FC Girondins de Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Full name	Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux
Nickname(s)	FCGB[1] les Girondins[2] Le club au scapulaire[3] Les marine et blanc[4]
Founded	1881
Ground	Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux (Capacity: 34,462)
Chairman	Jean-Louis Triaud
Manager	Jean Tigana
League	Ligue 1
2009–10	Ligue 1, 6th
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (French pronunciation: [ʒiˈrɔ̃diŋ də bɔʁdo]; commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux or simply Bordeaux) is a French football club based in the city of Bordeaux. The club plays in France's highest football division, Ligue 1, and won their last Ligue 1 title in the 2008–09 season.

The club was founded in 1881 as a multi-sports club. Bordeaux is one of the successful football clubs in France. The club has won six Ligue 1 titles, which places them tied for 4^th in titles won. Bordeaux have also won three Coupe de France titles, three Coupe de la Ligue titles, and three Trophée des champions. The club has the honor of having appeared in the most finals in the Coupe de la Ligue having appeared in six of the 15 finals contested.

Bordeaux plays its home games in the Stade Chaban Delmas, named after the former mayor of Bordeaux, Jacques Chaban-Delmas. The facility was previously known as the Parc Lescure and seats 34,362. The club is currently in negotiations to build a new stadium, which will seat 42,000. The city of Bordeaux is listed as a site for UEFA Euro 2016 in the France's bid to host.

Bordeaux is one of the popular football clubs in France. About 10% of the country's population support the club. Bordeaux trail only Marseille (20% of the population), Lyon (11%), and Paris Saint-Germain (11%).^[5] The club has been wholly owned by the French television group M6 since 2001.

History

Beginnings

FC Girondins des Bordeaux was founded on 1 October 1881 initially as a gymnastics and shooting club. The club, chaired by André Chavois, later added sports such as rowing, equestrian, and swimming, among others. It was not until 1910 when football was officially introduced to the club following strong urging from several members within the club, most notably club president Raymond Brard, though it was only available on a trial basis. The experiment with football lasted only a year before returning almost a decade later in 1919. The club contested its first official match in 1920 defeating Section Burdigalienne 12–0.

Bordeaux achieved professional status in football on 2 July 1936, partly due to the club's merger with fellow Bordelais Girondins Guyenne Sport, which resulted in the club that exists today. Their rise to professionalism came about alongside the French Football Federation's plea to increase professionalism in French football, which prior to 1932, had been non-existent. The club was inserted into the second division of French football and made its debut appearance during the 1937–38 season. The club's first manager was Spaniard Benito Diaz. Diaz brought fellow players Santiago Urtizberea and Jaime Mancisidor to the team with the latter serving as captain. The club's most prominent Frenchmen on the team were homegrown attacker Henri Arnaudeau and goalkeeper André Gérard. Bordeaux played their first official match on 23 May 1937 defeating Rhône-Alpes-based FC Scionzier 2–1 at the Stade de Colombes. Their first ever league match was contested on 22 August losing away to Toulouse 2–3. They recorded their first league win against Nîmes Olympique. Unfortunately for them, the team eventually finished 6^th in the Southern region of the division. Their disappointing finished inserted them into the relegation playoff portion of the league where Bordeaux finished a respectable 3^rd. A year later, Bordeaux moved into their current home, the Stade Chaban-Delmas, which had previously been known as, simply Parc Lescure. The facility was built specifically for the 1938 FIFA World Cup and, following the competition's completion, was designated to Bordeaux. The club had formerly played their home matches at the Stade Galin, which today is used as a training ground.

Success and stability

On 15 October 1940, Bordeaux merged with local club AS Port and took on one of the club's most prestigious traditions, the scapular. Bordeaux ASP, which they were now known, adorned the scapular during their run to the 1941 edition of the Coupe de France final. The match, played in occupied France at the Stade Municipal in Saint-Ouen, saw Bordeaux defeat SC Fives 2–0 with Urtizberea grabbing both goals. The Coupe de France triumph was the club's first major honour. Following the liberation of France, Bordeaux returned to league play and earned promotion to the first division following their 2^nd place finish during the 1948–49 season. After the season, André Gérard, now manager of the club, signed Dutchman Bertus de Harder. Led by the three-headed monster of de Harder, Édouard Kargu, and Camille Libar, Bordeaux captured their first-ever league championship, in just their first season in the first division, winning by six points over second place Lille. The league success led to Bordeaux being selected to participate in the second edition of the Latin Cup. In the competition, Bordeaux reached the final drawing 3–3 with Portuguese outfit Benfica. The draw forced a second match with Benfica claiming victory following a extra time goal after over 2 hours and 25 minutes of play.

Bordeaux maintained their title winning aspirations finishing runner-ups to Nice two seasons after winning the title. The club also performed well in cup competitions reaching the Coupe de France final in 1952 and 1955. In 1952, the club suffered defeat to the team they finished runner-up to the same year, Nice, following a thrilling match in which 8 goals were scored with five of them coming in the first 40 minutes. Bordeaux drew the match 3–3 following a 55^th minute goal from Henri Baillot, but Nice countered minutes later with two goals in a span of four minutes to go up 5–3, which was the final result. In 1955, Bordeaux were trounced 5–2 by Lille who went up 4–0 within 35 minutes. The resulting struggles in the cup competitions led to struggles domestically with the club suffering relegation during the 1955–56 season. The club returned to the first division for the 1959–60 season, but failed to make an impact falling back to Ligue 2 finishing dead last with 21 points.

Bordeaux returned to their former selves in the 1960s under new manager and former player Salvador Artigas. Under the helm of Artigas, Bordeaux returned to the first division and finished in a respectable 4^th place for the 1962–63 season. The following season, Bordeaux returned to the Coupe de France final where they faced off against Olympique Lyonnais. Bordeaux, once again, were defeated 0–2 courtesy of two goals from the Argentine Nestor Combin. The club's runner-up finish resulted in the team qualifying for the 1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The appearance was brief with the club losing 3–4 on aggregate to German club Borussia Dortmund. Four seasons later, Bordeaux again reached the final of the Coupe de France, their seventh appearance overall. The team faced Saint-Étienne and, again failed to match the achievement reached in 1941 losing 2–1. The following season, Bordeaux earned another appearance in the final, but again, failed to win the trophy losing 2–0 to Marseille. The team suffered an extreme decline during the 1970s despite to arrival of Alain Giresse. The club played under seven different managers during the decade and consistently finished at the bottom half of the table. In 1979, the club was sold to the influential and ambitious real estate mogul Claude Bez, who positioned himself as president of the club.

Return to prominence

Alain Giresse, influential Bordeaux player in the 70s and 80s.

Under the helm of Claude Bez, who injected millions into the club, Bordeaux flourished winning three league championships, two Coupe de France titles, and performed well in European competitions. During Bez's run presiding over the team, he recruited several French internationals such as Bernard Lacombe, Jean Tigana, René Girard, Jean-Christophe Thouvenel, and Thierry Tusseau. Bez also brought in established manager Aimé Jacquet. Led by 1970s mainstays Giresse and Gernot Rohr, Bordeaux captured their first league championship since 1950 during the 1983–84 season finishing equal on points with Monaco, however, due to having a better head-to-head record, Bordeaux were declared champions. The next season, Bordeaux again won the league claiming the title by four points over second place Nantes. In Europe, Bordeaux played in the 1984–85 European Cup and reached the semi-finals, defeating Spanish club Athletic Bilbao, Romanian club Dinamo Bucureşti, and Soviet outfit Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk before losing to Italian club Juventus. In the Coupe de France, Bordeaux finally achieved cup glory defeating Marseille 2–1 in the 1986 edition of the final with Tigana and Giresse recording both goals. The Coupe de France trophy was the club's first after over eight agonizing tries and their first since 1941. The following season, the club responded by winning the cup again. In a re-match with Marseille, Bordeaux won their second consecutive cup courtesy of goals from Philippe Fargeon and Zlatko Vujovic. Bordeaux capped off the decade during the 1986–87 season by winning their fourth league title.

Players

Current squad

As of 30 August 2010

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Cédric Carrasso 2 DF Michaël Ciani 3 DF Carlos Henrique 4 MF Alou Diarra (captain) 5 MF Fernando Menegazzo 7 FW Yoan Gouffran 8 MF Fahid Ben Khalfallah 10 FW Jussiê 11 FW David Bellion 14 FW Floyd Ayité 15 DF Vujadin Savić 16 GK Ulrich Ramé 17 MF Wendel

No. Position Player 18 MF Jaroslav Plašil 19 MF Pierre Ducasse 20 FW Henri Saivet 21 DF Mathieu Chalmé 22 FW Anthony Modeste 23 DF Florian Marange 25 FW Cheick Diabaté 26 FW Ouwo Moussa Maazou 27 DF Marc Planus 28 DF Benoît Trémoulinas 29 DF Ludovic Sané 30 GK Kévin Olimpa 40 GK Abdoulaye Keita

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 6 MF Grégory Sertić (on loan at RC Lens until the end of the 2010–11 Ligue 1 season) 9 FW Fernando Cavenaghi (on loan at RCD Mallorca until the end of the 2010–11 La Liga season) 12 MF Paul Lasne (on loan at AC Ajaccio until the end of the 2010–11 Ligue 2 season) 24 MF Abdou Traoré (on loan at OGC Nice until the end of the 2010–11 Ligue 2 season) 33 MF Christopher Glombard (on loan at Stade Reims until the end of the 2010–11 Ligue 2 season) — MF Grzegorz Krychowiak (on loan at Stade Reims until the end of the 2010–11 Ligue 2 season) — MF Matthieu Saunier (on loan at Troyes until the end of the 2010–11 Ligue 2 season)

Reserve squad

Bordeaux's B team plays in the Championnat de France amateur, Group C. As of November 2009.

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Fabien Farnolle GK Florian Pigeyre DF Johan Blonbou DF Alexandre Dulom DF Floréal Nivert DF Maxime Poundje DF Salif Sané MF Rémi Elissalde MF Guillaume Insou

No. Position Player FW Alexandre Martin Cantero FW Sacha Clémence FW Anthony Gaillard FW Papé Gueye FW Thomas Poussevin FW Henri Saivet FW Michel Sanchez FW Elhadji Malick Seck

Notable players

For a complete FC Girondins de Bordeaux players list, see here.

Coaches

Elie Baup was the coach of the Bordeaux during five years, from 1998 to 2003. Former Bordeaux midfielder Michel Pavon became head coach in October 24, 2003. Because of health problems, he stood back and continued his career as scout on June 2005. Brazilian Ricardo became the new coach, until Laurent Blanc took over in 2007.

Honours

National honours

• Ligue 1 Championship 6:

1949–50, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1998–99, 2008–09.

• Ligue 2 Championship 1:

1991–92.

• Coupe de France 3:

1941, 1986, 1987.

• Coupe de la Ligue 3:

2002, 2007, 2009

• Trophée des champions 3:

1986, 2008, 2009

International honours

• Coppa delle Alpi

1980

• UEFA Intertoto Cup 1:

1995

• UEFA Cup

Runners-up (1): 1995–96

References

External links

• (French) Official website