Agde Basket are champions of France. On Monday May 25 at the Complexe Luc Abalo in Eaubonne, the club from the Hérault coast completed one of the most deliberate title charges in recent NM3 history, beating Saint-Medard Basket 85-74 in the Final 6 decider to claim the 2025-26 Nationale Masculine 3 title.
The story of this championship began the previous summer. Backed by a real estate developer from Vichy with ambitions as large as his budget, Agde set out in the 2025-26 season with a single stated goal: climb the French basketball pyramid as fast as possible, all the way to Nationale 1. To make that vision a reality, the club recruited Steed Tchicamboud former French international, a man who played at the highest levels of Pro A as head coach, then assembled a squad widely regarded as the most talented ever seen at NM3 level. Their regular season was not without hiccups: they lost ground against direct rivals including Montbrison, Castelnau and Toulouges. But they won Poule C, qualified for the Final 6 in Eaubonne, and then delivered when it mattered most.
The final itself told the full story of Agde's character. Saint-Medard came out sharper, leading 35-30 at half-time in a game that could have tilted either way. But in the third quarter, Tchicamboud's side flipped the switch entirely deploying a more aggressive defence, rediscovering their shooting rhythm, and going on a run that gave them a 60-47 lead heading into the final period. Saint-Médard had no answer from there. The final score of 85-74 was a fair reflection of a contest decided by one team's collective intensity in a single pivotal quarter.
Before the final, Agde had navigated a nerve-wracking semifinal against Phénix Basket Monéteau-Héry, escaping 70-68 in a game that could have ended their run. They also handled Dumbea Basket comfortably in the quarter-finals to reach the last four.
Among the key figures of the title run was Nathan Mepandy (190-PG-1998), a former Île-de-France Pôle Espoirs product of the 1998 generation whose career had taken him through various levels of French basketball before landing in Agde. His experience and leadership in the clutch moments across the Final 6 weekend drew widespread praise from the Île-de-France Basketball League, which called him one of "the major architects of this title."
Agde now turn their attention to what comes next: a place in Nationale 2, and the continuation of a project that has proven, in its very first season, that ambition backed by structure can work even at the fifth tier of French basketball.