# 2018–19 FC Metz season

The 2018–19 season was the 87th season in the existence of FC Metz and the club's first season back in the second division of French football. In addition to the domestic league, Metz participated in this season's editions of the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue.
The club was crowned as champions of the campaign with two games to spare and promoted to the top flight after only one year.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 5 March 2019.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | FRA | Paul Delecroix |
| 3 | DF | FRA | Matthieu Udol |
| 5 | MF | CIV | Victorien Angban (on loan from Chelsea) |
| 6 | DF | MLI | Mamadou Fofana |
| 7 | FW | SEN | Ibrahima Niane |
| 8 | MF | FRA | Gauthier Hein |
| 10 | MF | FRA | Marvin Gakpa |
| 11 | FW | SEN | Opa Nguette |
| 12 | MF | SEN | Cheikh Sabaly |
| 13 | DF | ZAM | Stoppila Sunzu |
| 14 | MF | GAM | Ablie Jallow |
| 16 | GK | ALG | Alexandre Oukidja |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | FRA | Thomas Delaine |
| 19 | MF | CIV | Habib Maïga (on loan from St-Étienne) |
| 20 | FW | SEN | Habib Diallo |
| 21 | DF | GHA | John Boye |
| 23 | FW | SEN | Amadou Dia Ndiaye |
| 24 | MF | FRA | Renaud Cohade (captain) |
| 25 | DF | ALB | Iván Balliu |
| 27 | MF | ALG | Farid Boulaya |
| 28 | DF | FRA | Jonathan Rivierez |
| 29 | FW | FRA | Emmanuel Rivière |
| 30 | GK | FRA | Guillaume Dietsch |
| 31 | DF | LUX | Laurent Jans |

### On loan

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 | Oumar Gonzalez (on loan to Villefranche) |
| — | DF | FRA | Nicolas Basin (on loan to Avranches) |
| — | MF | POR | Cafú (on loan to Legia Warsaw) |
| — | MF | FRA | Youssef Maziz (on loan to Avranches) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 2 | MF | CPV | Jamiro Monteiro (on loan to Philadelphia Union) |
| — | MF | ARG | Gerónimo Poblete (on loan to San Lorenzo) |
| — | MF | LUX | Vincent Thill (on loan to Pau) |
| 9 | FW | MLI | Adama Traoré (on loan to Orléans) |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Ligue 2 | 30 July 2018 | 17 May 2019 | Matchday 1 | Winners | 38 | 24 | 9 | 5 | 60 | 23 | +37 | 063.16 |
| Coupe de France | 18 November 2018 | 5 February 2019 | Seventh round | Round of 16 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 060.00 |
| Coupe de la Ligue | 14 August 2018 | 31 October 2018 | First round | Third round | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | +0 | 033.33 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 46 | 28 | 11 | 7 | 71 | 31 | +40 | 060.87 |
Source: Soccerway

### Ligue 2
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or Relegation |
| 1 | Metz (C, P) | 38 | 24 | 9 | 5 | 60 | 23 | +37 | 81 | Promotion to Ligue 1 |
| 2 | Brest (P) | 38 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 64 | 35 | +29 | 74 | Promotion to Ligue 1 |
| 3 | Troyes | 38 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 51 | 28 | +23 | 71 | Qualification to promotion play-offs semi-final |
| 4 | Paris FC | 38 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 36 | 22 | +14 | 65 | Qualification to promotion play-offs quarter-final |
| 5 | Lens | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 49 | 28 | +21 | 63 | Qualification to promotion play-offs quarter-final |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Ligue 2

#### 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 | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | 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 |
| Result | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | W | W | D | L | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | L | D | D | D | W | W | D | D | W | W | D | W | W | D | W | W | L | W |
| Position | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 7 June 2018.

### Coupe de la Ligue
## Statistics
### Goalscorers

    As of 17 May 2019
| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Ligue 1 | Coupe de France | Coupe de la Ligue | Total |
| 1 | 20 | FW | | Habib Diallo | 26 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| 2 | 7 | FW | | Ibrahima Niane | 10 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| 3 | 11 | FW | | Opa Nguette | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 3 | 27 | MF | | Farid Boulaya | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 5 | 10 | MF | | Marvin Gakpa | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | 29 | FW | | Emmanuel Rivière | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | 13 | DF | | Stoppila Sunzu | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 19 | MF | | Habib Maïga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | 24 | MF | | Renaud Cohade | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 21 | DF | | John Boye | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 25 | DF | | Iván Balliu | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 5 | MF | | Victorien Angban | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | 14 | MF | | Ablie Jallow | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | 8 | MF | | Gauthier Hein | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 60 | 7 | 4 | 71 |