Petit Thumb, Versailles, Stadium… What you need to know about L'Union Saint-Jean

A few hours before AS Monaco's 32nd French Cup final on the pitch at the Stadium in Toulouse (2:45 p.m.), find out everything you need to know about the Occitan club, currently 6th in Regional 1.

Make way for the Coupe de France for the Rouge et Blanc. This Sunday, Adi Hütter's men will meet at the Toulouse Stadium (kick-off 2:45 p.m.), to face Union Saint-Jean, in the round of 32 of the competition. A trap match for the Principality club, which will have to be careful not to underestimate the current 6th in Regional 1, of which here are the main characteristics to know. Presentation ✍️

A formation with a very recent past already, since L'Union Saint-Jean came from a merger between the clubs of the municipalities of L'Union and Saint-Jean, which took place in June 2018. Until then only In the sixth French division, the Occitans achieved their promotion to National 3 during the 2021-2022 season, before being relegated the following year to Regional 1.

But the Occitan club can count on the magic of the Coupe de France to make people talk about it. Indeed, the USJFC players defeated AS Montferrand (0-4), then FC Versailles during the previous round (2-1)! An event for this team which had never reached the 32nd finals of the competition before, which inevitably gave rise to a big celebration.

Delighted to fall in the draw against a Ligue 1 team, Union Saint-Jean therefore decided to play the match at the Toulouse Stadium in order to be able to celebrate this qualification in front of a large audience (17,000 seats already sold). A well-known place for the Rouge et Blanc, who walk on this lawn at least once a year.

This is also the case for three USJFC players, who are employees of Toulouse Football Club! Indeed, Paul-Alexandre Cachart, Anatole de Dinechin and Sébastien Chinchilla are respectively video analyst for the women's team, sales representative and physical trainer for the Violets.

First of all, this is AS Monaco's first match against a team playing in the sixth national level or below since January 2016 and the 10-2 success against Villefranche Saint-Jean Beaulieu in the 32nd final of the Coupe de France, notes Opta. This match remains to this day the record for goals scored by AS Monaco in an official match.

The Rouge et Blanc have in any case not lost any of their last nine meetings in the Coupe de France (five wins, four draws including three eliminations on penalties), their longest unbeaten run in the competition since March. 1991 and March 1993 (13).

Finally, more generally, it was only in 2013 that AS Monaco lost fewer matches (four) than in 2024 (nine) over a calendar year in the 21st century in all competitions. A year which saw Maghnes Akliouche be the most used player (39 matches), and the one involved in the most goals in all competitions with the Rouge et Blanc over this period (17 – nine goals, eight assists).

Stéphane, our witness from the Partout Always series, mentioned it! Scorer against AS Montferrand, the midfielder repeated this performance against FC Versailles, allowing L'Union Saint-Jean to take a two-goal lead in the match.

He too was mentioned by Stéphane, Clément Payan has made his place within the Occitan attack. Scorer twice against Montferrand, he is one to watch in the 16 meters.

How can we not talk about the goalkeeper of this team, without whom the Occitan epic could not have continued? Fawzi Rabyi made Union Saint-Jean's journey possible thanks in particular to the clean sheet gleaned against AS Montferrand as well as his saves against the Versailles club.