AS Saint-Étienne

"ASSE" redirects here. For other uses, see Asse (disambiguation).

This article is about the men's football club. For the women's football team, see AS Saint-Étienne (women).

Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃t‿etjɛn lwaʁ]), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. (French pronunciation: [a.ɛs.ɛs.ø]) and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in Ligue 1, the first division of French football. Saint-Étienne's home ground is the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

AS Saint-Étienne

Full name	Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire
Nickname(s)	Sainté Les Verts (The Greens)[1] Les Stéphanois (The Stéphanois)
Short name	A.S.S.E.
Founded	1919; 105 years ago (1919)
Ground	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
Capacity	41,965
Owner	Kilmer Sports Ventures[2]
President	Ivan Gazidis
Manager	Eirik Horneland
League	Ligue 1
2023–24	Ligue 2, 3rd of 20 (promoted)
Website	asse.fr
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

AS Saint-Étienne active departments
Football (men's)	Football (women's)

Saint-Étienne have won ten Ligue 1 titles, six Coupe de France titles, a Coupe de la Ligue title and five Trophée des Champions. They have also won the Ligue 2 championship on three occasions. The club achieved most of its honours in the 1960s and 1970s under the leadership of managers Jean Snella, Albert Batteux, and Robert Herbin. In 1976, the club reached the final of the UEFA Champions League.

Saint-Étienne is known as Les Verts meaning "the Greens" due to its home colours. They have a longstanding rivalry with nearby team Olympique Lyonnais, against whom they contest the Derby Rhône-Alpes. In 2009, the club added a female section.

History

Early history

AS Saint-Étienne was founded in 1919 by employees of the Saint-Étienne-based grocery store chain Groupe Casino under the name Amicale des Employés de la Société des Magasins Casino (ASC). The club adopted green as its primary color mainly due to it being the principal colour of Groupe Casino. In 1920, due to the French Football Federation (FFF) prohibiting the use of trademarks in sports club, the club dropped "Casino" from its name and changed its name to simply Amical Sporting Club to retain the ASC acronym. In 1927, Pierre Guichard took over as president of the club and, after merging with local club Stade Forézien Universitaire, changed its name to Association sportive Stéphanoise.

In July 1930, the National Council of the FFF voted 128–20 in support of professionalism in French football. In 1933, Stéphanoise turned professional and changed its name to its current version. The club was inserted into the second division and became inaugural members of the league after finishing runner-up in the South Group. Saint-Étienne remained in Division 2 for four more seasons before earning promotion to Division 1 for the 1938–39 season under the leadership of the Englishman Teddy Duckworth. However, the team's debut appearance in the first division was short-lived due to the onset of World War II. Saint-Étienne returned to the first division after the war under the Austrian-born Frenchman Ignace Tax and surprised many by finishing runner-up to Lille in the first season after the war. The club failed to improve upon that finish in following seasons under Tax and, ahead of the 1950–51 season, Tax was let go and replaced by former Saint-Étienne player Jean Snella.

Ten league titles (1956–1981)

Georges Bereta won six league titles while playing for Saint-Étienne.

Under Snella, Saint-Étienne achieved its first honour after winning the Coupe Charles Drago in 1955. Two seasons later, the club won its first domestic league title. Led by goalkeeper Claude Abbes, defender Robert Herbin, as well as midfielders René Ferrier and Kees Rijvers and striker Georges Peyroche, Saint-Étienne won the league by four points over Lens. In 1958, Saint-Étienne won the Coupe Drago for the second time. After the following season, in which the club finished sixth, Snella departed the club. He was replaced by René Vernier. In the team's first season under Vernier, Saint-Étienne finished 12th, the club's worst finish since finishing 11th eight seasons ago. In the following season, François Wicart joined the coaching staff. In 1961, Roger Rocher became president of the club and quickly became one of the club's chief investors. After two seasons under Wicart, Saint-Étienne were relegated after finishing 17th in the 1961–62 season. However, Wicart did lead the club to its first Coupe de France title in 1962, alongside co-manager Henri Guérin with the team defeating Nancy 1–0 in the final. He also led the club back to Division 1 after one season in the second division, but after the season, Wicart was replaced by Snella, who returned as manager after a successful stint in Switzerland with Servette.

In Snella's first season back, Saint-Étienne won its second league title^[3][4] and, three seasons later, captured its third. Snella's third and final title with the club coincided with the arrival of Georges Bereta, Bernard Bosquier, Gérard Farison and Hervé Revelli to the team. After the season, Snella returned to Servette and former Reims manager Albert Batteux replaced him. In Batteux's first season in 1967–68, Saint-Étienne captured the double after winning the league and the Coupe de France. In the next season, Batteux won the league and, in the ensuing season, won the double again. The club's fast rise into French football led to a high-level of confidence from the club's ownership and supporters and, following two seasons without a trophy, Batteux was let go and replaced by former Saint-Étienne player Robert Herbin.

In Herbin's first season in charge, Saint-Étienne finished fourth in the league and reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. In the next two seasons, the club won the double, its seventh and eighth career league title and its third and fourth Coupe de France title. In 1976, Saint-Étienne became the first French club since Reims in 1959 to reach the final of the European Cup. In the match, played at Hampden Park in Scotland, Saint-Étienne faced German club Bayern Munich, who were the reigning champions and arguably the world's best team at the time. The match was hotly contested with Saint-Étienne failing to score after numerous chances by Jacques Santini, Dominique Bathenay and Osvaldo Piazza, among others. A single goal by Franz Roth eventually decided the outcome and Saint-Étienne supporters departed Scotland in tears, however, not without nicknaming the goalposts "les poteaux carrés" ("the square posts"). Saint-Étienne did earn a consolation prize by winning the league to cap off a successful season and, in the following season, the team won the Coupe de France. In 1981, Saint-Étienne, captained by Michel Platini, won its final league title to date after winning the league for the tenth time. After two more seasons in charge, Herbin departed the club for archrivals Lyon.

Decline and recent history

Loïc Perrin spent his entire career at Saint-Étienne, his hometown club.

In 1982, a financial scandal involving a controversial slush fund led to the departure and eventual jailing of long-time president Roger Rocher. Saint-Étienne subsequently suffered a free-fall with the club suffering relegation in the 1983–84 season. The club returned to the first division in 1986 under the leadership of goalkeeper Jean Castaneda who had remained with the club, despite its financial state. Saint-Étienne kept its place in the first division for nearly a decade with the club reaching the semi-finals of the Coupe de France in 1990 and 1993 during the stint. In 1996, Saint-Étienne was relegated to the second division and returned to Division 1 in 1999. In the 2000–01 season, the club was supervised by five different managers and had to deal with a scandal that involved two players (Brazilian Alex Dias and Ukrainian goalkeeper Maksym Levytsky) who utilised fake Portuguese and Greek passports. Both players were suspended for four months and, at the end of a judicial inquiry, which linked some of the club's management staff to the passport forgeries, Saint-Étienne was docked seven league points and relegated.^[5]

Saint-Étienne played three seasons in the second division and returned to the first division, now called Ligue 1, for the 2004–05 season. They came fifth in the 2007–08 season, which resulted in the club qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time since 1982. Saint-Étienne was influenced by several youngsters within the team such as Bafétimbi Gomis, Loïc Perrin, Blaise Matuidi and Dimitri Payet. The club followed up its fifth-place finish by finishing 17th in the next two seasons.^[6]

Having won the Coupe de la Ligue in April 2013, their first major domestic trophy for more than 30 years, Saint-Étienne qualified for the third preliminary round of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League campaign. Following crowd trouble towards the end of the 2012–13 season, Saint-Étienne were handed a one-match stadium ban which would have forced the team to open their campaign behind closed doors. However, on 23 July 2013, this ban was lifted.^[7] On 30 November 2014, Saint-Etienne defeated fierce rivals Lyon 3–0 at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard for the first time since 1994.^[8]

The 2017–18 Ligue 1 season started badly for Saint-Etienne and culminated in a 5–0 derby loss to Lyon, after which Óscar García Junyent was dismissed as manager and replaced by former player Julien Sablé.^[9] Sable was replaced in December by Jean-Louis Gasset because he did not hold the required qualifications to coach in Ligue 1, and the club were fined €25,000 for every game played with Sable in charge.^[10] Under Gasset, Saint-Etienne went 13 games unbeaten and finished 7th in the table at the end of the season.^[11]

In the 2018–19 season, Saint-Etienne came fourth, the best finish since their promotion, after which Gasset elected to leave the club.^[12] The following year they were 17th when the season was ended by the coronavirus pandemic.^[13] They also reached the Coupe de France final in this season, which they lost 1–0 to Paris Saint-Germain.^[14]

In the 2020–21 season, Saint-Etienne started poorly and hovered above the relegation zone for most of the season before winning five of their last ten matches to finish 11th on the table.^[15] During that season, the club's board of directors announced, in a public letter on 14 April 2021, that the club was up for sale.^[16]

During the beginning of the 2021–22, the team suffered a catastrophic record; the culmination of 12 consecutive games without a win in Ligue 1. On 5 December 2021, after a 5–0 defeat against Rennes, manager Claude Puel was relieved from his duties.^[17] Julien Sablé, the assistant coach, took over as caretaker manager, before Pascal Dupraz was appointed as the new manager on 15 December 2021.^[18] The team eventually finished 18th in the season, and were relegated to the Ligue 2 after losing in a penalty shootout to Auxerre in the relegation play-offs.^[19] Saint-Etienne was sanctioned with a deduction of three points and four matches behind closed doors after serious incidents that occurred on the field after the game.^[20] With a total of 18 points at the half of the 2022–23 season, Saint-Étienne was in the relegation zone ranked 18th in the table; however, they managed to finish the campaign in 8th place.^[21] The 2022–23 season was also the first season of Saint-Etienne with their new logo.^[22] In the 2023–24 Ligue 2 season, Saint-Etienne finished inside the playoff places and would eventually reach the relegation/promotion playoff against Metz. Saint-Etienne would win the two legged playoff 4-3 on aggregate to earn promotion back to Ligue 1.^[23]

Players

Current squad

As of 2 September 2024^[24]

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 1 GK  FRA Brice Maubleu 3 DF  FRA Mickaël Nadé 4 MF  FRA Pierre Ekwah (on loan from Sunderland) 5 DF  MAR Yunis Abdelhamid (vice-captain) 6 MF  MAR Benjamin Bouchouari 7 MF  FRA Thomas Monconduit 8 DF  FRA Dennis Appiah 9 FW  MLI Ibrahim Sissoko 10 MF  FRA Florian Tardieu 11 FW  NZL Ben Old 14 MF  FRA Louis Mouton 16 GK  SEN Boubacar Fall 17 DF  FRA Pierre Cornud

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 MF  FRA Mathieu Cafaro 19 DF  FRA Léo Pétrot 20 FW  GHA Augustine Boakye 21 DF  COD Dylan Batubinsika 22 FW  GEO Zuriko Davitashvili 23 DF  FRA Anthony Briançon (captain) 25 FW  SEN Ibrahima Wadji 26 MF  FRA Lamine Fomba 27 DF  FRA Yvann Maçon 28 MF  SRB Igor Miladinović 29 MF  MAR Aïmen Moueffek 30 GK  FRA Gautier Larsonneur 32 FW  BEL Lucas Stassin

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 — DF  MAR Mahmoud Bentayg (at Zamalek until 30 June 2025) — DF  FRA Darling Bladi (at Bourg-Péronnas until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  FRA Beres Owusu (at Quevilly-Rouen until 30 June 2025) — FW  GUI Karim Cissé (at Annecy until 30 June 2025)

Other players under contract

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 34 MF  FRA Antoine Gauthier 35 DF  FRA Marwann N'Zuzi 37 MF  FRA Mathis Amougou 39 FW  FRA Ayman Aiki

No. Pos. Nation Player 41 FW  TUN Jibril Othman — MF  SEN El Hadji Dieye — MF  FRA Mathys Saban — FW  FRA Yanis Lhéry

Retired numbers

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 24 DF  FRA Loïc Perrin

Records and statistics

Most appearances # Name Matches 1 René Domingo 518 2 Robert Herbin 489 3 Loïc Perrin 470 4 Christian Lopez 453 5 Gérard Farison 412 6 Hervé Revelli 405 7 Jean-Michel Larqué 403 8 Gérard Janvion 392 9 Stéphane Ruffier 383 10 Jean Castaneda 378

Top scorers # Name Goals 1 Hervé Revelli 304 2 Rachid Mekhloufi 150 3 Salif Keïta 143 4 Ignace Tax 119 5 Antoine Rodriguez 109 6 Eugène N'Jo Léa 101 7 Robert Herbin 99 8 Jean-Michel Larqué 99 9 Ivan Bek 93 10 Michel Platini 82

European record

As of 2019

Competition	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Goals For	Goals Against
UEFA Champions League	41	19	7	15	50	44
UEFA Europa League	68	28	22	18	111	73
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	6	1	3	5	2	7
Total	115	51	32	38	163	124

UEFA club coefficient ranking

See also: UEFA coefficient

As of 15 April 2021^[25]

Rank	Team	Points
116	Apollon Limassol	13.500
117	Nice	13.000
118	Saint-Étienne	13.000
119	Zürich	12.000
120	Fehérvár	11.500

Honours

Domestic

• Ligue 1
  • Champions (10): 1956–57, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1980–81
  • Runners-up: 1945–46, 1971–72, 1981–82
• Ligue 2
  • Winners (3): 1962–63, 1998–99, 2003–04
• Coupe de France
  • Winners (6): 1961–62, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1976–77
• Coupe de la Ligue
  • Winners: 2012–13
• Trophée des Champions
  • Winners (5): 1957, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1969
• Coupe Charles Drago
  • Winners: 1955, 1958

European

• European Cup/Champions League
  • Runners-up (1): 1975–76

Youth

• Coupe Gambardella
  • Winners: 1962–63, 1969–70, 1987–88, 2018–19

Management and staff

Club officials

Senior club staff

• President: Ivan Gazidis
• Executive Vice-President: Huss Fahmy
• General manager: Jaeson Rosenfeld

Coaching and medical staff

• Manager: Eirik Horneland
• Assistant manager: Hassan El Fakiri
• Goalkeeper coach: Jean-Francois Bedenik
• Fitness coach: Benjamin Guy, Thierry Cotte, Philippe Djo Petitjean
• Doctor: Tarak Bouzaabia
• Masseur: Hubert Largeron, Laurent Bensadi, Mathieu Rachet
• Kit Manager: Frédéric Emile

Academy coaching staff

• Director of Youth Academy: Bernard David
• Head of Youth Scouting: Gerard Fernandez
• Director of Youth Department: Laurent Huard

Coaching history

Dates[26] Name 1933 Albert Locke 1934 Harold Rivers 1934–1935 Teddy Duckworth 1936–1937 Zoltán Vágó 1936–1940 Teddy Duckworth 1940–1943 Émile Cabannes 1943–1950 Ignace Tax 1950–1959 Jean Snella 1959–1960 René Vernier 1960–1961 François Wicart 1961–1962 Henri Guérin 1962–1963 François Wicart 1963–1967 Jean Snella 1 July 1967 – 30 June 1972 Albert Batteux 1 July 1972 – 1 February 1983 Robert Herbin 1983 Guy Briet 1983–1984 Jean Djorkaeff 1984 Robert Philippe 1984–1987 Henryk Kasperczak 1 July 1987 – 30 June 1990 Robert Herbin 1 July 1989 – 30 June 1992 Christian Sarramagna 1 July 1992 – 30 June 1994 Jacques Santini 1994–1996 Élie Baup 1996 Maxime Bossis

Dates Name 1996 – 30 June 1996 Dominique Bathenay 1996–1997 Pierre Mankowski 1 July 1997 – 30 June 1998 Pierre Repellini 1 July 1998 – 30 September 2000 Robert Nouzaret 2000 Gérard Soler 1 October 2000 – 21 December 2000 John Toshack 5 January 2001 – 30 June 2001 Rudi Garcia Jean-Guy Wallemme 1 July 2001 – 9 October 2001 Alain Michel 9 October 2001 – 30 June 2004 Frédéric Antonetti 7 June 2004 – 30 June 2006 Élie Baup 1 July 2006 – 30 June 2007 Ivan Hašek 1 July 2007 – 10 November 2008 Laurent Roussey 11 November 2008 – 15 December 2009 Alain Perrin 15 December 2009 – 20 May 2017 Christophe Galtier 15 June 2017 – 15 November 2017 Óscar García 15 November 2017 – 20 December 2017 Julien Sablé 20 December 2017 – 30 June 2019 Jean-Louis Gasset 6 June 2019 – 4 October 2019 Ghislain Printant 4 October 2019 – 5 December 2021 Claude Puel 14 December 2021 – 30 June 2022 Pascal Dupraz 3 June 2022 – 6 December 2023 Laurent Batlles 12 December 2023 – 14 December 2024 Olivier Dall'Oglio 20 December 2024 – present Eirik Horneland

References

1. "#174 – AS St Etienne : les Verts" (in French). Footnickname. 22 July 2020. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
2. "Communiqué officiel : Kilmer Sports devient l'unique actionnaire de l'AS Saint-Étienne, Ivan Gazidis prend la présidence du club". ASSE.fr. 3 June 2024..
3. Reilly, Patrick (21 September 2010). "Top 10 Promoted Teams Who Stunned Their Top League". Goal. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
4. Stokkermans, Karel (17 June 2018). "English Energy and Nordic Nonsense". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
5. "St Etienne punished in passport probe". BBC Sport. 16 January 2001. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
6. "ASSE Stade Plan" (in French). AS Saint-Étienne. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
7. "Etienne Stadium Ban Lifted". Stadia Directory. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
8. Ceillier, Glenn (30 November 2014). "En une soirée de folie, Saint-Etienne a effacé (ou presque) vingt ans de frustration" [On a night of madness, Saint-Etienne erased (or nearly) twenty years of frustration] (in French). Eurosport. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
9. "Saint-Etienne manager Oscar Garcia replaced by Julien Sable". ESPNFC.com. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
10. "Saint-Etienne pick Gasset as new manager". chicagotribune.com. 20 December 2017. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
11. "Bordeaux bid to stop Saint-Etienne run". ligue1.com. Ligue de Football Professionnel. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018.
12. "Why are so many Ligue 1 clubs sacking their managers?". The Guardian. 28 May 2019. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
13. "Paris St-Germain awarded French title as season finished early". BBC Sport. 30 April 2020. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
14. "PSG vs. Saint-Etienne 1–0". Soccerway. 24 July 2020. Archived from the original on 22 August 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
15. "It's the Adam and Erics 2021! The complete review of the Ligue 1 season". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
16. Meynard, Denis (14 April 2021). "Football : le club de Saint-Etienne de nouveau à vendre". Les Echos (France). Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
17. Jacquot, Guillaume (12 May 2021). "Entre Puel et Saint-Etienne, c'est bientôt fini !". Sports (in French). Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
18. "Communiqué officiel : Pascal Dupraz nommé entraîneur de l'ASSE". ASSE (Press release) (in French). 14 December 2021. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
19. "Auxerre gagne sa place en L1 aux tirs au but, Saint-Étienne relégué en L2". L'Équipe (in French). 29 May 2022. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
20. "L'ASSE sanctionnée de trois points et quatre matchs ferme à huis clos". www.20minutes.fr (in French). 23 June 2022. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
21. "Classement Ligue 2 BKT". Ligue2 (in French). Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
22. "Saint-Etienne logo released". footyheadlines. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
23. "Saint-Étienne promoted to Ligue 1 Uber Eats". www.ligue1.com.
24. "Effectif Saison 2024–25". AS Saint-Étienne. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
25. "UEFA coefficients". uefa.com. UEFA. 10 May 2017. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
26. "France – Trainers of First and Second Division Clubs". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 8 February 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.

External links

• Official website (in French)