They have achieved two successive promotions. They will play in Ligue 1 again next season after a 16-year absence. They also count a string of famous sportspeople — Novak Djokovic, Felipe Massa, Kevin Magnussen and Thibaut Courtois — as investors.And their stadium is located at the Circuit de la Sarthe, host of the iconic Le Mans 24-hour race, one of the showpiece events in the motor racing calendar and held every June.Welcome to Le Mans FC, the French side with lofty ambitions who have drawn similarities with Wrexham in the United Kingdom and Como 1907 in Italy.“We want to build something meaningful,” Georgios Frangulis, investor and operating partner, tells The Athletic. “My main idea is, and it was from the beginning, is to make sure that Le Mans Football Club can be a big brand in the world of sports.”Le Mans’ promotion to Ligue 1 was sealed on the final day of the season with a 2-0 victory away to already-relegated Bastia in Corsica. However, they were made to wait for confirmation for a few days after the game was abandoned in the 91st minute when furious home fans threw smoke bombs and flares on the pitch.Their return to the top flight for the first time since the 2009-10 season came nine months after they were acquired by Brazilian investment firm OutField and Frangulis, founder and CEO of Oakberry, the acai bowl business, who is engaged to world No 1 women’s tennis player Aryna Sabalenka.Having won promotion to Ligue 2 only last year, the new ownership group had initially planned to consolidate their place in the division before aiming for promotion within three years — so their early success came as a welcome surprise.Le Mans’ French coach Patrick Videira looks on (Lou Benoist/AFP via Getty Images)After exploring potential clubs in Spain and Portugal, they had selected Le Mans because of its sound financial footing under president Thierry Gomez, who has remained in his post, its famous name and handy location, only an hour by train to Paris — one of the biggest hotbeds of talent in world football.Pedro Oliveira, lead investor and OutField founding partner, tells The Athletic they had three main objectives. The first involved the sporting side, the second was talent development, and the third is growing the Le Mans FC brand.Frangulis, a self-confessed motorhead who was born and raised in Brazil, persuaded ex-Formula 1 drivers Massa and Magnussen to join the project, along with Djokovic, one of the greatest men’s tennis players of all time. In February, Courtois became the latest sportsperson to invest through his company NxtPlay Capital.“They all understood that it makes a lot of sense for you to connect such a massive brand, which is Le Mans, because it’s one of the brands in sports that everybody knows,” says Frangulis, fresh from a workout, over video call from Miami. “You don’t have to be a motorsport enthusiast to know the name Le Mans. Everybody knows the name, and then football is the biggest sport in the world.