Ajaccio
Full nameAthletic Club Ajaccien
Nickname(s)L'ours (The Bears)[1]
Founded1910 (1910)
GroundStade François Coty
Capacity10,446
OwnerHolding Ajaccio Imperial Corse Investissement
PresidentDaniele Bufano
Head coachOlivier Pantaloni
LeagueLigue 2
2022–23Ligue 1, 18th of 20 (relegated)
WebsiteClub website

Athletic Club Ajaccio (Corsican: Athletic Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French professional association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in Ligue 2. The club president is Christian Leca, and the first-team is coached by manager Olivier Pantaloni,[2] following the sacking of Christian Bracconi in October 2014.[3] Ajaccio play their home matches at the Stade François Coty and are rivals with fellow Corsican club Bastia, with whom they contest the Corsica derby (Derby Corse).[4]

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.[5]

In November 2014, Olivier Pantaloni returned for a third spell as manager.[6] 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,[7] before losing the final to Toulouse.[8] 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.[9] In the 2021–22 Ligue 2 season, Ajaccio were promoted back to Ligue 1 after finishing second.[10] However, with three games in hand, the club were relegated directly back down.[11]

Players

Current squad

As of 4 January 2024[12][13]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK France FRA Mathieu Michel
2 DF Luxembourg LUX Maxime Chanot
3 DF France FRA Stephen Quemper
4 MF France FRA Mickaël Barreto
5 DF France FRA Clément Vidal
6 MF France FRA Thomas Mangani
7 MF France FRA Riad Nouri
8 MF France FRA Vincent Marchetti (captain)
9 FW Tunisia TUN Yoann Touzghar
11 FW Ivory Coast CIV Ben Hamed Touré
14 FW Burkina Faso BFA Cyrille Bayala
16 GK France FRA François-Joseph Sollacaro
17 FW France FRA Everson Junior
18 FW France FRA Moussa Soumano
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 MF France FRA Valentin Jacob
20 MF Comoros COM Mohamed Youssouf
21 DF Guadeloupe GLP Cédric Avinel
22 DF France FRA Julien Benhaim
26 MF France FRA Tim Jabol-Folcarelli
27 DF France FRA Thibault Campanini
30 GK France FRA Ghjuvanni Quilichini
31 DF Romania ROU Tony Strata
35 DF Algeria ALG Anthony Khelifa
37 MF Algeria ALG Mehdi Puch-Herrantz
38 MF Algeria ALG Ivane Chegra
39 DF France FRA Salomon Abergel
44 DF France FRA Josué Escartin (on loan from Brest)

Notable past players

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

Club officials

As of 6 November 2014
Position Staff
PresidentFrance Christian Leca
Sports coordinatorFrance Johan Cavalli
Sporting DirectorFrance Patrick Vernet
Head CoachFrance Olivier Pantaloni
Assistant Head CoachFrance Jordan Galtier
Goalkeeping CoachFrance Thierry Debès
Fitness CoachFrance Tom Frère
Youth CoachFrance Damien Tibéri
DoctorFrance Guillaume Llotito
PhysiotherapistFrance Jean-Xavier Stefanaggi
Italy Florian Renucci
Italy Ghjuvan Andria Piereschi
IntendentItaly Jean-André Paccioni

Coaches

Honours

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

References

  1. ↑ "#324 – AC Ajaccio : l'Orsu" (in French). Footnickname. 15 November 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  2. ↑ "Pantaloni a été nommé". L'Équipe. 6 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "L'AC Ajaccio débarque son entraîneur Christian Bracconi". Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Willis, Craig; Hughes, Will; Bober, Sergiusz. "ECMI Minorities Blog. National and Linguistic Minorities in the Context of Professional Football across Europe: Five Examples from Non-kin State Situations". ECMI. ECMI. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  5. ↑ "Berbatov inspires Monaco to win, Ajaccio relegated". Taipei Times. AFP. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  6. ↑ "Olivier Pantaloni joins AC Ajaccio on two year deal". Get Football News France. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Four sent off as Ajaccio win chaotic Le Havre play-off". 21 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  8. ↑ "Ligue 1. Toulouse, vainqueur face à Ajaccio, est maintenu" [Ligue 1. Toulouse, winner against Ajaccio, stay up]. Ouest-France (in French). 27 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  9. ↑ "AC Ajaccio : le président persiste et signe pour les barrages !" [AC Ajaccio: the president persists and points towards playoffs!] (in French). Onze Mondiale. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  10. ↑ "AC Ajaccio bring Ligue 1 football back to Corsica". www.ligue1.com.
  11. ↑ {{cite web|url=https://www.ligue1.com/Articles/Match-Reports/2023/05/13/psg-close-on-title-with-ajaccio-win/title=PSG close on title with Ajaccio win|website=www.ligue1.com}}
  12. ↑ "I ghjucatori" (in French). AC Ajaccio. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  13. ↑ "L'heure de la reprise a sonné!" (in French). AC Ajaccio. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
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