Sochaux, who were overawed by Monaco in the League Cup final last year, had keeper Teddy Richert to thank for a string of superb saves throughout the match, and above all during the all-decisive penalty shoot-out.

The final finished 1-1 in regulation time after Sylvain Monsoreau levelled for Sochaux in the 18th minute to cancel out Gregory Pujol's opener five minutes earlier.

Nantes, who enjoyed the lion's share of chances throughout, were left kicking themselves in the busy second period of extra time when they missed several opportunities to put the match beyond reach.

The hosts dominated the opening period of the first half, with Frederic Da Rocha sending an inviting header over the crossbar from close range after meeting defender Sylvain Armand's lofted ball in.

Minutes later the Canaries took the lead when Da Rocha, on the right wing, served Gregory Pujol, who cut through the Sochaux defence to toepoke the ball past Richert in the Sochaux goal.

Sochaux however did not wait long to level, with Souleymane Diawara nodding on a freekick from the left flank which allowed Sylvain Monsoreau, standing unmarked, to beat Landreau with another header from close range.

Superstitious Sochaux, playing happily as the visitors after last year's 4-1 rout against Monaco, almost took the lead when some incisive play in midfield led to Brazilian-born Tunisia international Santos running down on goal before he was shut down by defender Mario Yepes.

The second half saw few goalscoring chances, a situation that led to some of the notoriously fickle 79,000 fans at the Stade de France raining down whistles on the players.

Nantes had a claim for a penalty turned down after Viorel Moldovan came crashing to the ground but it was a great tackle by defender Gregory Paisley that saved Sochaux's blushes.

Then Sochaux skipper Benoit Pedretti produced a blistering shot just after the hour mark which came close to giving them the advantage.

Nantes enjoyed the last real chance of regulation time when Armand's header from close range went wide.

Four minutes into extra time Pujol saw his shot from close range go wide and Richert did superbly to stop a fierce 12-yard drive from substitute Gilles Yapi five minutes later.

Moments before the end of the second period of extra time Moldovan had two shots on goal, his first being blocked by the defence before the Romanian hit his own rebound wide.

Then Moldovan clashed with a team-mate as they both went for a ball which Richert had blocked seconds earlier, and the resultant shot went agonisingly wide.

Richert then turned hero in the penalty shoot, notably saving Nantes keeper Landreau's cheeky chip when both teams had finished all square after their five permitted penalty takers.

The Sochaux keeper then stopping superbly from Pascal Delhommeau to hand the club their first major title in decades.