AC Ajaccio

Not to be confused with Gazélec Ajaccio.

Athletic Club Ajaccien (Corsican: Athletic Club Aiaccini), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French professional football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in the Ligue 2, the second tier of the French football league system. Ajaccio play their home matches at the Stade Michel Moretti and are rivals with fellow Corsican club Bastia, with whom they contest the Corsica derby (Derby Corse).^[3]

Ajaccio

Full name	Athletic Club Ajaccien
Nickname(s)	L'ours (The Bears)[1]
Founded	1910; 115 years ago (1910)
Ground	Stade Michel Moretti
Capacity	10,446
Owner	Holding Ajaccio Imperial Corse Investissement
President	Daniele Bufano[2]
Manager	Thierry Debès (caretaker)
League	Ligue 2
2023–24	Ligue 2, 15th of 20
Website	www.ac-ajaccio.corsica
Home colours Away colours
Current season

History

Depending on sources, it is agreed that Ajaccio began playing in 1909–10. Their adopted colors are red and white stripes. Though they used to play in what was previously utilised as a sand dump, they decided to move to another, cleaner, safer stadium upon the insistence of Jean Lluis, father-in-law of club president Louis Baretti. The new stadium that was chosen held 5,000 spectators and was in use until 1969.

AC Ajaccio were elected Corsican champions on eight occasions, in 1920, 1921, 1934, 1939, 1948, 1950, 1955 and 1964, and are one of three big "island" teams, along with Gazélec Ajaccio and Bastia, the competition between the three being kept no secret. Spectators during the 1946 Corsican Cup final, held between A.C.A. and Sporting Bastia, were handed umbrellas to shield themselves from the violence. Upon refusal of a penalty which would have been awarded to ACA, violence erupted between the fans, who used umbrellas both to cause and shield themselves from violence. This final was abandoned and replayed much later.

A.C.A. became a professional team in 1965 thanks to the ambitious efforts of the club's leaders. They initially adopted the symbol of the polar bear, but this has since been dropped in favour of a more stylised logo that uses a part of the Corsican flag.

In 1967, the team became the first Corsican club to play in France's top division. Prior to the 2022–23 season, they were most recently in Ligue 1 in the 2013–14 season, when they were relegated after finishing in last place, following a spell of three seasons in the top flight; the drop was confirmed with defeat at neighbours Bastia.^[4]

In November 2014, Olivier Pantaloni returned for a third spell as manager.^[5] His team came third in 2017–18, qualifying for the play-offs, where they beat Le Havre in a semi-final marred by violence on and off the pitch,^[6] before losing the final to Toulouse.^[7] The club were denied promotion in 2019–20 when the season was curtailed with ten games remaining due to the coronavirus pandemic; Ajaccio were one point off the top two, who were the only ones to go up as the play-offs could not be contested.^[8] In the 2021–22 Ligue 2 season, Ajaccio were promoted back to Ligue 1 after finishing second.^[9] However, with three games in hand, the club were relegated directly back down.^[10]

On 27 June 2024, Ajaccio was administratively relegated to the Championnat National by the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG) due to financial issues.^[11] They appealed the decision, and on the 11th of July 2024, they were reinstated in Ligue 2 for the 2024–25 season.^[12]

Players

Current squad

As of 11 February 2025^[13][14]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  FRA Thibault Campanini 3 DF  FRA Stephen Quemper 4 MF  FRA Mickaël Barreto 5 DF  FRA Clément Vidal 6 MF  FRA Thomas Mangani 7 FW  TUN Yoann Touzghar 8 MF  ALG Mehdi Puch 10 MF  FRA Valentin Jacob 11 FW  CIV Ben Hamed Touré 12 DF  FRA Matthieu Huard 16 GK  FRA François-Joseph Sollacaro 17 FW  FRA Everson Junior

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  COM Mohamed Youssouf 21 MF  ALG Ivane Chegra 22 FW  FRA Moussa Soumano 23 DF  ROU Tony Strata 25 MF  FRA Julien Anziani 27 FW  GAM Aboubakary Kanté 30 GK  FRA Ghjuvanni Quilichini 31 DF  FRA Jésah Ayessa 43 DF  BFA Arsène Kouassi 88 DF  CIV Axel Bamba 99 FW  FRA Benjamin Santelli

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  FRA Mathieu Michel (at Valenciennes until 30 June 2025)

Notable past players

For a complete list of AC Ajaccio players, see Category:AC Ajaccio players.

Club officials

Position	Staff
President	Christian Leca
Sports coordinator	Johan Cavalli
Sporting director	Patrick Vernet
Manager	Vacant
Assistant manager	Vacant
Goalkeeping coach	Thierry Debès
Fitness coach	Joseph Leandri
Youth coach	Antoine Hoareau
Doctor	Guillaume Lotito
Physiotherapist	Jean-Xavier Stefanaggi Florian Renucci Ghjuvan Andria Piereschi

Coaches

• Jean Pietri (pre–1955)
• Félix Pironti (1955–57)
• Michel Brusseaux (1957–58)
• Jean Laune (1958–59)
• Jean-Pierre Knayer (1959–63)
• Mohamed Azzouz (1963–64)
• Ernst Stojaspal (1964–65)
• Alberto Muro (1965–70)
• Louis Hon (1970–71)
• Antoine Cuissard (1971–72)
• André Mori (1972–73)
• Louis Hon (1973–74)
• Lulu Accorsi (1974–75)
• Alain Mistre (1975–76)
• François Paoli (1976–78)
• Mohamed Azzouz (1978–79)
• Unknown (1979–92)
• Baptiste Gentili (1 July 1992 – 30 June 2001)
• Rolland Courbis (1 July 2001 – 30 June 2003)
• Dominique Bijotat (1 July 2002 – 21 September 2004)
• Olivier Pantaloni (2004)
• Rolland Courbis (8 February 2005 – 11 January 2006)
• Olivier Pantaloni (interim) (11 January 2006 – 12 January 2006)
• José Pasqualetti (12 January 2006 – 30 June 2006)
• Ruud Krol (1 July 2006 – 30 June 2007)
• Gernot Rohr (1 July 2007 – 30 August 2008)
• José Pasqualetti (1 September 2008 – 23 February 2009)
• Olivier Pantaloni (23 February 2009 – 13 June 2012)
• Alex Dupont (22 June 2012 – 17 December 2012)
• Albert Emon (21 December 2012 – 28 May 2013)
• Fabrizio Ravanelli (7 June 2013 – 2 November 2013)
• Christian Bracconi (interim) (3 November 2013 – 14 October)
• Thierry Debès (interim) (October 2014)
• Olivier Pantaloni (6 November 2014– 24 June 2024)
• Mathieu Chabert (2 July 2024– 3 January 2025)
• Thierry Debès (interim) (3 January 2025– Present)

Honours

• Division 2 (Second Division)
  • Champions (2): 1966–67, 2001–02
• Championnat National (Third Division)
  • Champions (1): 1997–98
• Ligue de Corse (Corsican League)
  • Champions (9): 1920, 1921, 1934, 1939, 1948, 1950, 1955, 1964, 1994