Le Havre have two points from 10, and their new coach Ismaël has never coached in France

Valérien Ismaël has coached in Germany, Greece, Austria, Turkey and England. He had never taken a job in his own country until Thursday, when American-owned Le Havre hired him through the end of the season to rescue a team with two points and no wins from 10 Ligue 1 games. The 51-year-old Frenchman, who played for Strasbourg, Crystal Palace, Lens, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich, takes over at the bottom of the table, and his first game is away at relegation rival Troyes on Nov. 20.

Le Havre's announcement leaned on Ismaël's résumé away from France. It listed his coaching stops at Nuremberg and Wolfsburg in Germany and at Barnsley, West Bromwich Albion, Watford and Blackburn Rovers in England, and said he has already dealt with "emergency situations," which "could prove very useful in the coming weeks." The club described him as a hard worker who insists on respect for everyone at the club, from administrative staff to supporters.

The search was backed by "several areas of expertise" within Blue Crow Sports Group, the American group that owns the club, according to the statement. Ismaël brings assistants Dennis Baraznowski and Mo Sahli and goalkeeper coach Charles Cieslinsky.

His most recent job ended in February, when he left Blackburn after a year in charge with the Championship club in a relegation fight, AFP reported. That is not the cleanest record to sell to a fan base that is already angry.

Ismaël is walking into a club that lost its coach, its president and its sporting director in a matter of days. After a 5-1 home loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Oct. 30, the club suspended Didier Digard, who had kept Le Havre in Ligue 1 the previous two seasons on limited resources. Digard, 40, came through the club's academy and had his contract extended by a season in June. After that PSG game, the fifth straight league defeat and 12 goals conceded in three matches, he had publicly blamed his players for "professional faults," per franceinfo.

President Jean-Michel Roussier, in the job since June 2022 and a former president of Marseille, resigned the same weekend. Local outlet actu.fr reported that sporting director Demba Ba also left, and that supporters responded with "Blue Crow out" messages on the windows of the Stade Océane. Blue Crow has owned the club since June 2025.

Interim coach Jaïr Karam, the academy director, took charge for one game and lost 2-0 at home to Lorient on Nov. 8.

Digard was the second Ligue 1 coach to lose his job this season, after Lens fired Dino Toppmöller six league games in. In Le Havre's case there is no time for a long rebuild. The international break gives Ismaël one week of training before Troyes, and a club founded in 1872, the oldest in French professional soccer according to AP, can't afford to fall further behind the teams just above it.

Ismaël's contract runs only to June, which says plenty about the brief. He doesn't have to build a project at Le Havre. He has to find points, starting in Troyes, for a team that has collected two all season.