AS Monaco FC
| Full name | Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | Les Rouge et Blanc (the red and white), Les Asemistes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1st august 1924 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Stade Louis II, Monaco (Capacity: 18,527) |
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| Chairman |  Jerome de Bontin |
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| Manager |  Ricardo Gomes |
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| League | Ligue 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | Ligue 1, 12th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club is a Monegasque football club founded in 1919. They became a professional club after 1948. Although the club is in Monaco, it has always competed in the French football structure due to Monaco being too small in territory to hold other clubs of note. It is one of the most successful clubs in French football, with seven league titles and five French Cup titles. It has also had some successful campaigns in Europe, including a run to the final of the UEFA Champions League, in 2004, but it has not won a European competition.
Monaco were shock finalists in the UEFA Champions League in 2004, impressively beating the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea along the way there, but they were defeated by FC Porto in the final, losing the match 3-0. This remains Monaco's greatest achievement so far in Europe, but in 2005 Monaco were beaten in the 3rd qualifying round stage by Real Betis. They have since continued recent good form and secured a place in the 1/16th of the UEFA Cup vs. Basel after having won the Group Stage tournament (group including Hamburg, CSKA Sofia, Slavia Prague and Viking Stavanger), after a victorious home/away fixture over Dutch side Willem II.
However, Monaco never got better since its spectacular season 2003/2004. The years after were really disappointing for both the fans and the management. In April 2008, chairman Michel Pastor resigned from his position. Jerome de Bontin until then, administrator took the head of the club with a brand new policy, trusting the young players issued from the club, trying to attract foreign investors, and for the first time since a while, keeping the same coach for the beginning of a new season.
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History
The AS Monaco was created on August 1st, 1919 with the reunion of several clubs of the area. The story began in regional district of the PACA region during the 1920’s when Monaco rose to the upper regional leagues. In 1933, Monaco is invited by the French league to become professional. However, the Monegasque’s year in second division was a failure; they were back to an amateur level the next year.
In 1948, AS Monaco re-entered the French Second Division and acquired its professional status again. The first years of Monaco’s professionalism were pretty good, the club is maintained in the top of the league, and even played the upper part of the division until 1953, when the club is promoted into the French First Division.
In 1960, AS Monaco and its iconic coach Lucien Leduc won its first professional trophy, the French Cup. The year after, Monaco is sacred French Champion for the first time of its history, won the French League Cup and was qualified to play the European C2 the next year. Monaco won another French champion title in 1963 with coach Leduc and Chairman Antoine Romagnan.
During the next decade, Monaco stayed in the middle of the league, until 1969, and then even went up and down between first and second division between 1969 and 1975.
In 1975, president Jean-Louis Campora, son of Charles Campora, former president of the club in the 1950’s took the head of the club. For his second season, he brought back coach Lucien Leduc in the club, got promoted in first division the same year, and won the French championship the next year. Campora’s presidency will earn 5 French championships, several national cups and a constant participation to the European cups. Famous coaches and players came to Monaco for these years, until the last title in 2000, where some rumors about some management mistakes have been done and the possibility to see Monaco into financial troubles.
Jean-Louis Campora left the club in 2003, after he failed to bring new investors to the club, which was threatened to be relegated in second division because of a huge deficit.
For the 2003/2004 season, President Pierre Svara took the head of the club as transition. This is the year Monaco got the finale of the UEFA Champions League with worldwide famous players such as Fernando Morientes, Ludovic Giuly, Jerome Rothen or Dado Prso. However, even though the results were excellents, Michel Pastor replaced Pierre Svara at the end of the year.
The first Pastor’s step in the club was trying to keep the players who brought the club to the top of Europe. However he failed to convince them to stay and the ones called to replace the Monegasque heroes were not as good as expected. After 4 years, 6 coaches and nothing better than middle rank positions, Michel Pastor left the club with a lot of criticism about his management skills.
In 2008, Jerome de Bontin, shareholder since 2003, took the head of the club and apply a major cleaning to the administrative staff. He took responsibility in the club’s transfer market, refusing one of Pastor’s leitmotiv which was to find older player who came in Monaco as a draw back, and oriented his policy to the United States, getting on loan young Freddy Adu.
Facilities
Stade Louis-II is the home stadium of AS Monaco FC since its inauguration on January 25, 1985. It is also host of several athletics meetings and of the UEFA Super Cup final game.
The quality of the pitch one of the most important issue in Stade Louis-II, because it has been built above a large car park and the other stadium's facilities. It has been changed several times during the last few years.
At the beginning of season 2008/2009, two large screens have been installed. One in replacement of the older one, and the other on the opposite side of the stadium.
AS Monaco players have their facilities in the town of La Turbie, in France. The newly built training centre offers brand new gym, pool, and conference centre.
Honours
- Ligue 1
- Winners (7): 1961, 1963, 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997, 2000
- Runners-up (5): 1964, 1984, 1991, 1992, 2003
- French Cup
- Winners (5): 1960, 1963, 1980, 1985, 1991
- Runners-up (4): 1974, 1984, 1989. 1992(final game not played due to a tragedy in Bastia-Marseilles semi-final)
- French League Cup
- Winners (1): 2003
- Runners-up (1): 2001
- Trophée des champions
- Winners (2) 1997, 2000
- Coupe Gambardella
- Winners (2): 1962, 1972
- UEFA Champions League
- Runners-up (1): 2004
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
- Runners-up (1): 1992
- UEFA Cup
- Semi-finalists (1): 1997
- Coppa delle Alpi
- Winners (3): 1979, 1983, 1984
European Record
| Season | Achievement | Notes | |
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| European Champions Clubs' Cup | |||
| 1988-89 | Quarter-finals | eliminated by Galatasaray SK 0-1 in Monaco, 1-1 in Istanbul | |
| Champions League | |||
| 1993-94 | Semi-finals | eliminated by AC Milan 0-3 in Milan | |
| 1997-98 | Semi-finals | eliminated by Juventus FC 1-4 in Turin, 3-2 in Monaco | |
| 2003-04 | Final | defeated by FC Porto 0-3 | |
| Cup Winners' Cup | |||
| 1989-90 | Semi-finals | eliminated by UC Sampdoria 2-2 in Monaco, 0-2 in Genova | |
| 1991-92 | Final | defeated by Werder Bremen 0-2 | |
| UEFA Cup | |||
| 1996-97 | Semi-finals | eliminated by FC Internazionale Milano 1-3 in Milan, 1-0 in Monaco | |
Current squad
As of August 31, 2008[1]
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Players on Loan
- Bolívar to Internacional Porto Alegre
- Arnaud Lescure to Rodez AF
- Malaury Martin to Nimes Olympique
- Nenê to Espanyol Barcelona
Vincent Ramael to AFC Tubize
Massamba Sambou to Le Havre AC
Manuel Vallaurio to Croix de Savoie
Gonzalo Vargas to F.C. Atlas A.C.
Notable players
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Players Records
| Name | Games |
|---|---|
| Jean-Luc Ettori |
755 games |
| Claude Puel |
602 |
| Jean Petit |
428 |
| Manuel Amoros |
349 |
| Christian Dalger |
334 |
| Marcel Dib |
326 |
| Francois Ludo |
319 |
| Luc Sonor |
315 |
| Michel Hidalgo |
304 |
| Armand Forcherio |
303 |
| Name | Goals |
|---|---|
 Delio Onnis |
223 goals |
| Lucien Cossou |
115 |
| Christian Dalger |
89 |
 Victor Ikpeba |
77 |
| Jean Petit |
76 |
| Yvon Douis |
74 |
| Youri Djorkaeff |
68 |
 Shabani Nonda |
67 |
| Sonny Anderson |
67 |
 George Weah |
66 |
Managerial history
Chairmans
- Etienne Boeri : 1948-1951
- R.F. Medecin : 1951-1953
- J. Fissore : 1953-1954
- Charles Campora : 1954-1955
- R.F. Medecin : 1955-1957
- Charles Campora : 1957-1959
- Antoine Romagnan : 1959-1963
- Max Principale : 1963-1968
- E. Aubert : 1968-1969
- Henry Rey : 1969-1972
- H. Orengo : 1972-1974
- H. Corvetto : 1947-1975
- Jean-Louis Campora : 1975-2003
- Pierre Svara : 2003-2004
- Michel Pastor : 2004-2008
- Jerome de Bontin : 2008-
Coaches
- Jean Batmale :1948-1950
Elek Schwartz :1950-1952
Angelo Grizzetti :1952-1953
Ludwic Dupal :1953-1956
Anton Marek :1956-1957- Louis Pirroni :1957-1958
- Lucien Leduc :1958-1963
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Roger Courtois :1963-1965 - Louis Pirroni :1965-1966
- Pierre Sinibaldi :1966-1969
- Louis Pirroni :1969-1970
- Robert Domergue :1969-1970
- Jean Luciano :1970-1972
- Ruben Bravo :1972-1974
- Alberto Muro :1974-1975
- Armand Forcherio :1976
- Lucien Leduc :1977-1979
- Gérard Banide :1979-1983
- Lucien Muller :1983-1986
- Stefan Kovacs: 1986-1987
- Arsène Wenger : 1987-1995
- Jean-Luc Ettori : 1995-1995
- Gérard Banide : 1995
- Jean Tigana : 1995-1999
- Claude Puel : 1999-2001
- Didier Deschamps : 2001-2005
- Francesco Guidolin : 2005-2006
- László Bölöni : 2006
- Laurent Banide : 2006-2007
- Ricardo Gomes : 2007-
References
External links
- (French) Official club website
- (French) Unofficial site
- (Polish) Polish site about AS Monaco
- Monaco formations at football-lineups.com
- (French) Fans community
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1932-33 | 1933-34 | 1934-35 | 1935-36 | 1936-37 | 1937-38 | 1938-39 | 1939-40 |
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