AC Ajaccio

Full name	Athletic Club Ajaccien
Nickname(s)	L'ours
Founded	1910
Ground	Stade François Coty Ajaccio (Corse-du-Sud) (Capacity: 12,000)
Chairman	Michel Moretti
Manager	Olivier Pantaloni
League	Ligue 2
2008-09	L2, 16th
Home colours Away colours

Athletic Club Ajaccio, commonly known as AC Ajaccio is a French football team, who were founded in 1910. The club president is Alain Orsoni, and the coach is José Pasqualetti. They play in the city of Ajaccio, Corsica, at the Stade François Coty.

[edit] Honours

• Ligue 2 Champions: 1967, 2002
• Ligue 3 Champions: 1998
• Corsican champions: 1920, 1921, 1934, 1939, 1948, 1950, 1955, 1964, 1994

[edit] Historical information

Depending on sources, it is agreed that Ajaccio began playing in 1909-10. Their adopted colours are red and white stripes. Though they used to play in what was previously utilized 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 SC 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 as cause and limitation of violence. This final was abandoned and replayed much later.

A.C.A. became a professional team in 1965 thanks to the ambitious assembly of a team by leaders of the club. They initially adopted the symbol of the polar bear, but this has since been dropped in favour of a more stylized logo.

[edit] Notable past players

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

• Dominique Baratelli
• Rolland Courbis
• François M'Pelé
• Dado Pršo
• Marius Trésor
• Sébastien Squillaci

[edit] Coaches

[edit] Current squad

As of July 9, 2009^[1]

No. Position Player 1 GK Thierry Debès 3 DF Christian Kinkela 4 DF Leyti N'Diaye (on loan from Marseille) 5 DF Jonathan Martins Pereira 6 MF Carl Medjani 7 FW Julien Viale 8 MF Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi 9 FW Georges Ba 10 MF Ludovic Guerriero 13 DF Rémi Fournier 14 FW Jean-François Rivière 15 MF Wilfried Moimbé (on loan from Bordeaux)

No. Position Player 16 GK Laurent Bernardi 17 DF Yoann Poulard 18 FW Kévin Diaz (on loan from Monaco) 19 MF Sébastien Grégori 20 DF Jean-Philippe Sabo (on loan from Marseille) 21 MF Mickael Charvet 23 MF Thomas Deruda 24 MF Benjamin André 26 DF Rémi Cilia 27 MF Elie Dohin 30 GK Laurent Quievreux

[edit] Ligue 1 Records

• Place in top tier: 6th (1971)
• Goals scored in season: 59 (1968)
• Goals conceded in season: 40 (2005)
• Record number of matches: 141 (René Le Lamer)
• Goals: Étienne Sansonetti (58)
• Home score: 8-2 vs. Aix (1968).
• Away score: 4-1 vs. Bastia (1971)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (French) Official website
• (French) Fan Site