The 2025/26 season finds Angers SCO back in Ligue 1 following their promotion from Ligue 2 as runners-up in 2024/25, ending a two-year exile that saw the club rebuild under the guidance of Alexandre Dujeux. Le SCO, playing at the intimate Stade Raymond Kopa in western France, have returned to the top flight with their pragmatic identity intact. The club’s famous black and white stripes, worn with pride by the passionate supporters of the Tribune Jean-Bouin, have been a fixture of French football for decades. This season’s squad reflects Dujeux’s tactical vision: organised defenders, hard-working midfielders, and a collective work rate designed to compete against more illustrious opponents. The summer transfer window saw strategic reinforcements, with Angers relying on experienced veterans, undervalued loanees, and homegrown products from the club’s modest academy system. Below lies an exhaustive examination of Angers’s first-team roster for 2025/26, organised by position, with each player’s journey, financial details, and stylistic fingerprints dissected thoroughly.
Goalkeepers
Yahia Fofana
Nationality: Ivorian (French-born)
Former Clubs: Le Havre, Angers
Transfer Fee: €1.5 million (2023)
Yahia Fofana has become Angers’s undisputed number one following his arrival from Le Havre, the Ivorian international providing reflexes, command, and distribution that have silenced pre-season sceptics. The 25-year-old’s shot-stopping (75% save percentage in 2024/25 Ligue 2, 74% in 2025/26 Ligue 1 to date) and command of the penalty area (86% cross-claiming success) have been instrumental in Angers’s survival campaign. Fofana’s distribution (87% pass completion) remains functional. Having started 30 league matches in 2025/26, keeping 10 clean sheets, he has proven remarkably durable. Fofana’s contract runs through 2028.
Melvin Zinga
Nationality: French (Congolese descent)
Former Clubs: Le Havre, Angers
Transfer Fee: €500,000 (2024)
Melvin Zinga has accepted a rotational role behind Fofana, providing French backup depth, cup competition cover, and long-term succession planning. The 23-year-old’s shot-stopping (73% save percentage in limited appearances) and distribution (86% pass completion) provide functional cover. Zinga started 8 matches in 2025/26 (cup competitions and Fofana’s rest), keeping 3 clean sheets. Zinga’s contract runs through 2028.
Yannick Fofana
Nationality: Ivorian
Former Clubs: Angers academy
Transfer Fee: Academy graduate
Yannick Fofana (no relation to Yahia) has served as emergency third-choice option following development with Angers’s youth setup. The 22-year-old’s contract runs through 2028.
Defenders
Cédric Hountondji (Captain)
Nationality: Beninese (French-born)
Former Clubs: Clermont Foot, Angers
Transfer Fee: €1 million (2022)
Cédric Hountondji has become Angers’s defensive captain and leader, the Beninese international providing physicality, aerial dominance, and organisational communication across four seasons at the club. The 31-year-old’s reading of the game—intercepting passes (2.4 per 90), cutting angles, covering for advancing full-backs—provides defensive security. His aerial duel success (86%) leads Angers’s defence, neutralising target forwards and providing set-piece security. Hountondji’s tackling (2.8 per 90) and blocks (1.3 per 90) demonstrate old-school defending. His partnership with Jordan Lefort has conceded only 1.15 goals per 90 minutes over the 2025/26 season to date. Hountondji’s contract runs through 2028.
Jordan Lefort
Nationality: French
Former Clubs: Paris FC, Angers
Transfer Fee: €500,000 (2022)
Jordan Lefort has become Hountondji’s long-term partner, the French centre-back providing left-footed balance, experience, and tactical discipline across four seasons at the club. The 32-year-old’s reading of the game (2.3 interceptions per 90) and positioning provide defensive security. Lefort’s contract runs through 2028.
Florent Hanin
Nationality: French
Former Clubs: Le Mans, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2021)
Florent Hanin has become Angers’s first-choice left-back, the French defender providing energy, crossing, and defensive diligence across five seasons at the club. The 34-year-old’s overlapping runs (3.6 per 90) and crossing (36% accuracy) created 2 assists in 2025/26. Hanin’s contract runs through 2028.
Carlens Arcus
Nationality: Haitian (French-born)
Former Clubs: Cercle Brugge, Ajaccio, Angers
Transfer Fee: €500,000 (2023)
Carlens Arcus has become Angers’s first-choice right-back, the Haitian international providing pace, crossing, and defensive improvement across three seasons at the club. The 29-year-old’s overlapping runs (3.7 per 90) and crossing (37% accuracy) created 3 assists in 2025/26. Arcus’s contract runs through 2028.
Emmanuel Biumla
Nationality: French (Congolese descent)
Former Clubs: Angers academy
Transfer Fee: Academy graduate
Emmanuel Biumla has provided right-back depth following his graduation from Angers’s academy, the 20-year-old defender offering pace and potential. Biumla’s contract runs through 2029.
Sada Thioub
Nationality: Senegalese
Former Clubs: Nîmes, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2022)
Sada Thioub has provided right-back and right-wing depth following his free transfer from Nîmes, the Senegalese winger-turned-full-back offering pace and experience. The 30-year-old’s contract runs through 2028.
Ousmane Camara
Nationality: French (Malien descent)
Former Clubs: Angers academy
Transfer Fee: Academy graduate
Ousmane Camara has provided centre-back depth following his graduation from Angers’s academy. The 22-year-old’s contract runs through 2029.
Midfielders
Pierrick Capelle (Vice-Captain)
Nationality: French
Former Clubs: Clermont Foot, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2017)
Pierrick Capelle has become Angers’s vice-captain and longest-serving current midfielder, the French veteran providing energy, tackling, and leadership across nine seasons at the club. The 38-year-old’s work rate (11.5 kilometres per match) and pressing intensity (11.2 pressures per 90) set Dujeux’s standards. Capelle’s tackling (2.7 per 90) and interceptions (2.4 per 90) provide midfield security. Capelle’s contract expires in 2027, with a coaching role likely thereafter.
Jean-Eudes Aholou
Nationality: Ivorian (French-born)
Former Clubs: Strasbourg, Monaco, Angers (loan), Angers (permanent)
Transfer Fee: €1.5 million (2024, following loan)
Jean-Eudes Aholou’s permanent signing in summer 2024, following a successful loan from Monaco, added Ivorian physicality, tackling, and midfield security to Angers’s squad. The 31-year-old’s tackling (3.2 per 90) and interceptions (2.5 per 90) lead Angers’s midfield. Aholou’s contract runs through 2028.
Himad Abdelli
Nationality: Algerian (French-born)
Former Clubs: Le Havre, Angers
Transfer Fee: €2 million (2023)
Himad Abdelli has become Angers’s creative heartbeat, the Algerian midfielder providing passing range, set-piece delivery, and finishing from attacking midfield across three seasons at the club. The 26-year-old’s finishing (6 goals in 2025/26) and creativity (5 assists) provide balanced output. Abdelli’s set-piece delivery (3 assists from corners and free kicks) adds significant value. Abdelli’s contract runs through 2029.
Zinédine Ferhat
Nationality: Algerian (French-born)
Former Clubs: Le Havre, Nîmes, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2023)
Zinédine Ferhat has provided wide and attacking midfield depth following his free transfer from Nîmes, the Algerian international offering creativity, dribbling, and crossing. The 32-year-old’s finishing (4 goals in 2025/26) and creativity (4 assists) provide functional depth. Ferhat’s contract runs through 2028.
Joseph Lopy
Nationality: Senegalese (French-born)
Former Clubs: Sochaux, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2022)
Joseph Lopy has provided defensive midfield depth following his free transfer from Sochaux, the Senegalese midfielder offering tackling and physicality. The 33-year-old’s contract runs through 2028.
Yassin Belkhdim
Nationality: French (Moroccan descent)
Former Clubs: Angers academy
Transfer Fee: Academy graduate
Yassin Belkhdim has emerged as a promising midfield rotation option following his graduation from Angers’s academy, the 22-year-old providing energy, passing, and tactical discipline. Belkhdim’s contract runs through 2029.
Loïs Diony
Nationality: French (covered in forwards; can play as attacking midfielder)
Zinedine Ould Khaled
Nationality: French (Algerian descent)
Former Clubs: Angers academy
Transfer Fee: Academy graduate
Zinedine Ould Khaled has been named among the substitutes in 2025/26, the 20-year-old midfielder representing the future of Angers’s midfield depth. Ould Khaled’s contract runs through 2030.
Forwards
Loïs Diony
Nationality: French
Former Clubs: Dijon, Saint-Étienne, Bristol City, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2023)
Loïs Diony has become Angers’s primary attacking weapon, the French striker providing finishing, physicality, and hold-up play across three seasons at the club. The 32-year-old’s finishing (11 goals in 2025/26) and conversion rate (25%) provide consistent scoring threat. Diony’s hold-up play (73% success receiving back to goal) and aerial duel success (82%) occupy defenders, creating space for wingers and midfielders. Diony’s contract runs through 2028.
Esteban Lepaul
Nationality: French
Former Clubs: Angers academy
Transfer Fee: Academy graduate
Esteban Lepaul has emerged as a promising striker option following his graduation from Angers’s academy, the 21-year-old Frenchman providing finishing and movement. Lepaul’s finishing (5 goals in 2025/26 in limited minutes) suggests potential. Lepaul’s contract runs through 2029.
Ibrahima Niane
Nationality: Senegalese (French-born)
Former Clubs: Metz, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2024)
Ibrahima Niane has provided striker depth following his free transfer from Metz, the Senegalese forward offering finishing and pace as Diony’s understudy. The 26-year-old’s finishing (4 goals in 2025/26 in limited minutes) provides functional depth. Niane’s contract runs through 2028.
Farid El Melali
Nationality: Algerian (French-born)
Former Clubs: Angers academy
Transfer Fee: Academy graduate
Farid El Melali has provided wide depth following his graduation from Angers’s academy, the 27-year-old Algerian winger offering pace, dribbling, and creativity. El Melali’s finishing (4 goals in 2025/26) and dribbling (3.3 successful take-ons per 90) provide functional depth. El Melali’s contract runs through 2028.
Sofiane Boufal
Nationality: Moroccan (French-born)
Former Clubs: Lille, Southampton, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2024)
Sofiane Boufal’s return to Angers in summer 2024, following his release from Southampton, added Moroccan international flair, dribbling, and creativity to the attack. The 32-year-old’s dribbling (3.7 successful take-ons per 90) and finishing (5 goals in 2025/26) provide functional depth. Boufal’s contract runs through 2028.
Adrien Hunou
Nationality: French
Former Clubs: Rennes, Angers
Transfer Fee: Free transfer (2024)
Adrien Hunou has provided forward depth following his free transfer from Rennes, the French forward offering finishing and movement. The 31-year-old’s finishing (3 goals in 2025/26 in limited minutes) provides functional depth. Hunou’s contract runs through 2028.
Justin-Noël Kalumba
Nationality: French (Congolese descent)
Former Clubs: Angers academy
Transfer Fee: Academy graduate
Justin-Noël Kalumba has been named among the substitutes in 2025/26, the 20-year-old forward representing the future of Angers’s attacking depth. Kalumba’s contract runs through 2029.
Conclusion
Angers’s 2025/26 squad represents the most resilient and hard-working group assembled since the club’s remarkable 2020/21 season under Stéphane Moulin, a testament to Alexandre Dujeux’s pragmatic coaching, the recruitment team’s intelligence (Fofana, Abdelli, Aholou), and the academy’s continued production (Lepaul, Belkhdim, Biumla). The defence, anchored by Cédric Hountondji’s Beninese physicality and Jordan Lefort’s French experience, provides platform for Angers’s organised, defensively sound survival system. The midfield, dominated by Jean-Eudes Aholou’s Ivorian tackling and Himad Abdelli’s Algerian creativity, controls matches through pressing, disruption, and set-piece quality. The attack, headlined by Loïs Diony’s French physicality, carries sufficient goal threat to secure survival. Crucially, Angers has balanced immediate competitiveness with financial sustainability; Fofana, Abdelli, Lepaul, and Belkhdim represent significant resale value while contributing immediately. The looming challenge involves maintaining Ligue 1 status without the financial resources of France’s traditional powers – and continuing to develop homegrown talents for profitable sales while remaining competitive. Yet the Stade Raymond Kopa’s intimate, passionate atmosphere provides emotional fuel. Angers no longer hopes merely to survive; they expect to fight for every point with the spirit of the SCO faithful behind them. This squad appears equipped to deliver another season of Ligue 1 football. Allez Angers.
