Since the return to the top flight in 2002, OGC Nice qualified for European football five times*. So where was the club with eight games left to play? Let’s take a look down memory lane…

2012-13: TIGHT AT THE START, TIGHT AT THE FINISH

2012-2013. Ospina, Civelli, Dario and co. Unfancied at the start of the campaign, Le Gym crashed the party. They sat in the top 6 throughout the second half of the campaign. With eight games to go, they lay in 6th place on 48 points after losing 1-0 to OM at Stade de Ray.

The leading trio of Paris (1st, 61 points), Marseille (2nd, 54) and Lyon (3rd, 53) seem a long way off. The battle was on with Saint-Etienne, Lille and Montpellier.

Claude Puel's team gave it absolutely everything, body and soul. They believed right to the very end, even confronted with a final must-win game in Ajaccio while hoping for a draw between Lille and Saint-Etienne. At the end of the evening, the improbable became reality. Cvitanich and Bauthéac sealed the three points in Corsica. Les Dogues and Les Stéphanois drew 1-1. Le Gym finished 4th and progressed to the Europa League play-offs.

2015-16: A TRIUMPHANT RETURN

2015-16. Thrilling and exciting, right to the end. With eight games to go, "Hatem's gang" had already come a long, long way. They had just won at La Mosson (2-0), putting them on the podium ahead of the sprint finish (3rd, 47 points). Ahead of them, Paris (1st, 77) and Monaco (2nd, 52) were setting a cracking pace. Behind them, Lyon were hanging on (4th, 46). And sandwiched in between, Le Gym was standing up to the challenge. The weeks went by. Lyon jumped ahead and Saint-Etienne came back strongly. Before taking on Gym at home, Les Verts had a one-point advantage. That lead was shattered by the home side's attack. Valère scored a late brace. Nice secured their return to the European stage, finishing the job in Guingamp the following week.

2016-17: LE GYM WITH BREATHING SPACE

A year later, Lucien Favre and his team, with eight left were writing an incredible stary, and sat third in Ligue 1, with 64 points. The future champions Monaco were already a long way off, with 71 points in the bag. Future runners-up Paris were just behind (68). But behind the leading trio, the other European aspirants were too far behind. Lyon (4th) were 9 points off Nice, and Marseille were fifth 18 points adrift!

The order of the top three remained unchanged. Mario, Younes, Paulo and the rest of the Nice team enjoyed a serene final run in. They finished with bronze, including a prestigious win at home to Paris (MD35, 3-1).    

2019-20: A FINISH WITHOUT THE SPRINT

Probably the most unusual sprint of all. And for good reason: the sprint never began. In 2019-20, the Covid pandemic interrupted the championship after 28 matches. Under Patrick Vieira, OGC Nice won a derby on the wire against Monaco, thanks to a sumptuous double from Kasper Dolberg.

Little did anyone know at the time that the win would have massive repercussions, sending the club through to the group stages of the Europa League.  Why? The championship was interrupted and, thanks to a coefficient system, Nice found itself in fifth place when the league was officially suspended.

So with eight games left before the premature finish, where were the men from Le Comté? Midtable, but not too far off the pace. In 11th place in a tight league, with 28 points, just 3 behind fifth-placed LOSC (31). Les Aiglons turned things around right on cue.

2021-22: ACTION, REACTION

2021-22. The last time the club was on the continental stage. After a great start, Le Gym slowed down and fell back in the pack during the second half of the season. After sitting second at the midway point of the season, the team had slipped to fifth with eight games to go, on 51 points, level with Strasbourg (4th).  Right in the thick of the battle, they were still a long way off leaders Paris Saint-Germain (68 points) but within striking distance of the top three, and Rennes (3rd, 53) and Marseille (2nd, 56). Behind them, Monaco and Lille were both four points adrift, chasing the top 5 with real ambition.

Since their Cup win over Versailles on 1 March, Le Gym had known they were qualified for the final of the Coupe de France, and, as a result, had two things to fight for in the final weeks of the campaign. They lost the first to Nantes, a terrible Cup memory (0-1), but still qualified for Europe with via the championship, courtesy of Andy Delort's hat-trick in Reims on the final day of the season.

*After finishing tenth in 2003 and 11th in 2004, Le Gym also played Intertoto Cup matches in the summer of those two years.

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