ESSM Le Portel
French basketball club with a historic cup final run.
ESSM Le Portel, officially Étoile Sportive Saint-Michel Le Portel Côte d'Opale, is a French professional basketball club from Le Portel. Following relegation from the top-flight LNB Élite after the 2025–26 season, the team now competes in Élite 2, France’s second division.
The club’s most famous achievement came in the 2014–15 season, when it made a stunning run to the Coupe de France final. En route, Le Portel knocked out four Pro A sides—Le Mans, Le Havre, ASVEL, and reigning French champion Limoges CSP—before falling 74–87 to SIG Strasbourg in the title match. The following season, Le Portel won the Pro B playoffs to earn promotion to the Pro A. In its debut top-tier campaign, the team secured the eighth seed and reached the playoffs. The 2017–18 season marked the club’s first European appearance, in the FIBA Europe Cup, where it advanced to the quarter-finals before losing to the Bakken Bears.
Le Portel has played home games at several venues over the years: Georges Carpentier (2003–2007), Salle Damrémont (2007–2013), Lycée Giraux-Sannier (2013–2015), and Le Chaudron (since 2015). The club’s only major honour is a Coupe de France runners-up finish in 2014–15.
Quick Facts
- Leagues
- Élite 2
- Dissolved
- <!-- or
- History
- ESSM Le Portel / (1931–present)
- Arena
- Le Chaudron
- Capacity
- 3,500
- Location
- Le Portel, France
- Coach
- Kenny Grant
- H Body
- 007722
- H Pattern B
- _bb_whitetrimnumbers
- H Pattern S
- _orangesides
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
In the 2014–15 season, ESSM Le Portel achieved a historic run to the Coupe de France Final, defeating Pro A teams Le Mans, Le Havre, ASVEL, and reigning French champion Limoges CSP to qualify for their first cup final ever. They lost the final 74–87 to SIG Strasbourg. The following season, 2015–16, Le Portel won the Pro B play-offs, earning promotion to the LNB Pro A. In their first Pro A season, they reached the playoffs as the eighth seed.
Reader's Guide
ESSM Le Portel's significance lies in its rapid ascent from lower divisions to national prominence, highlighted by a remarkable Coupe de France run in 2014–15 where they upset multiple top-tier teams. Their promotion to Pro A in 2016 and subsequent playoff appearance demonstrated competitiveness at the highest domestic level. The club also made its European debut in the 2017–18 FIBA Europe Cup, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Bakken Bears. Despite relegation to Élite 2 after the 2025–26 season, the team's cup final appearance and European campaign remain defining achievements. Their home arena, Le Chaudron, has been their base since 2015, replacing earlier venues such as Georges Carpentier, Salle Damrémont, and Lycée Giraux-Sannier.
Did You Know?
- ESSM Le Portel reached the Coupe de France Final for the first time in the 2014–15 season.
- They defeated reigning French champion Limoges CSP during their 2014–15 cup run.
- The team was relegated from LNB Élite at the end of the 2025–26 season.
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