🏏 Sun, 30 Aug 2026 15:00 CEST
Paris FC
vs
OGC Nice
4-2-3-1 vs 3-4-2-1
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- Both sides opened the campaign with goalless draws, and that leaves them level on a single point with a zero goal difference: Nice sit 13th after a 0-0 at home to Lorient, Paris FC 14th after a 0-0 away at Estac Troyes. Each has played only once, so a win here would close the gap on leaders Lille, who already have four points from two matches.
- Pierre Lees-Melou faces his old club. The 33-year-old central midfielder is listed with OGC Nice among his previous clubs, and he arrives having been named in the Ligue 1 team of the season for 2023-24 at Brest, with Premier League experience at Norwich behind him. A genuine box-to-box runner who chips in with goals, he will set the tone for how Paris FC handle the middle third.
- The midfield shape is the key tactical question: Paris FC's double pivot in a 4-2-3-1 against the two central bodies in Nice's 3-4-2-1. Alongside Lees-Melou is Maxime Lopez, the 5ft 6in (167cm) technician who came through Marseille's academy and spent years in Serie A with Sassuolo. Nice hand a central role to 17-year-old academy graduate Djibril Coulibaly, a ball-winning central midfielder facing a considerable experience gap.
- Nice's 3-4-2-1 lives and dies by its wing-backs. On the right, 33-year-old Jonathan Clauss climbed from the lower divisions to the France squad, earned a Ligue 1 team-of-the-season place at Lens and featured at Euro 2024. On the left, 25-year-old Melvin Bard came through Lyon's academy and has passed 150 appearances since joining in 2021. Paris FC will look to pin them back through Moses Simon, 31, and 23-year-old Pablo Pagis.
- Ilan Kebbal is the creative hub for the hosts. The 28-year-old Algeria international operates as a No.10, using a left foot that delivers both incisive passes and set-piece deliveries; he racked up 11 assists in Ligue 2 in 2023-24 to drive Paris FC's promotion. Ahead of him is Mali striker Lassine Sinayoko, a 26-year-old centre-forward standing 1.86m who was schooled in Auxerre's academy and is known for his physicality and penalty-box instincts.
- Nice's front three has Nathan N'Goumou, 26, leading the line with Sofiane Diop and Gauthier Hein tucked in behind. Diop, a Morocco international who came through Rennes and arrived via Monaco, is a right-footed left winger who cuts inside and can also operate as a false nine. Hein, 30 and left-footed, scored 12 goals with six assists in 2024-25 to help Metz go up, and doubles as a dead-ball specialist whose delivery could be decisive.
- There is real pedigree in both goals. Paris FC start Kevin Trapp, the 36-year-old former Germany international who spent four seasons at Paris Saint-Germain and won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt, combining sharp reflexes with comfort on the ball. Nice counter with Senegal's Yehvann Diouf, 26, signed for around seven million euros in summer 2025 after 101 Ligue 1 appearances at Reims and one of the division's best save rates. Neither conceded on matchday one.
- Height is not in short supply at the back. Paris FC pair left-footed Brazilian Otavio, 24, who cost roughly 17 million euros from Porto, with 1.92m Italian Diego Coppola, 22, on loan from Brighton, while Algeria's Samir Chergui adds more than 100 club appearances of know-how. Nice line up Egypt's Mohamed Abdelmonem, a 27-year-old centre-back who won domestic titles and the CAF Champions League with Al Ahly, next to Burundi international Youssouf Ndayishimiye, an 11-million-euro signing.
- The benches could settle it late. Paris FC hold back Jean-Philippe Krasso, the 29-year-old, 1.87m striker who was part of Ivory Coast's 2023 Africa Cup of Nations-winning squad, plus 18-year-old Rudy Matondo, who made his senior debut for Auxerre at 15. Nice keep Swedish winger Isak Jansson in reserve: the 24-year-old joined for 10 million euros from Rapid Vienna after nine goals and six assists in 33 games last season.