AS Saint-Étienne

Saint-Étienne
Full name	Association Sportive; Saint-Étienne Loire
Nickname(s)	Les Verts
Founded	1919
Ground	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard,; Saint Étienne; (Capacity: 35,616)
Chairman	Bernard Caiazzo; Roland Romeyer
Manager	Alain Perrin
League	Ligue 1
2008-09	Ligue 1, 17th
Home colours	Away colours

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Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire, (ASSE or A.S. Saint-Étienne) are a French football 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.

[edit] History

[edit] 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 FFF regulations, the commercial name Casino was dropped from the club's name in 1920. In order to keep the initials A.S.C, however, the club was re-named Amical Sporting Club.

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

[edit] Apogée

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

Roger Rocher became president of the club in 1961. The following year, the team 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 the team to the double in 1974 and 1976. The team won a ninth championship in 1976. That same year, the club 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.

[edit] Decline

In 1982, a financial scandal led to the decline in the club's performance. President Roger Rocher was forced to leave the club and spent several months in jail. Since then, the club 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, the club has still benefited from the unconditional support of its fans.

The club came back to the first division in 1999, finishing 6th. Supporters hoped a return to success with Brazilian strikers Aloisio and Alex celebrating his goals by imitating a panther (Emblem of the club), but in 2001, Alex 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.

[edit] Renewal

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

[edit] Honours

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

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

French Cup:
- Winners (6): 1962, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1977

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

Coupe Drago
- Winners (2): 1955, 1958

[edit] Current squad

As of June 17, 2009^[2]

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Vincent Planté
2	DF	Cédric Varrault
4	MF	Stathis Tavlaridis
7	FW	Dimitri Payet
8	FW	Ilan
9	FW	David Gigliotti
10	FW	Kevin Mirallas
12	MF	Blaise Matuidi
13	MF	Amine Linganzi
16	GK	Jérémie Janot
17	MF	Yohan Hautcœur
18	FW	Bafetimbi Gomis

No.	Position	Player
19	MF	Christophe Landrin (vice-captain)
20	MF	Boubacar Mansaly
21	DF	Mouhamadou Dabo
24	MF	Loïc Perrin (captain)
26	DF	Moustapha Bayal Sall
27	FW	Helton Dos Reis
28	DF	Yohan Benalouane
29	FW	Emmanuel Rivière
32	DF	Sylvain Monsoreau
33	DF	Yoann Andreu
40	GK	Abdoulaye Coulibaly

[edit] Out on loan

No.		Position	Player
		FW	Maodomalick Faye (at Tours)
		GK	Jessy Moulin (at Arles)
		MF	Samy Houri (at Arles)

[edit] Reserves

As of November 11, 2008^[3]

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Maxime Cassara
		GK	Benjamin Lardon
		DF	Yoann Andreu
		DF	Pierrick Cros
		DF	Clément Jouve
		DF	Lounis Lanseur
		DF	Mehdi Messaoudi
		DF	Loris Néry
		DF	Hugo Vidal
		MF	Olivier Boumal
		MF	Clément Charbonnier

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Paul Charmasson
		MF	Hamid Draoui
		MF	Yohan Garric
		MF	Josua Guilavogui
		MF	Sébastien Lajara
		MF	Fayçal Lebbihi
		MF	Papou Paye
		MF	Kévin Salabiaku
		FW	Serge Didi
		FW	Valentin Lavialle
		FW	Quentin Lendresse

[edit] Stadium

Saint-Etienne's home is the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, nicknamed Le chaudron^[4] or Le chaudron vert^[5] (The cauldron or the green cauldron). It has four stands: