
pts
2012
Ligue 1 (1) · P12
38 P · 12-7-19 · 40:50 · -10
43
pts
2011
Ligue 1 (1) · P12
38 P · 10-18-10 · 45:41 · +4
48
pts
2010
Ligue 1 (1) · P10
38 P · 14-10-14 · 50:50 · 0
52
pts
2009
Ligue 1 (1) · P12
38 P · 10-14-14 · 35:42 · -7
44
pts
2008
Ligue 1 (1) · P13
38 P · 12-9-17 · 42:40 · +2
45
pts
2007
Ligue 1 (1) · P17
38 P · 11-10-17 · 36:48 · -12
43
pts
1993
Division 1 (1) · P18↓
as US Valenciennes · 38 P · 9-11-18 · 42:57 · -15
29
pts
1982
Division 1 (1) · P18↓
as US Valenciennes · 38 P · 10-10-18 · 40:59 · -19
30
pts
1981
Division 1 (1) · P11
as US Valenciennes · 38 P · 12-12-14 · 51:70 · -19
36
pts
1980
Division 1 (1) · P8
as US Valenciennes · 38 P · 14-12-12 · 47:47 · 0
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.

1951
Coupe de France
Runner-up