FC Metz Tryouts & Club Guide: History, Stadium, Players, and More!

Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz, is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football.

FC Metz Youth Development System

FC Metz Academy Training Center

From the beginning of the 70s, the Football Club of Metz worked on the creation of its training center. This project officially materialized in 1975. Since that date, it has revealed many players who have marked the history of the club.

Among them, Michel Ettore, Sylvain Kastendeuch, Philippe Hinschberger, Philippe Gaillot, Thierry Pauk, Marco Morgante, Carmelo Micciche, Alain Colombo, Cyril Serredszum, Cyril Pouget, Jeff Strasser, Sylvain Marchal, Stéphane Borbiconi, Franck Signorino, Franck Béria, Ludovic Obraniak , Papiss Cissé, Rudy Gestede, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sadio Mané, without forgetting of course Robert Pirès, Manu Adebayor, Miralem Pjanic, or Diafra Sakho.

After a first stage in Metz, followed by the historic period of the Chalet de Vaux, the training center moved to the current site of the Saint-Symphorien block, in 1995, thanks to the support of the City of Metz and the General Council of Moselle. Inaugurated on September 1, 1995, the new accommodation center was the starting point for the construction, step by step of a project thought out and designed to place training at the heart of the club and establish it permanently among the best French clubs. in this domain.

FC Metz Training Center Rankings

Regularly in the Top 10 of French training centers, FC Metz is most often in the TOP 5 in the annual ranking established by the National Technical Department.

This classification takes into account five parameters:

• Number of professional footballer contracts signed by club-trained players aged under 25 and playing in one of the top 10 countries in the UEFA rankings.
• Number of matches played by players from the training center with the club’s professional team during the past season.
• Number of participations in official matches of the French national teams, by players in training, during the past season.
• Number of school or university diplomas obtained by players in training.
• Qualification and seniority of educators and trainers at the training center.

FC Metz Training Center Philosophy

Allowing each player to make the most of their potential, by developing the qualities of reflection, perseverance, autonomy, and by valuing the capacity for work and the sense of personal commitment: this is the idea -force around which our training project is built.

FC Metz’s training policy is therefore based on six essential principles:

• Allow young players in training to follow traditional education in public schools alongside non-athletic students, and stimulate their openness;
• Maintain confidence in our players, giving them time to develop;
• Support our young players to turn them into accomplished sportsmen and women and responsible adults;
• Put a team of sports, educational, school and medical supervision at the service of each player, in order to guide, stimulate and support them in their personal development and fulfillment;
• Work closely with the parents of each player for the development and progression of their child;
• To give all the keys to success to the players who will manage to integrate professional football, but also to those who will pursue their careers outside professional football.

FC Metz Training Structure

The training is the structure of access to high-level football par excellence. The aim of training is to prepare young players for all the requirements of professional football.

15-18 YEARS OLD: INITIAL TRAINING (U16, U17, U18)

This is the first level of training.

The players follow a classic school course there, benefiting from schedules arranged in one of the Metz schools partners of our Training Center.

Sports training for young players in initial training is organized around school priority.

The key moments of a typical week for a player and a player in initial training are as follows:

• 5 to 7 training sessions per week,
• participation in a national level competition,
• friendly matches,
• daily public education in one of the partner schools,
• 4 to 5 sessions of academic support and homework help per week,
• 2 weekly medical consultations, provided by a doctor dedicated to this age category,
• 1 daily attendance in physiotherapy,
• educational support for young interns within the accommodation structure of the FC Metz Training Center for boys, and within a boarding school of excellence for girls.

FC Metz brings together the best conditions to allow each player in initial training:

• to progress sportily,
• achieve their academic goals,
• to adhere to the values ​​which are dear to our club.

18-20 YEARS OLD: TERMINAL TRAINING (U19, U20)

It is the ultimate level of high level football training.

Graduates and freed from the constraints of second cycle education, the players nevertheless continue their dual training project: sports and university (DU in Sports Management, UFR STAPS, training in foreign languages ​​or preparation for coaching diplomas, etc.).

The sports training of players in final training is now organized around the individual sports priority. Competition is a tool for the individual development of the player, and not an end in itself.

The objective of terminal training is to offer each player an individualized training program in terms of volume and quality. The key moments of a typical week for a player in terminal training are as follows:

• 7 to 10 training sessions per week,
• participation in a national level competition,
• friendly matches,
• 2 to 3 half-days per week devoted to a personal training project,
• 3 medical consultations per week provided by a doctor exclusively dedicated to this age category,
• 1 daily attendance in physiotherapy,
• support towards an independent adult life in independent accommodation.

FC Metz brings together the best conditions to allow each player in final training:

• to make the most of their sporting potential and to put all the assets on their side to integrate professional football,
• to integrate fully into the world around him,
• to give oneself the keys to a successful future.

FC Metz Training Center Education

SCHOOLING AT THE TRAINING CENTER

At the FC Metz Training Center, the individual is placed at the heart of the concerns of all management, whose daily objective is to train men, by developing their sporting, but also intellectual and social potential.We make sure to help each of our young players get the best of themselves, in all aspects of their lives.
 For this reason and because we are responsible for these young boys and their parents, schooling occupies a central place in the organization of our training course.
 The success of this dual educational and sports project is based on strong and lasting partnerships with several schools in the greater Metz area:

• Arsenal College,
• the Lycée Louis de Cormontaigne,
• the Lycée Robert Schuman,
• the Lycée Anne de Méjanès,
• the André Citroën Automotive Trades High School.

These partnerships thus allow:

1. An arrangement of the weekly timetable (end of lessons at 3:00 p.m., timetable allowing all the lessons to be followed)
2. Daily and individualized monitoring (daily exchanges between the establishments and the educational manager of the training center)
3. Active participation of trainers in all class councils for young footballers

In addition, the training center runs a school support structure on a daily basis, supervised by a team of qualified and experienced teaching staff. Homework 2 hours are integrated in daily time use of young players in pre-training and training. 

The choice of external schooling, in schools in the city, allowing young players to remain at the heart of their social life as a high school student,
The strong relationships established with the management and teaching teams of partner institutions,
The involvement of all members of the management team in the school project of each player,
Significant resources committed for quality academic support to serve our young players,
Make the singularity and strength of our training center in the care of our young player-students. 

With more than 93% success in the baccalaureate exams over the past 15 seasons, the results are up to our commitments. 

FC Metz Pre-Training

Concerning young boys and girls aged 13 to 15, it constitutes the first step towards the top-level. Its success is essentially based on the close collaboration between the Arsenal college and the club. Created in 1996, the Sports Section of Arsenal College has enabled FC Metz to be a pioneer in pre-training, anticipating the establishment of the Poles Espoirs by the French Football Federation.

The numerous academic and sporting achievements of this section have aroused the interest of many major players in departmental and regional sport. Today, Arsenal College brings together, in the wake of FC Metz: a Hope Pole for men’s basketball, a Hope Pole for women’s handball, a Hope Pole for mixed judo, a Hope Pole for table tennis, departmental sports sections swimming, gymnastics, rugby, tennis, skating … and since September 2015, a departmental sports section of women’s football bringing together 16 young footballers (4th / 3rd) as part of a collaboration between FC Metz and the Mosellan District of Soccer.

This dynamic was supported from the start by the Departmental Directorate of National Education and the General Council of Moselle. The high point of this collaboration was the financing by the General Council of Moselle of a Boarding School for Sport and Success, inaugurated in 2011, within the very premises of the college. It accommodates 84 sportsmen (ves) including 30 footballers in exceptional accommodation conditions, in the immediate vicinity of the college and sports facilities. Managed successively by Denis Schaeffer then Sébastien Muet and Bertrand Antoine, the Pre-training Pole of FC Metz is now placed under the responsibility of Sébastien Allieri.

The significant resources developed by the club for its success demonstrate the importance given to this stage in FC Metz training policy, based on the following objectives:

• Bring together the best potential from the FC Metz football school, the football schools of clubs associated with “Club FC Metz-Moselle” and regional football, from category U14 (4th), or even U13 (5th).
   
• Offer these players a course allowing them to reconcile sports development, academic progress, education and family balance:
  • Schedule (end of lessons at 3 p.m. / start of lessons at 9 a.m. on Monday).
  • No course exemption (timetable including music, plastic arts, physical education and sports …).
  • Daily training, Monday to Friday (3.15 p.m. – 5.15 p.m.).
  • Daily school support session (7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.) supervised by teachers specializing in tutoring young students.
  • Daily relations between the college’s educational teams and FC Metz referents.
  • Dedicated medical follow-up: a doctor specifically in charge of the Pre-training group, physiotherapy treatments organized directly at the boarding school.
     
• Offer young pre-training players a collective dynamic allowing each of them to rise:
  • Summer courses, including one week relocated (Brittany, Gironde, Provence, etc.)
  • International tournaments (2 to 3 per season).
  • School sport competitions (UNSS): futsal in 4th, competition reserved for Elite sports sections in 3rd.
  • Stays and trips abroad depending on the opportunities offered (Florida, China …)
     
• Prepare young players for the training center requirements.
  • Training contents
  • Hygiene and pace of life
  • Level of educational requirements (attitude towards effort, personal investment, behavior, respect for the structure and people, etc.)

SUCCESSES, SUCCESSES:

• Convincing collective results for many years (Inter-regional U15 champion for almost 10 years, victories and finals of prestigious international tournaments, 7 titles of champion of France of the Elite sports sections …)
• Demonstrating academic results (100% success in the secondary school diploma in 2015, 2016 and 2017, 80% orientation in general 2nd, etc.)
• A strong presence of players from the Pre-Training Pole in the training center’s workforce. (each year 70% of outgoing U15s join the training center for a course of 3 to 5 years).
• Access to the highest level of many players: Miralem PJANIC, Yeni NGBAKOTO, Rudy GESTEDE, Romain METANIRE, Gaétan BUSSMANN, Joris DELLE, Gaétan BONG, Thomas DIDILLON, Maxwel CORNET, Matthieu UDOL, Chris PHILLIPS, Anthony MFA MEZUI… by elsewhere all graduates …
• The academic and athletic progress of many others who today pursue a life of adult and accomplished athlete.

Building on these successes, the Pre-training Pole occupies an essential place in our organization.

FC Metz Training Center Infrastructure

In order to put young players in training in the best possible conditions, the FC Metz Training Center has high-level infrastructure.

THE PLAINE SAINT-SYMPHORIEN TECHNICAL CENTER

Goulotte promenade 57050 LONGEVILLE-LES-METZ

The Technical Center brings together all the sports infrastructures necessary for training and competition:

•  1 grassy training area
•  2 synthetic pitches
•  1 synthetic playing square
•  A clubhouse with changing rooms

Current projects :

• Renewal of a synthetic pitch
• Extension of the locker room building
• Renewal of the synthetic surface of the playing square
• Construction of modular stands

THE ACCOMMODATION CENTER

5 allée Saint-Symphorien 57000 METZ

The accommodation center brings together all the infrastructures necessary for the daily life of young players in training:

• A boarding school with 22 double rooms, 3 rooms with 4 beds, a relaxation area, a TV room
• A restaurant with veranda and terrace 
• A weight room
• A medical space
• An educational space made up of 5 classrooms and equipped: computers, WiFi, library, etc.

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FC Metz Football School

Open to young footballers aged 8 to 13, the FC Metz football school aims to enable them to discover the basics of the game, develop motor skills and coordination, and gradually provide them with the technical basics of football. The FC Metz football school must provide an appropriate response to young boys motivated by activity and to parents aware of the important role of sports practice in education. 

• Its success is fundamentally based on the commitments made by the club, namely:
• Guarantee qualified, experienced and passionate supervision.
• Provide a training offer to offer 2 weekly sessions in U8 and U9, 3 weekly sessions from the U10 category. 
• Offer innovative and progressive training content that is part of a long-term player training project.
• Organize the reception of players in the best conditions, at the Technical Center of the Plaine Saint Symphorien (grounds, changing rooms, clubhouse, etc.).
• Carry out two individual interviews each year with the parents of each  player, in order to associate them with the progress of their child.
• Offer a competition program adapted to each age group (  friendly meetings , tournaments, etc.).
• Prepare young players, from U11s, for a possible entry into the  pre – training cycle (4th / 3rd) at Arsenal college in Metz: evaluation, school monitoring, etc.

FC Metz Football School Recruitment | Trails

The detection of young talents is aimed primarily at players in the U10, U11, U12 and U13 categories.

If you wish to send your child’s application directly to our Football School, you can send a letter to the following address:

Association FC Metz
5 allée Saint-Symphorien
57000 Metz

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FC Metz International Football Academy (MIFA).

The development of international relations established over the past ten years with China, Canada and South Korea led to the official creation in 2013 of  FC Metz International Football Academy (MIFA). 

This structure placed under the responsibility of the FC Metz Training Center aims to allow young footballers or educators from all over the world to be able to access a high-level training structure and benefit from the know-how and the experience acquired by our club in this area. The actions carried out are mainly oriented towards welcoming young players:

• Short and medium-term course (1 week to 3 months) intended for players aged 15 to 18. 
• Short-term course (1 to 3 weeks) aimed at established groups or teams (selection, club, high school, etc.).
• Long-term courses (1 season) intended for players aged 15 to 18, in complete immersion within the FC Metz training center.

For each type of internship, a specific and adapted program is offered. Depending on demand, it includes training, friendly matches, learning the French language, distance learning or in a partner establishment, medical follow-up, school follow-up, cultural visits, etc.

Other actions are organized for coaches as part of their personal training:

• Individualized welcome (observation of sessions, discussions with technicians from the training center, match analysis, etc.). 
• Intervention in the training of educators (internships, seminars) abroad.
• Organization of training courses for educators in Metz, lasting 1 to 2 weeks: theoretical training, field sessions, observation and analysis of high-level meetings, exchanges with the technical team of the FC training center Metz, etc.

In recent seasons, many structures (federations, provinces, clubs, high schools) have approached FC Metz International Football Academy:  

• Chinese Football Federation
• Chengdu Football Federation (China)
• Shanghai School Football League (China)
• Chinese University Football Federation
• Academy Edukick New-Delhi (India)
• Eric Benny Academy (India)
• Saint Georges Mussoori College (India)
• Singapore Football Federation
• Quebec Soccer Federation

To learn more about the international academy, please click here.

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FC Metz History

Stade Saint-Symphorien, which is located within the city of Metz, serves as the venue for all of the club’s home games. Frédéric Antonetti is the man in charge of the team at the moment. Metz have competed in Ligue 1 for 61 seasons and Ligue 2 for 17 seasons during the course of their 88-year history. They have won the Coupe de France twice as well as the Coupe de la Ligue twice, despite the fact that they have never won the top division.

Stadium

The Stade Municipal Saint-Symphorien in Metz, France is a stadium that may be used for a variety of events. It is situated on the “island saint-Symphorien.”

At the moment, the majority of its usage is reserved for football matches played by FC Metz. The stadium was constructed in 1923 and has the capacity to accommodate 30,000 people.

Crest

Its nickname, “Les Grenats,” comes from the color combination of grenat (maroon) and white that is its official team color combination.

The Lorraine cross, which represents the team’s geographical identity, is included on the crest of the team. Also featured on the crest is a dragon known as the Graoully, which, according to local mythology, Saint Clement of Metz tamed.