 | ||||
| Full name | Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short name | AJ Auxerre, AJA | |||
| Founded | 29 December 1905; 119 years ago (1905-12-29) | |||
| Ground | Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps | |||
| Capacity | 18,541 | |||
| Owner | James Zhou | |||
| President | Baptiste Malherbe | |||
| Manager | Christophe Pélissier | |||
| League | Ligue 1 | |||
| 2024–25 | Ligue 1, 11th of 18 | |||
| Website | aja.fr | |||
 Current season | ||||
Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (French pronunciation:[asɔsjɑsjɔ̃dəlaʒœnɛsosɛʁwaz]), commonly known asAJ Auxerre or by the abbreviationAJA, is a French professionalfootball club based inAuxerre,Bourgogne-Franche-Comté,France. The club currently competes inLigue 1, the top division ofFrench football. Auxerre plays its home matches at theStade de l'Abbé-Deschamps, on the banks of theYonne River. The team is managed byChristophe Pélissier.
Auxerre was founded in 1905 and made its debut in the first division of French football in the1980–81 season, remaining in the premier league until the2011–12 season. The club has won theLigue 1 title once, in the1995–96 season. Two years prior, Auxerre achieved its first major honour by winning theCoupe de France in1994 in a 3–0 victory overMontpellier. The club has since added three more Coupe de France titles, which ties the club for the fifth-best standing among teams who have won the trophy.
Auxerre has produced several notable players during its existence. The club has most notably served as a springboard for several prominent French football players such asEric Cantona,Laurent Blanc,Stéphane Guivarc'h,Philippe Mexès,Basile Boli, andDjibril Cissé, among others, who all became French internationals, with Blanc playing on the teams that won the1998 FIFA World Cup andUEFA Euro 2000. Guivarc'h,Bernard Diomède andLionel Charbonnier were the three footballers from Auxerre who were world champions in 1998. From 1961 to 2005, the club was predominantly coached byGuy Roux. This included an uninterrupted period when Roux was in charge for 36 years between 1964 and 2000.
The clubAssociation de la Jeunesse Auxerroise was founded in 1905, by the abbot Ernest Abbé Deschamps. The club success, becoming a force in the Catholic league F.G.S.P.F. In 1908, the club even reached the F.G.S.P.F. French Championship final, losing 8–1 however. At the end of the First World War, the club was expelled from its ground. Father Deschamps acquired several pieces of land along the Yonne on the Vaux road, which later formed the Abbé Deschamps Stadium.
Auxerre made its first steps in Division 1 on 24 July 1980 againstBastia inToulon. Auxerre lost the match 2–0. On 20 November 1980,Andrzej Szarmach signed for Auxerre having received consent from thePolish Football Association. He started two days later at home againstLyon and scored the first of his ninety-four goals in Division 1. AJA's first season in Division 1 was remarkable for two particular performances: on 13 December 1980, atParc des Princes againstParis Saint-Germain (3–2), and then on 7 April 1981, atStade Marcel-Saupin againstNantes for a 1–0 win, notable as Nantes had not lost a home game for five years and 92 games (between 15 April 1976 and 7 April 1981). In the next two seasons, AJA finished fifteenth and eighth respectively.
During the 1983–84 season, AJA climbed for the first time onto the podium in finishing third.Patrice Garande finished top scorer with twenty-one goals. A few weeks later, Garande won the gold medal at theOlympics in Los Angeles with the French Olympic football team whileJoël Bats andJean-Marc Ferreri were part of the victorious French team atUEFA Euro 1984. That summer, Auxerre recruitedMichel N'Gom. An international prospect, he left Paris Saint-Germain. During pre-season, he scored five goals in ten games. On the last weekend before the start of the season, he visited his former teammates in Paris. He died following a traffic accident on 12 August 1984. To pay tribute, one of the stands at Abbé Deschamps bears his name. The 1984–1985 season saw Auxerre in European competition for the first time in its history by participating in theUEFA Cup, albeit with an unfavourable first round draw withSporting Clube de Portugal. On 19 September 1984 atEstádio José Alvalade, AJA took its bow in European football with a 2–0 defeat. The return leg took place on 3 October 1984. AJA managed to retrieve the two goal deficit with a double by Szarmach, but eventually succumbed with two goals in extra time. However, by virtue of the victory ofMonaco in the Coupe de France, AJA also qualified for the UEFA Cup the year after.
The 1985 offseason saw Joël Bats join Paris Saint-Germain. Auxerre recruitedBruno Martini as his successor. In the UEFA Cup, AJA were drawn againstMilan. In the first leg, Auxerre won 3–1. Both teams missed a penalty andPaolo Maldini made his debut in European competition. In the return match, AJA lost 3–0 and was therefore eliminated. Seventh in the league and quarter-finalist in the French cup, AJA did not manage a third straight season in Europe. Auxerre finished fourth in 1986–1987, and was once again eliminated in the first round of the UEFA Cup the following season with a 2–0 away defeat toPanathinaikos too much to overcome in the return leg (which Auxerre won 3–2). The 1988–89 season saw AJA finish fifth in the league and reach the semi-finals of the Coupe de France before elimination byMarseille, the future winner of the event. With fifth place in the league, AJA made the UEFA Cup and there made its first decent run. During the preliminary round, AJA managed its first victory. Beaten 0–1 at home byDinamo Zagreb, it registered 3–1 in Yugoslavia and qualified for the first round proper. Auxerre beat successively AlbaniansApolonia Fier, FinnsRoPS andOlympiacos of Greece before being eliminated in the quarterfinals byFiorentina. In parallel with this, AJA managed sixth place in the league. During the summer of 1990, the AJA soldBasile Boli and recruitedEnzo Scifo,Alain Roche andZbigniew Kaczmarek. Auxerre finished in third place after leading the championship for two weeks.
In 1991–92, Auxerre was eliminated in the second round of the UEFA Cup byLiverpool and then finished fourth in Division 1. That summer, the AJA sold Alain Roche andJean-Marc Ferreri while recruitingFrank Verlaat andGérald Baticle. Auxerre then journeyed again into UEFA. Auxerre eliminatedLokomotiv Plovdiv and the newly formedCopenhagen. In the third round, AJA eliminatedStandard Liège. In the quarterfinals, AJA facedAjax, the defending champion and undefeated in theEuropean Cup for two years. Before facing Ajax, Auxerre had suffered five consecutive league defeats. Auxerre managed a 4–2 home win. In the second leg, Ajax could only manage a 1–0 win and so Auxerre had qualified for the semi-finals, to faceBorussia Dortmund. In the first leg in Germany, AJA lost 2–0. A fiercely contested second leg levelled the aggregate score, but Auxerre were finally eliminated on penalties.
While finishing sixth in the championship, Auxerre again qualified for the UEFA Cup after theVA-OM case. But unlike the epic run of the previous season, AJA was eliminated in the first round by Tenerife. AJA made progress in the league, with a third-place finish, but notably captured its first major trophy, the French cup. Having made it past the lower division teams in the early rounds, AJA eliminated Nantes in the semifinals before winning 3-0 at the Parc des Princes in the final againstMontpellier. The following season, Auxerre finished fourth in the league and was a quarter-finalist of the Cup Winners' Cup: Auxerre was eliminated byArsenal in the Abbe-Deschamps (1–0) having achieved a 1–1 draw atHighbury.
During the1995–96 season, the club won Division 1 for the first time in their history, and also won the Coupe de France.
On 13 May 2012, Auxerre's 32-year stay in the top division came to an end after a 3–0 away defeat at the hands ofMarseille.The following season, Auxerre finished a disappointing ninth place along with a goal difference of −2. The next season was no better for AJA, after they finished a lowly 16th position. Although not resulting in promotion, the2014–15 Ligue 2 season was better for theBurgundy based side, as they finished ninth inLigue 2 and finishing runners-up in the2015 Coupe de France final after losing toParis Saint-Germain at theStade de France in front of an attendance of 80,000. The2018–19 season was Auxerre's seventh consecutive in the Ligue 2. In the2020–21 Ligue 2 season, the Auxerrois would achieve their best finish in the second tier since their relegation with a 6th-place finish, although they were positioned within the top five required for at least the playoffs at the end of 17 of the 38 game weeks. In the2021–22 Ligue 2 season, AJA were finally promoted back to Ligue 1 after ten years, after a penalty shoot-out win againstSaint-Etienne in the Ligue 1 promotion/relegation play-offs.[1]After just one season in Ligue 1, Auxerre were relegated back to Ligue 2 after losing on the final day againstLens. Auxerre were one point clear ofNantes, but with Nantes securing a victory over already relegatedAngers it meant Auxerre were the final team relegated.[2] On 11 May 2024, Auxerre secure promotion to Ligue 1 for the 2024–25 season, after 1-1 draw againstAmiens, champions of Ligue 2 in 2023–24, and returned to the top tier after a one year absence.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Below is the starting 11 of historic football players who have played at Auxerre in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1905 as voted by the club's supporters.[4]
| Dates[5][6] | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1946–47 |  Pierre Grosjean | Auxerre's first official coach. |
| 1947–48 | Jean Pastel | |
| 1948–50 | Jacques Boulard Bruneau | |
| 1950–52 | Georges Hatz | |
| 1952–53 | Marc Olivier | |
| 1953–55 | M. Pignault | |
| 1955–56 | Pierre Meunier | |
| 1956–58 | Jacques Boulard | First manager to manage the club twice. |
| 1958–59 | Joseph Holmann | First manager from outside France to coach the team. |
| 1959–61 | Christian Di Orio | |
| 1961–62 | Guy Roux | |
| 1962–64 | Jean-Claude Gagneux Jacques Chevallier | |
| 1964–00 | Guy Roux | Led the club to its first league and Coupe de France title. |
| 2000–01 | Daniel Rolland | |
| 2000–05 | Guy Roux | First manager to serve three stints at the club. Won two Coupe de France titles. |
| 2001–02 | Alain Fiard | Served in interim role due to Roux taking a leave of absence due tocoronary artery bypass surgery. |
| 2005–06 | Jacques Santini | |
| 2006–11 | Jean Fernandez | |
| 2011–12 | Laurent Fournier | |
| 2012 | Jean-Guy Wallemme | |
| 2012–14 | Bernard Casoni | |
| 2014–16 | Jean-Luc Vannuchi | |
| 2016 |  Viorel Moldovan | |
| 2016–2017 | Cédric Daury | |
| 2017 | Francis Gillot | |
| 2018-2019 |  Pablo Correa | |
| 2019 | Cédric Daury | Interim until end of 2018–19 season.[7] |
| 2019–2022 | Jean-Marc Furlan | |
| 2022– | Christophe Pélissier |
| Season | Pos. | Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other Comp. | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | 1D | 3rd | ||||||
| 1991–92 | 1D | 4th | UC | 2nd round | ||||
| 1992–93 | 1D | 6th | UC | Semi-final | ||||
| 1993–94 | 1D | 3rd | Winner | UC | 2nd round | |||
| 1994–95 | 1D | 4th | Last 16 | |||||
| 1995–96 | 1D | 1st | Winner | Quarter-final | UC | 2nd round | ||
| 1996–97 | 1D | 6th | Last 16 | UCL | Quarter-final | TDC | ||
| 1997–98 | 1D | 7th | Semi-final | UC | Quarter-final | Intertoto | ||
| 1998–99 | 1D | 14th | Quarter-final | Intertoto | ||||
| 1999–2000 | 1D | 8th | ||||||
| 2000–01 | 1D | 13th | Quarter-final | Quarter-final | Intertoto | |||
| 2001–02 | 1D | 3rd | Last 32 | Quarter-final | ||||
| 2002–03 | 1D | 6th | Winner | Last 16 | UCL | Group stage | ||
| 2003–04 | 1D | 4th | Quarter-final | Semi-final | UC | 4th round | TDC | |
| 2004–05 | 1D | 8th | Winner | Quarter-final | UC | Quarter-final | ||
| 2005–06 | 1D | 6th | Quarter-final | UC | 1st round | TDC | ||
| 2006–07 | 1D | 8th | Quarter-final | UC | Group stage | Intertoto | ||
| 2007–08 | 1D | 15th | Last 16 | Semi-final | ||||
| 2008–09 | 1D | 8th | Last 32 | Quarter-final | ||||
| 2009–10 | 1D | 3rd | Quarter-final | Quarter-final | ||||
| 2010–11 | 1D | 9th | Last 32 | Semi-final | UCL | Group stage | ||
| 2011–12 | 1D | 20th | Last 16 | Semi-final | ||||
| 2012–13 | 2D | 9th | 7th round | Quarter-final | ||||
| 2013–14 | 2D | 16th | Quarter-final | Quarter-final | ||||
| 2014–15 | 2D | 9th | Runner-up | 3rd round | ||||
| 2015–16 | 2D | 8th | Last 16 | |||||
| 2016–17 | 2D | 17th | Quarter-final | Last 16 | ||||
| 2017–18 | 2D | 11th | Quarter-final | 1st round | ||||
| 2018–19 | 2D | 15th | Last 16 | 1st round | ||||
| 2019–20 | 2D | 11th | 8th round | 1st round | ||||
| 2020–21 | 2D | 6th | Last 32 | discontinued | ||||
| 2021–22 | 2D | 3rd | Last 32 | |||||
| 2022–23 | 1D | 17th | 16th Round | |||||
| 2023–24 | 2D | 1st | Round of 64 | |||||
| 2024–25 | 1D | 11th | Round of 64 | |||||
Color:
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Runners-Up |
| Bronze | 3rd place (Semi-final) |
| Relegated | Second Division |
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