Saint-Etienne

Saint-Etienne is a football (soccer) club from France.

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Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire, (ASSE or A.S. Saint-Étienne) are a France football (soccer) team founded in 1920. They play their home games at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in the city of Saint Étienne. They are also one of the most successful teams in French Football history, with honours including 10 French First Division championship wins. Their primary rivals are Olympique Lyonnais, from nearby Lyon.

History

Early days

A.S. Saint-Étienne was created in 1919 by members of the Amicale des employés de la Société des magasins Casino: members of the employees' Union of the Casino grocery chain. Since green was the colour of the chain, green jerseys were also adopted. Due to French Football Federation regulations, the commercial name Casino was dropped from Saint-Etienne's name in 1920. In order to keep the initials A.S.C, however, Saint-Etienne was re-named Amical Sporting Club.

In 1928, Pierre Guichard (the son of the head of Casino Geoffroy Guichard) took over Saint-Etienne and renamed it Association Sportive Stéphanoise. In 1933, Saint-Etienne turned professional and the name was changed again to the form it presently holds: Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne. Saint-Etienne was first promoted to the French First Division for the 1937-1938 season.

Apogée

In 1955 ASSE won their first trophy, the Charles Drago Cup. In 1958, three seasons later, Saint-Etienne claimed the French First Division title for the first time. As French Champions, Saint-Étienne subsequently participated in their first UEFA Champions League campaign against Rangers F.C..

Roger Rocher became president of Saint-Etienne in 1961. The following year, Saint-Etienne won the French Cup, but also were relegated to the Second Division. ASSE won the Second Division the following year, and were promoted back to the First Division. The team then continued a surprising ascent, winning the French First Division trophy the following year (1964). Between 1967 and 1970, Saint-Étienne won four championships consecutively, and added two additional French Cups to their trophy cabinet (1967, 1970).

Robert Herbin was named manager in 1972, and led Saint-Etienne to The Double in 1974 and 1976. The team won a ninth championship in 1976. That same year, Saint-Etienne lost in the finals of the European Cup against Bayern Munich. Saint-Étienne followed that season by winning the French Cup again in 1977. Their last championship (and major silverware) win came in 1981, with their tenth First Division Championship.

Decline

In 1982, a financial scandal led to the decline in Saint-Etienne's performance. President Roger Rocher was forced to leave Saint-Etienne and spent several months in jail. Since then, Saint-Etienne has spent much of its time in the bottom half of the First Division and the Second Division. Although its sporting performances have been inconsistent, Saint-Etienne has still benefited from the unconditional support of its fans.

Saint-Etienne came back to the first division in 1999, finishing 6th. Supporters hoped a return to success with Brazilian strikers Aloisio and Alex Dias de Almeida celebrating his goals by imitating a panther (Emblem of the club), but in 2001, Alex Dias de Almeida and the Ukrainian goalkeeper Maksym Levytsky, were suspended for four months for the use of fake Portuguese and Greek passports, respectively. At the end of a judicial inquiry, which linked some of the management staff to the passport forgeries, seven championship points were subtracted from Saint-Étienne's tally, causing them to be relegated to the Second Division.

Renewal

After relegation Saint-Étienne struggled, with mixed results in the Second Division/Ligue 2. They finally won the Ligue 2 Previous winners in Ligue 2 season 2003/2004, achieving promotion to Ligue 1. Saint-Etienne finished 6th in Ligue 1 the Ligue 1 season 2004-05, which enabled them to participate in a European tournament, the Intertoto Cup, for the first time in many years. Having finished the Ligue 1 2007-08 season in 5th place, Saint-Étienne will be playing in the UEFA Cup 2008-09 Cup after 27 years of absence. The 2008-09 season however, was much more of a struggle for Saint-Etienne as they only secured their Ligue 1 status for next season with a 4-0 final matchday win over Valenciennes.

Honours

- Ligue 1:
- - Winners (10): 1957, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981

- Ligue 2:
- - Winners (2): 1963, 1999, 2004

- Coupe de France:
- - Winners (6): 1962, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1977

- Coupe Gambardella
- - Winners (3): 1963, 1970, 1998

- Coupe Drago
- - Winners (2): 1955, 1958

As of June 17,2009

Out on loan

Reserves

As of November 11,2008

Stadium

Saint-Etienne's home is the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, nicknamed Le chaudron or Le chaudron vert (The cauldron or the green cauldron). It has four stands:
- Charles Paret : places
- Jean Snella :
- Pierre Faurand : places
- Henri Point : places
The stadium can host 35.616 people.

Notable players

For a complete list of AS Saint-Étienne players, see :Category:AS Saint-Étienne players

France
- Claude Abbes
- René Alpsteg
- Sylvain Armand
- Dominique Bathenay
- Patrick Battiston
- Yvan Beck
- Georges Bereta
- Pierre Bernard (footballer)
- Laurent Blanc
- Bernard Bosquier
- Zoumana Camara
- Georges Carnus
- Patrice Carteron
- Jean Castaneda
- Grégory Coupet
- Antoine Cuissard
- Jean-Pierre Cyprien
- Mouhamadou Dabo
- Christophe Deguerville
- Pascal Despeyroux
- René Domingo
- Gérard Farison
- René Ferrier
- Kader Firoud
- Laurent Fournier
- Patrice Garande
- Bernard Genghini
- Bafetimbi Gomis
- Robert Herbin
- Sylvain Kastendeuch
- Aimé Jacquet
- Jérémie Janot
- Gérard Janvion
- Bernard Lacombe
- Jean-François Larios
- Jean-Michel Larqué
- Christian Lopez
- Philippe Mahut
- Blaise Matuidi
- Laurent Paganelli
- Bernard Pardo
- Patrick Parizon
- Gérald Passi
- Stépphane Pédron
- Loïc Perrin
- Georges Peyroche

- Frédéric Piquionne
- Michel Platini
- Lionel Potillon
- Pierre Repellini
- Hervé Revelli
- Patrick Revelli
- Dominique Rocheteau
- Roger Rolhion
- Laurent Roussey
- Julien Sablé
- Willy Sagnol
- Jacques Santini
- Christian Sarramagna
- Jean Snella
- Christian Synaeghel
- Philippe Tibeuf
- Jean-Guy Wallemme
- Maryan Wisnieski
- Jacques Zimako

Algeria
- Kader Ferhaoui
- Rachid Mekloufi

Argentina
- Oswaldo Piazza

Brazil
- Alex Dias de Almeida
- José Aloísio da Silva

Bulgaria
- Georgi Slavkov

Cameroon
- Joseph-Antoine Bell
- Romarin Billong
- Idriss Kameni
- Lucien Mettomo
- Roger Milla
- Eugène N'Jo Léa
- Jean-Claude Pagal

Colombia
- Freddy Guarín

Côte d'Ivoire
- Tchiressoua Guel
- Didier Zokora

Czech Republic
- Marek Heinz
- Milan Luhový

Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Hérita Ilunga

Denmark
- Flemming Christensen
- Miklos Molnar
- Benny Nielsen
- John Sivebæk

Germany
- Roland Wohlfarth

Guinea
- Titi Camara
- Pascal Feindouno

Mali
- Salif Keita (footballer)

Morocco
- Mohammed Chaouch
- Mustapha El Haddaoui
- Nabil El Zhar

The Netherlands
- Johnny Rep
- Kees Rijvers
- Rob Witschge

Norway
- Bjorn Tore Kvarme

Poland
- Piotr Świerczewski

Portugal
- Hélder Postiga

Russia
- Aleksandr Panov

Senegal
- Lamine Diatta
- Frédéric Mendy

Slovakia
- Ľubomír Moravčík

Switzerland
- Alain Geiger
- Christophe Ohrel
- Nestor Subiat

Tunisia
- Adel Chedli

Yugoslavia
- Ivan Ćurković
- Vladimir Durković

Club officials

Board of Directors
- President: Bernard Caiazzo
- Vice-President: Roland Romeyer
- General Director: Vincent Tong-Cuong
- General Manager: Damien Comolli
- Directors: Didier Lacombe , Eric Fages , Philippe Lyonnet & Nicolas Jacq
- Secrétary: Claudine Frey

Management
- Manager: Alain Perrin
- Assistant Manager: David Guion (football coach) & Gerard Fernandez (football coach)
- Fitness Coach: Thierry Cotte
- Coach: Frederic Emile
- Goalkeeping Coach: Jean Dees
- Team-Chef: Philippe Lyonnet
- Physios: Laurent Bensadi & Hubert Largeron

Academy Coaching Staff
- Director of Youth Academy: Luc Bruder & Alain Blachon
- Reserves Coach: Jean-Philippe Primard
- Manager: Alan Blachon
- Team Chef: René Richard
- Under 18's Coach: Abdel Bouhazama
- Under 16's Coach: Romain Revelli
- Under 15's Coach: Gilles Rodriguez
- Goalkeeping Coach: Gilbert Ceccarelli
- Under 14's Coach: Philippe Guillemet
- Under 13's Coach: Philippe Durieu
- Under 13's Assistant Coach: Lionel Vaillant
- Under 13's Fitness Coach: Loïc Colaud
- Goalkeeping Coach: Mickaël Dumas
- Physio: Sébastien Sangnier

Medical
- Team Chef: Guy Demonteil
- Doctor: Tarak Bouzabia & Grégory Roche
- Therapeut: Alexandre Rambaud & François Castro

Managerial history

- 1933-33 : Albert Locke
- 1934-34 : Harold Rivers
- 1934-35 : William Duckworth (football manager)
- 1935-36 : Zoltán Vágó
- 1936-40 : William Duckworth (football manager)
- 1940-43 : Émile Cabannes
- 1943-50 : Ignace Tax
- 1950-59 : Jean Snella
- 1959-60 : René Vernier
- 1960-61 : François Wicart
- 1961-62 : Henri Guérin
- 1962-63 : François Wicart
- 1963-67 : Jean Snella
- 1967-72 : Albert Batteux
- 1972-83 : Robert Herbin
- 1983 : Guy Briet
- 1983-84 : Jean Djorkaeff
- 1984 : Robert Philippe
- 1984-87 : Henryk Kasperczak

- 1987-90 : Robert Herbin
- 1990-92 : Christian Sarramagna
- 1992-94 : Jacques Santini
- 1994-96 : Élie Baup
- 1996 : Maxime Bossis
- 1996 : Dominique Bathenay
- 1996-97 : Pierre Mankowski
- 1997-98 : Pierre Repellini
- 1998-2000 : Robert Nouzaret
- 2000 : Gérard Soler
- 10/2000-01/2001 : John Toshack
- 01/2001-2001 : Rudi Garcia and Jean-Guy Wallemme
- 2001 : Alain Michel
- 2001-04 : Frédéric Antonetti
- 2004-06 : Élie Baup
- 2006-2007 : Ivan Hašek
- 2007-2008 : Laurent Roussey
- 2008-present: Alain Perrin

AJ Auxerre, Bordeaux, Caen, FC Nantes, FC Sochaux, Grenoble, Le Havre, Le Mans, Lille OSC, Lorient, Lyon, Marseille, Monaco, Nancy, Nice, Paris Saint-Germain, Rennes, Saint-Etienne, Toulouse FC, Valenciennes