AS Monaco FC

Monaco
Full name	Association Sportive de; Monaco Football Club
Nickname(s)	Les Rouge et Blanc (the red and white), Les Asemistes
Founded	23 august 1924
Ground	Stade Louis II,; Monaco; (Capacity: 18,500)
Chairman	Etienne Franzi
Manager	Guy Lacombe
League	Ligue 1
2008-09	L1, 11th
Home colours	Away colours

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The Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club is a Monegasque football club founded in 1924. They became a professional club after 1948. Although the club is in Monaco, it has always competed in the French football structure. 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, but they were defeated by FC Porto in the final, losing the match 3-0. While this remains Monaco's greatest achievement so far in Europe, in 2005 Monaco was beaten in the 3rd qualifying round stage by Real Betis. They have since continued recent good form and secured a place in the last 16 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.

The quality of the team declined following Monaco's spectacular 2003/2004 season, and recent years have been disappointing for both fans and management. In April 2008, chairman Michel Pastor resigned from his position. Jerome de Bontin, until then administrator, became the head of the club with brand new policies of trusting the young players issued from the club, trying to attract foreign investors and, for the first time in a while, retaining the coach for the next season.

[edit] History

The AS Monaco was created on August 1, 1919 with the union of several area clubs. The story began in the regional district of the PACA region during the 1920’s when Monaco rose to the upper regional leagues. In 1933, Monaco was invited by the French league to become a professional club. 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 reacquired its professional status by returning to the French Second Division. Monoco consistently finished in the upper part of the Second Division and in 1953 was promoted to the French First Division.

In 1960, AS Monaco and its iconic coach Lucien Leduc won its first professional trophy, the French Cup. The following year, Monaco became the French Champion for the first time of its history and, having won the French League Cup, 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, when it began alternating between the first and the second divisions until 1976.

In 1975, president Jean-Louis Campora, son of Charles Campora, former president of the club in the 1950’s, became the head of the club. For his second season, he brought back coach Lucien Leduc, who immediately won promotion to the first division, and won the French championship the next year. Campora’s presidency earned 5 French championships, several national cups and constant participation in European cups. Famous coaches and players came to Monaco during this period, which ended following the last title in 2000, after which there were some management mistakes and rumours that Monaco was in financial difficulty.

After he failed to bring new investors to the club, Jean-Louis Campora left the club in 2003 with Monaco threatened with relegation into the second division because of a huge deficit.

For the 2003/2004 season, President Pierre Svara took charge of the club as a transitional president. This is the year Monaco reached the final of the UEFA Champions League with well known players such as Fernando Morientes, Ludovic Giuly, Jerome Rothen and Dado Prso. However, even though the results were excellent, Michel Pastor replaced Pierre Svara at the end of the year.

The first of Pastor’s tasks in taking over the club was trying to hold onto players who had turned the club into one of the best in Europe. However, he failed to convince them to stay and the replacements for the Monegasque heroes were not as good as expected. After 4 years, 6 coaches and nothing better than mid-table finishes, Michel Pastor left the club after severe criticism regarding his management skills.

In 2008, Jerome de Bontin, shareholder since 2003, took charge of the club and set about a major reorganization of the administrative staff. He took responsibility for the club’s actions in the transfer market, ceasing Pastor’s policy of offering older players a final pay day in Monaco, and instead looked towards younger foreign talent and in particular those playing in the United States, with highly rated Freddy Adu joining on loan.

[edit] Facilities

View of the pitch inside Stade Louis II

Stade Louis-II is the home stadium of AS Monaco FC since its inauguration on January 25, 1985. It has also been the host of several athletics meetings and of the UEFA Super Cup final game.

The quality of the pitch has been a major issue with Stade Louis-II, because it is built above a large car park and other stadium facilities. The pitch has been changed several times during the last few years.
At the beginning of season 2008/2009, two large screens have been installed, one replacing an older screen and the other new one installed in the opposite side of the stadium.

AS Monaco players have their facilities in the town of La Turbie, in France. The newly built training center offers a brand new gym, pool, and conference center.

[edit] Honours

Ligue 1
- Winners (7): 1961, 1963, 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997, 2000

French Cup
- Winners (5): 1960, 1963, 1980, 1985, 1991

French League Cup
- Winners (1): 2003

Trophée des champions
- Winners (4): 1961, 1985, 1997, 2000
Coupe Gambardella
- Winners (2): 1962, 1972
UEFA Champions League
- Runners-up (1): 2004
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
- Runners-up (1): 1992
Coppa delle Alpi
- Winners (3): 1979, 1983, 1984

[edit] European Record

Season	Achievement	Notes
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

[edit] Current squad

As of February 1, 2009^[1]

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Yohann Thuram-Ulien
2	DF	Cédric Mongongu
3	DF	Nicolas N'Koulou
4	DF	François Modesto (vice-captain)
5	MF	Diego Pérez
6	MF	Nikola Pokrivač
8	DF	Patrick Müller
9	FW	Yannick Sagbo
10	FW	Park Chu-Young
12	DF	Adriano Pereira
13	DF	Vincent Muratori
14	DF	Dario Šimić (vice-captain)
16	GK	Stéphane Ruffier
17	FW	Rudolf Krime

No.	Position	Player
18	MF	Alejandro Alonso
19	MF	Jean-Jacques Gosso
20	FW	Juan Pablo Pino
23	MF	Jerko Leko
24	MF	Loïc Dufau
25	MF	Lukman Haruna
26	MF	Yohan Mollo
27	FW	Frédéric Nimani
28	FW	Djamel Bakar
29	MF	Distel Zola
30	GK	Flavio Roma (captain)
31	MF	Kévin Diaz
32	DF	Igor Lolo
—	DF	Djimi Traore
—	DF	Massamba Sambou
—	MF	Nenê

[edit] Players on Loan

No.		Position	Player
80		MF	Sani Kaita

[edit] Notable Personality

[edit] Notable Players

Goalkeepers :

Defenders :

Defensive Midfielders :

Attacking Midfielders :

Forwards :

[edit] Notable Players trained at club

Alfred Vitalis - International A'
Jean-Luc Ettori - International A
Didier Christophe - International A
Alain Couriol - International A
Thierry Ninot - International A'
Roger Ricort - International U21
Dominique Bijotat - International A
Claude Puel - International U21

Manuel Amoros - International A
Bruno Bellone - International A
Emmanuel Petit - International A
Lilian Thuram - International A
Sylvain Legwinski - International A'
Stéphane Porato - International A
Manuel dos Santos - International U21
Thierry Henry - International A

David Trezeguet - International A
Philippe Christanval - International A
Julien Rodríguez - International U21
David di Tommaso - International U21
Sébastien Squillaci - International A
Gaël Givet - International A
Serge Gakpé - International U21

[edit] Notable non-players

Charles Campora - Chairman
Antoine Romagnan - Chairman
Jean-Louis Campora - Chairman
Jean-Luc Ettori - Director of Football and Goalkeeping Coach
Henri Biancheri - Director of Football
Gérard Banide - Director of Training Center and Manager

Pierre Tournier - Director of Training Center
Lucien Leduc - Manager
Arsène Wenger - Manager
Jean Tigana - Manager
Claude Puel - Manager
Jean Petit - Manager and Assistant manager

[edit] 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