the current club was formed as a result of a merger between union sportive du mans and le mans sports club, on 12 june 1985. upon its foundation, former football player bernard deferrez was installed as manager. le mans uc spent the majority of its infancy in ligue 2. in the 2003–04 season, the club achieved promotion to ligue 1 for the first time, but were immediately relegated. le mans returned to the first division for the 2005–06 season and successfully remained in the league for the next four seasons. the club suffered relegated back to ligue 2 in the 2009–10 season. midway through the campaign, on 2 december 2009, le mans announced that it was changing its name from le mans union club 72 to le mans fc.