Saint-Étienne is known asLes Verts meaning "the Greens" due to its home colours. They have a longstanding rivalry with nearby teamOlympique Lyonnais, against whom they contest theDerby rhônalpin.
AS Saint-Étienne was founded in 1919 by employees of theSaint-Étienne-basedgrocery store chainGroupe Casino under the nameAmicale 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 theFrench Football Federation (FFF) prohibiting the use of trademarks in sports club, the club dropped "Casino" from its name and changed its name to simplyAmical 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 toAssociation 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 becameinaugural 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 the1938–39 season under the leadership of the EnglishmanTeddy Duckworth. However, the team's debut appearance in the first division was short-lived due to the onset ofWorld 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 toLillein the first season after the war. The club failed to improve upon that finish in following seasons under Tax and, ahead of the1950–51 season, Tax was let go and replaced by former Saint-Étienne playerJean Snella.
Georges Bereta won six league titles while playing for Saint-Étienne.
Under Snella, Saint-Étienne achieved its first honour after winning theCoupe Charles Drago in 1955.Two seasons later, the club won its first domestic league title. Led bygoalkeeperClaude Abbes, defenderRobert Herbin, as well as midfieldersRené Ferrier andKees Rijvers andstrikerGeorges Peyroche, Saint-Étienne won the league by four points overLens. 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 the1961–62 season. However, Wicart did lead the club to its firstCoupe de France title in 1962, alongside co-managerHenri Guérin with the team defeatingNancy 1–0 inthe 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 withServette.
In Snella'sfirst 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 ofGeorges Bereta,Bernard Bosquier,Gérard Farison andHervé Revelli to the team. After the season, Snella returned to Servette and formerReims managerAlbert Batteux replaced him. In Batteux's first season in1967–68, Saint-Étienne capturedthe 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 theEuropean Cup. In the match, played atHampden Park in Scotland, Saint-Étienne faced German clubBayern 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 byJacques Santini,Dominique Bathenay andOsvaldo Piazza, among others. A single goal byFranz 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 byMichel 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 archrivalsLyon.
Loïc Perrin spent his entire career at Saint-Étienne, his hometown club.
In 1982, a financial scandal involving a controversialslush 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 the1983–84 season. The club returned to the first division in 1986 under the leadership of goalkeeperJean 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 the2000–01 season, the club was supervised by five different managers and had to deal with a scandal that involved two players (BrazilianAlex Dias and Ukrainian goalkeeperMaksym 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 the2004–05 season. They came fifth in the2007–08 season, which resulted in the club qualifying for theUEFA Cup for the first time since 1982. Saint-Étienne was influenced by several youngsters within the team such asBafétimbi Gomis,Loïc Perrin,Blaise Matuidi andDimitri Payet. The club followed up its fifth-place finish by finishing 17th in the next two seasons.[6]
Having won theCoupe 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 the2013–14 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 rivalsLyon 3–0 at theStade 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 toLyon, after whichÓscar García Junyent was dismissed as manager and replaced by former playerJulien Sablé.[9] Sable was replaced in December byJean-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 thecoronavirus pandemic.[13] They also reached theCoupe de France final in this season, which they lost 1–0 toParis 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 the2021–22, 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 againstRennes, managerClaude Puel was relieved from his duties.[17]Julien Sablé, the assistant coach, took over as caretaker manager, beforePascal Dupraz was appointed as the new manager on 15 December 2021.[18] The team eventually finished 18th in the season, and were relegated to theLigue 2 after losing in a penalty shootout toAuxerre 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] The incidents left over 30 people injured.[21] With a total of 18 points at the half of the2022–23 season, Saint-Étienne was in the relegation zone ranked 18th in the table; however, they managed to finish the campaign in 8th place.[22]The 2022–23 season was also the first season of Saint-Etienne with their new logo.[23]In the2023–24 Ligue 2 season, Saint-Etienne finished inside the playoff places and would eventually reach the relegation/promotion playoff againstMetz. Saint-Etienne would win the two legged playoff 4-3 on aggregate to earn promotion back to Ligue 1,[24] but would get relegated after an arguably insane relegation battle in 2024-25.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
.jpg)
