# 1996–97 FC Nantes Atlantique season

The 1996–97 season was the 54th season in the existence of Nantes Atlantique and the club's 35th consecutive season in the top flight of French football.

## Season summary

During the 1996–97 French football season, Nantes Atlantique competed in the French Division 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Nantes Atlantique finished third in Division 1, thus qualifying for the 1997–98 UEFA Cup. At the end of the season, manager Jean-Claude Suaudeau, tired of his best players being sold in order to clear the club's debts, retired from football at the end of the season; he was replaced by the club's youth academy manager, Raynald Denoueix.

## First-team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | FRA | Dominique Casagrande |
| — | GK | FRA | Mickaël Landreau |
| — | DF | FRA | Eddy Capron |
| — | DF | FRA | Bruno Carotti |
| — | DF | FRA | Éric Decroix |
| — | DF | FRA | Serge Le Dizet |
| — | DF | FRA | Christophe Pignol |
| — | DF | FRA | Nicolas Savinaud |
| — | MF | FRA | Eric Carrière |
| — | MF | FRA | Frédéric Da Rocha |
| — | MF | FRA | Jean-Michel Ferri |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | FRA | Jocelyn Gourvennec |
| — | MF | FRA | Christophe Le Roux |
| — | MF | FRA | Mehdi Leroy |
| — | MF | FRA | Claude Makélélé |
| — | MF | FRA | Olivier Monterrubio |
| — | FW | FRA | Alioune Touré |
| — | FW | YUG | Nenad Bjeković |
| — | FW | ARG | Javier Mazzoni |
| — | FW | TUN | Adel Sellimi |
| — | FW | CHA | Japhet N'Doram |

## Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | DF | FRA | Nicolas Gillet |

## Competitions
### French Division 1
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Monaco (C) | 38 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 69 | 30 | +39 | 79 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Paris Saint-Germain | 38 | 18 | 13 | 7 | 57 | 31 | +26 | 67 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Nantes | 38 | 16 | 16 | 6 | 61 | 32 | +29 | 64 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Bordeaux | 38 | 16 | 15 | 7 | 59 | 42 | +17 | 63 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Metz | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 62 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Ligue 1

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | L | D | L | L | D | L | L | D | D | D | W | D | W | W | W | D | W | D | D | W | W | D | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | D | W | D | W | L |
| Position | 17 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |

### UEFA Intertoto Cup
#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | NAN | LIL | HEE | KAU | SLI |
| 1 | Nantes | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 10 | Advanced to semi-finals | — | — | 3–1 | 3–1 | — |
| 2 | Lillestrøm | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 9 | | 2–3 | — | — | — | 4–0 |
| 3 | Heerenveen | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 4 | | — | 0–1 | — | 3–1 | — |
| 4 | Kaunas | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 3 | | — | 1–4 | — | — | 1–0 |
| 5 | Sligo Rovers | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 2 | | 3–3 | — | 0–0 | — | — |