Ligue des Opens More Sport : Stage 2 in Montluçon

🇫🇷Lire en français

In a few weeks, Stage 2 of the More Sport Open League will take place. This year, the event is scheduled for Montluçon on the weekend of December 6th and 7th. A total of 27 teams will be divided into three pools (A, B, and C) for this second stage, with 6, 13, and 9 teams respectively.

Pool A

Pool A, composed of six teams, represents the highest level of male competition, bringing together three major Division 1 clubs: Dinan, Fontenay-Trésigny, and Moirans, alongside the League’s reigning champions, Pessac. Fresh off their first-place finish at Stage 1 of the French Championship, the Dinan team are clearly the anticipated favorites. For Fontenay, the stage is crucial for them to rebound after a mixed performance in M1 and confirm their strength against Dinan and Moirans. Pessac, last season’s winner, faces a significant challenge in recovering their winning momentum, which is often hampered by overly aggressive play.

This second stage will also mark the debut of a future international squad, with the appearance of “La Relève Homme*” (the Men’s U24 squad). This tournament will serve as a test for the players coached by Hélène Fauqueux and Michel Blaster, ahead of the World Championships in Turkey in 2026. La Rochelle completes the pool and could cause an upset against the top seeds.

*The lineup is not the final U24M selection.

Pool B

Pool B is expected to be particularly dense this year, gathering 13 teams (Cahors Piranhas, Vulcains, Squale Team, Les Alchimistes, Pessac 2, Okéanos, Nantes, Hyères, LyonFire, Les Sirènes argentées, Lagny, Ermont, Montluçon). This is a historic number, as the pool features this many teams for the first time, surpassing the 11 teams present last year. This high attendance highlights the strong recurrence of clubs returning to competition. The stakes are high: finding a successor to last season’s winners, as the 1st-ranked team, the Babys Teams, is not attending.

Pool C

Pool C brings together 9 registered teams this year (Tentacools, French U24F squad selection, Les Bleuettes (U19F), Master F, Diderot 12 Asnières, La Rochelle Filles, Fontenay&Co, Pessac F, Les Audacieuses). All 9 teams are part of the League, with the exception of Les Audacieuses, which is a non-League team (Hors Ligue).

Crucially, this pool will serve as a training ground for the future of the French youth squad thanks to the presence of the national selections: the U24F* and the Bleuettes (U19F)*, who are preparing for the Youth World Championship in Turkey in 2026.

* The teams lined up are not the final U19F and U24F selections.