Frédéric Antonetti, who has been without a club since leaving Metz last summer, has signed on with Racing Club Strasbourg Alsace, the Alsatian club announced on Monday evening.

"The 61-year-old will hold a press conference at Stade de la Meinau at 14:00, in the company of club president Marc Keller, before leading his first training session tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon," RCSA said in a statement.

Experience and strength. That's what Antonetti, 61, has been brought in to bring the side who sit on the cusp of safety in 17th place, with the mission of keeping this historic French club in the top flight.

Le Scornet's creditable record

The Corsican, who has been out of contract since leaving Metz at the end of last season, succeeds former coach Julien Stéphan's assistant Mathieu Le Scornet, who took over at the beginning of January on an interim basis.

At the time, RCSA were 19th in the standings, with just one win in 17 games, and had also just been eliminated in the Coupe de France by Angers, who are bottom of the league.

With two wins and a draw in six outings on the Strasbourg bench, Mathieu Le Scornet (39) has managed to turn things around. But Strasbourg remain in serious danger in 17th place, one point behind Troyes and safety.

A wealth of experience

Antonetti, who arrives in Alsace with assistant Benoit Tavenot and who will conduct his first training session on Tuesday afternoon, is banking on experience to save the club's top-flight status. The Corsican coach has previously coached SC Bastia, AS Saint-Etienne, OGC Nice, Stade Rennais, LOSC and FC Metz, as well as Osaka in Japan.

This is the fourth time he has been called upon to help a club during the course of a season. These experiences have always been conclusive, with clearly favourable results.

Track record

In October 1994, he was appointed coach of Bastia, and in the 1994-1995 season he managed to keep the club in the top flight and reach the final of the first edition of the Coupe de la Ligue.

In October 2001, he took over a moribund AS Saint-Etienne, 17th in Ligue 2 BKT. Les Verts finished the season in 13th place. Two years later, Antonetti led them to the Ligue 2 BKT title and a return to the top flight.

At the end of November 2015, the native of Venzolasca (Haute-Corse) succeeded Hervé Renard at the helm of LOSC, languishing in 17th place in Ligue 1 Uber Eats after 14 games. Six months later, the northern club ended the season in fifth place, qualifying for the Europa League.

The Metz adventure

Antonetti's last experience on the bench, at Metz, ended when Les Grenats were relegated after the 38th and final round of last season.

But, there too, Frédéric Antonetti had succeeded in his first season. Arriving in 2018, just after Metz's relegation to the second division, he managed to get them back into Ligue 1 Uber Eats immediately - with the the Ligue 2 BKT title under his arm.

He then managed to keep the Moselle club in the top flight twice, finishing 15th and 10th in succession, before falling to the third season with a 19th-placed finish.

With 616 Ligue 1 Uber Eats matches as a coach, Antonetti will be facing bottom club Angers in his first game in charge on Saturday at La Meinau (21:00) in a game that is capital for the club's survival.