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| Full name | Athletic Club Ajaccien | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | L'ours (The Bear)[1] | ||
| Founded | 1910; 115 years ago (1910) | ||
| Ground | Stade Michel Moretti | ||
| Capacity | 10,446 | ||
| Owner | Holding Ajaccio Imperial Corse Investissement | ||
| President | Michaël Torre | ||
| Manager | Anthony Lippini | ||
| League | Régional 2 Corsica | ||
| 2024–25 | Ligue 2, 12th of 18 (administratively relegated) | ||
| Website | www | ||
Athletic Club Ajaccien (Corsican:Athletic Club Aiaccini), commonly referred to asAC Ajaccio,ACA or simplyAjaccio (French pronunciation:[aʒaksjo]ⓘ) is a Frenchfootball club based in the city ofAjaccio on the island ofCorsica. They compete in theRégional 2, the seventh tier of French football, after having been administratively relegated at the end of the2024–25 Ligue 2 season.
The club was founded in 1910. They play their home matches at theStade Michel Moretti and are rivals with fellow Corsican clubBastia, with whom they contest theCorsica derby (Derby Corse).[2]
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 ofJean Lluis, father-in-law of club presidentLouis 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 withGazélec Ajaccio andBastia, 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. They brought back the polar bear in 2014.
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.[3]
On 4 July 2011, Ajaccio signed Mexican goalkeeperGuillermo Ochoa, who would make an impact on the club by being part the their historic XI,[4] and would later be recognized as the greatest player ever to play for Ajaccio.[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 beatLe Havre in a semi-final marred by violence on and off the pitch,[7] before losing the final toToulouse.[8] The club were denied promotion in 2019–20 when the season was curtailed with ten games remaining due to thecoronavirus 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 the2021–22 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]
On 27 June 2024, Ajaccio was administratively relegated to theChampionnat National by theDirection Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG) due to financial issues.[12] They appealed the decision, and on the 11th of July 2024, they were reinstated inLigue 2 for the2024–25 season.[13] On 24 June 2025, the club was once again provisionally relegated to the Championnat National.[14] On 16 July 2025, their administrative relegation was confirmed, andBoulogne was promoted to Ligue 2. On 14 August 2025, due to continuing financial issues, Ajaccio was excluded from any national-level competitions for 2025–26 season altogether.[15] On 5 September 2025, Ajaccio was confirmed as being placed in theRégional 2, the seventh tier of French football, for the season.[16]
