PSB Watches commits to FC Bassin d'Arcachon

PSB Watches, main sponsor of FC Bassin d'Arcachon

This season, we made a slightly different decision. We sell watches online, and we like that. But at some point, we wanted to exist in a way other than through a screen. So we became the main sponsor of FC Bassin d'Arcachon, a football club from the Gironde coast that has been growing in strength for several years. Here's why we made this choice, and why this club deserves to be talked about.

What exactly is FCBA?

If you don't live near Arcachon, there's a good chance you don't know this club. And that's precisely why we wanted to talk about it. FC Bassin d'Arcachon is a football club that brings together three towns on the Gironde coast: Arcachon, Gujan-Mestras and La Teste-de-Buch. It was founded in 2004 from the merger of the Arcachon and Gujan-Mestras clubs, before welcoming La Teste-de-Buch in 2013. Since its beginnings, the club has always had a clear ambition: to progress, to move up, never to be content with where it is.

An anecdote that says a lot about the club's origins: when it was founded in 2004, Jean-Pierre Papin himself launched his coaching career here. The 1991 Ballon d'Or winner, one of the greatest legends of French football, chose FCBA as his testing ground. Under his direction, the club reached CFA 2, the equivalent of the current Nationale 2, in 2005. A strong signal, right from the start.

Today, FCBA has more than 600 licensees, twenty teams of all ages, and a football school certified by the French Football Federation. It's not a showcase club. It's a grassroots club, animated every weekend by hundreds of volunteers, players, and families. A living club.

Promotion to Nationale 3 snatched in the last seconds

To understand what FCBA is today, we need to go back to the 2023-2024 season. The club plays in Régional 1, the third regional level. The season's objective is clear: to secure promotion to Nationale 3, a national level. But the last few weeks are tense. Several clubs are in the running, points are tight, nothing is decided.

On the last day, FCBA travels to Tartas Saint-Yaguen. They have to win. But things quickly turn into a nightmare: in the 80th minute, the club is down 3 goals to 0. With ten minutes left, promotion seems to be definitively slipping away. That's when this group shows what it's made of. Three goals. Three goals in ten minutes, including a brace from Marvin Esor from a free kick, the club's player-coach, a former professional who played in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 with Arles-Avignon, Clermont and other clubs. Final score: 3-4. FCBA is Régional 1 champion and promoted to Nationale 3.

This kind of match can't be invented. And it says everything about the mindset of a group: no question of giving up, even three goals down, even with ten minutes left. It's this character that makes this club endearing.

The 2025-2026 Coupe de France: the club's greatest run in history

The 2025-2026 season marks another turning point. In the league, FCBA confirms its place in Nationale 3. But it is in the Coupe de France that the club will experience moments it is unlikely to forget anytime soon. Round after round, the players advance, eliminate opponents, and progress. And they will eventually achieve something that no team in this club had ever managed: reaching the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France.

Here's how it all unfolded, match after match.

7th Round, November 16, 2025: FCBA 4-1 Blagnac FC

It was at Stade Jean-Brousse that Arcachon hosted Blagnac FC, a Nationale 3 club like themselves, therefore an opponent at their level. These matches between teams of the same tier are often the trickiest: no possible surprises, everyone knows each other, everyone knows what to expect. FCBA responded with action. A clear, undisputed 4-1 victory. The players showed they were not there just to make up the numbers. The tone was set.

8th round, November 29, 2025: FC Marmande 47 1-4 FCBA (extra time)

Second outing, this time away to Marmande, at Stade Michelon. FC Marmande 47 plays in Régional 1. On paper, FCBA is the favorite. But Cup matches are not played on paper. The match is tight, both teams don't let go, and the game goes beyond regulation time. In extra time, FCBA takes the upper hand and wins easily: 1-4. Qualification secured. And a certainty that begins to settle in the group's mind: this team can go far.

Qualification for the 32nd finals is a first in the club's history. Marvin Esor, FCBA's manager, a former French youth international who came through the Girondins de Bordeaux academy, doesn't hide his pride at the end of the match, even before knowing the opponent for the next round. He simply said: "I'm happy with the qualification. No matter the opponent, the idea will be to show our best face and the best version of ourselves."

The draw for the 32nd finals

The draw is made. Their opponent: Hauts Lyonnais, a Nationale 3 team, second in their group, a solid team with five wins in their last seven matches. No PSG, no Marseille, no big Ligue 1 club. Some might have been disappointed. Marvin Esor, for his part, states clearly: "Frankly, I didn't feel any disappointment." And he adds what really matters to him before this encounter: "Our priority is to please our supporters who will come this weekend and respect the green rectangle."

The match is scheduled for Sunday, December 21, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. At home. At Stade Jean-Brousse in Arcachon. FCBA will be the only club from the Bassin d'Arcachon still in the running at this stage of the competition.

32nd finals, December 21, 2025: FCBA 0-1 Hauts Lyonnais

D-Day. Stade Jean-Brousse is packed. The atmosphere is there, supporters came in large numbers to support their players in what is clearly the biggest match in the club's recent history. Opposite, a well-prepared Hauts Lyonnais team, used to playing on artificial turf and who would have to adapt to Arcachon's natural pitch. A slight advantage on paper for the home team, but not enough to completely reassure.

The match was played with tension and intensity. The Lyonnais were organized, difficult to destabilize. A single goal made the difference. A Lyonnais goal. Final score: 0-1. The defeat was cruel, as Cup matches can be, where a single detail changes everything. But in the locker rooms, in the stands, throughout the Bassin d'Arcachon that evening, the dominant feeling was not sadness. It was pride.

Because reaching the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France while playing in Nationale 3, beating two opponents with clear scores before falling in a tight match against a good team, is a real achievement. It's a page of history that the club had never written before. And that page, no one can take away from them.

Why PSB Watches partners with FCBA

The question we are sometimes asked: why would a watch website sponsor a football club? The answer is simple. Our business is 100% online. We carefully select watches, we pay attention to every detail of the customer experience, we do everything to make the purchase smooth and pleasant. But something is missing that a website, no matter how well designed, cannot provide alone: proof that there are people behind it. People with values, who are committed, who make concrete choices.

Supporting FCBA is our way of anchoring ourselves in something real. A club, a stadium, a community. Our logo on that jersey, every championship weekend, is proof that we are here, not just online.

And deep down, there's something natural about this connection. A watch is about precision, duration, attention to detail. A club that moves up division after division, that comes back from 3-0 down in the last minutes, that reaches the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France for the first time in its history, has exactly the same mindset. We work hard, we don't give up, we aim higher. We recognized ourselves in that.

Come see them play

Matches are played at Stade Jean-Brousse, boulevard Mestrezat in Arcachon. If you're in the region and don't know this club yet, go at least once. The atmosphere is genuine, the football is committed, people go for good reasons. And you'll see our colors on the field.