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Athletic Club Ajaccio (Corsican: Athletic Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1. The club president is Christian Leca, and the first-team is coached by manager Olivier Pantaloni, following the sacking of Christian Bracconi in October 2014. 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).

1. Historical information

Based on the sources, it is believed that Ajaccio was first played in 1909-2010. The colors they chose to play with are white and red stripes. While they were playing in the stadium that was originally used as a sand pit the club decided to move to a safer, more clean stadium on the advice by Jean Lluis, father-in-law of the club's the president Louis Baretti. The stadium selected could hold 5,000 people and was operational from 1969 onwards.

AC Ajaccio were elected Corsican champions eight times, in 1921, 1920, 1934 (1939) 1948, 1950 and 1964. They are among the three major "island" teams alongside Gazelec Ajaccio, and Bastia the rivalry between the three teams being kept in the open. Fans at the 1946 Corsican Cup final, held between A.C.A. in addition to Sporting Bastia were handed umbrellas to keep them safe from violence. After refusing to award the penalty that would be awarded to ACA and Sporting Bastia, violence broke out between the fans who used umbrellas to create violence and to protect themselves from harm. The match was cancelled and replayed later.

A.C.A. was made a professional team in 1965, thanks to the determination of the club's leadership. They first adopted the emblem for the Polar Bear however, this was later removed in favor of the more stylised logo which incorporates a portion from the Corsican flag.

The team was formed in 1967. club was an initial Corsican club to compete in the top division of France. They last played at the top of Ligue 1 in the 2013-14 season, but were dismissed following their last finish after a period of more than three years in the highest division The drop was confirmed when they lost to their neighbours Bastia.

On November 14, 2014 Olivier Pantaloni returned for another spell as manager. The team finished third in 2017-18, and qualified for play-offs. In the play-offs, they defeated Le Havre in a semi-final that was marred by violence both on and off the field and then lost in the final against Toulouse. They were not promoted in 2019-20, when the season was cut short by ten games because of the coronavirus pandemic; Ajaccio were one point from the top two teams, which were the only team to be promoted because the play-offs were not able to be challenged.

2. Players

As per detail below.

 

2.1. Current squad

As of 11 July 2022.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK France FRA Benjamin Leroy
3 DF Ivory Coast CIV Ismaël Diallo
4 MF France FRA Mickaël Barreto
5 MF France FRA Riad Nouri
6 MF France FRA Mathieu Coutadeur (captain)
7 FW France FRA Mounaïm El Idrissy
8 MF France FRA Vincent Marchetti
9 FW France FRA Gaëtan Courtet
10 MF Albania ALB Qazim Laçi
11 FW Republic of the Congo CGO Bevic Moussiti-Oko
12 FW France FRA Taïryk Arconte
14 FW Burkina Faso BFA Cyrille Bayala
15 DF France FRA Clément Vidal
16 GK France FRA François-Joseph Sollacaro
17 FW France FRA Romain Hamouma
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 FW Burkina Faso BFA Kouamé Botué
19 MF France FRA Alassane N'Diaye
20 MF Comoros COM Mohamed Youssouf
21 DF Guadeloupe GLP Cédric Avinel
22 MF France FRA Yanis Cimignani
23 DF Guadeloupe GLP Mickaël Alphonse
24 DF Comoros COM Chaker Alhadhur
25 DF Cameroon CMR Oumar Gonzalez
29 FW France FRA Florian Chabrolle
33 MF Tunisia TUN Anis Ajroud
34 MF France FRA Paolo Lebas
40 GK France FRA Ghjuvanni Quilichini
DF Gabon GAB Sidney Obissa
MF France FRA Thomas Mangani
MF Switzerland  SUI Kevin Spadanuda
 

 

2.2. Notable past players

A

  • Kassim Abdallah
  • Djamel Abdoun
  • Laurent Abergel
  • Ahmed Abou Moslem
  • Samassi Abou
  • Jules Accorsi
  • Hugo Aine
  • Enrico Alberto
  • Chaker Alhadhur
  • Hervé Alicarte
  • Zana Allée
  • Mickaël Alphonse
  • Dmitri Ananko
  • Gaël Andonian
  • André Luiz (footballer, born 1974)
  • Benjamin André
  • Didier Angan
  • Antônio Carlos (footballer, born 1983)
  • Franklin Anzité
  • Taïryk Arconte
  • Salim Arrache
  • Ludovic Asuar
  • Catilina Aubameyang
  • Christophe Avezac
  • Cédric Avinel

B

  • Georges Ba
  • Paul Babiloni
  • Mamadou Bagayoko
  • Anthony Bancarel
  • Issa Baradji
  • Dominique Baratelli
  • Mickaël Barreto
  • Michel Bassolé
  • Cyrille Bayala
  • Xavier Bécas
  • Fabrice Begeorgi
  • Chahir Belghazouani
  • Laurent Bernardi
  • Yacine Bezzaz
  • Yann Boé-Kane
  • Nicolas Bonnal
  • Laurent Bonnart
  • Nicolas Borodine
  • Kouamé Botué
  • Samuel Bouhours
  • Jean-Pierre Brucato
  • Robert Buigues

C

  • Manuel Cabit
  • Warren Caddy
  • Demba Camara
  • Mady Camara
  • Alain Cantareil
  • Marcelinho Carioca
  • Jean-Claude Casties
  • Johan Cavalli
  • Florian Chabrolle
  • Kamel Chafni
  • Ilyes Chaïbi
  • Matthieu Chalmé
  • Cyril Chapuis
  • Mickaël Charvet
  • Jérémy Choplin
  • Rémi Cilia
  • Yanis Cimignani
  • Pape Abou Cissé
  • Xavier Collin
  • Renaud Connen
  • Jérémy Corinus
  • Gary Coulibaly
  • Rolland Courbis
  • Gaëtan Courtet
  • Laurent Courtois
  • Uliano Courville
  • Mathieu Coutadeur
  • Alessandro Crescenzi
  • Hugo Cuypers

D

  • Cédric D'Ulivo
  • Frédéric Danjou
  • Emmerick Darbelet
  • Stéphane Darbion
  • Thierry Debès
  • Baptiste Dedola
  • Andy Delort
  • Aliou Dembélé
  • Yohan Demont
  • Thomas Deruda
  • Christophe Destruhaut
  • Brandon Deville
  • Cheick Diabaté (footballer)
  • Lassina Diabaté
  • Zié Diabaté
  • Ismaël Diallo
  • Zakaria Diallo
  • Sigamary Diarra
  • Fousseni Diawara
  • Kaba Diawara
  • Kévin Diaz (footballer, born 1988)
  • Sob Evariste Dibo
  • Serge Dié
  • Claude Dielna
  • Bernard Diomède
  • Marvin Diop
  • Élie Dohin
  • Alexandre Dujeux
  • Henri Dumat
  • Nenad Džodić

E

F

  • David Faderne
  • Alioun Fall
  • Guillaume Fanucchi
  • Marcelo de Faria
  • Ricardo Faty
  • Olivier Fauconnier
  • Nicolas Fauvergue
  • Alexis Flips
  • Rémi Fournier
  • Rayan Frikeche

G

  • Marvin Gakpa
  • Diego Garzitto
  • Gaspar Azevedo
  • David Gigliotti
  • Ghislain Gimbert
  • Jules Goda
  • Claude Gonçalves
  • Oumar Gonzalez
  • Moïse Gorendiawé
  • Cyril Granon
  • Xavier Gravelaine
  • Sébastien Grégori
  • Paul-André Guérin
  • Ludovic Guerriero
  • Walter Guglielmone

H

I

  • Mounaïm El Idrissy
  • Ilan (footballer)

J

  • Daouda Jabi
  • Ablie Jallow
  • Ammar Jemal
  • Giany Joinville
  • José Júnior

K

  • Zbigniew Kaczmarek (footballer)
  • Rayan Kadima
  • Gédéon Kalulu
  • Cédric Kanté
  • Abdoulaye Keita (footballer, born 1994)
  • Kader Keïta (footballer, born 2000)
  • Souleymane Keïta
  • Seïd Khiter
  • Christian Kinkela
  • David Klein (footballer)
  • Martin KoláÅ™
  • Jean-Philippe Krasso
  • Miloš Krstić (footballer, born 1987)

L

  • Qazim Laçi
  • Grégory Lacombe
  • Juan Andres Larré
  • Paul Lasne
  • Lassad Nouioui
  • Fabien Laurenti
  • Claude Le Roy
  • Sylvain Léandri
  • Paolo Lebas
  • Jean-Louis Leca
  • Mickaël Leca
  • Quentin Lecoeuche
  • Kévin Lejeune
  • Benjamin Leroy
  • Benoît Lesoimier
  • Dimitri Lesueur
  • Fabrice Levrat
  • Anthony Lippini
  • Patrice Loko
  • Clech Loufilou
  • Florian Lucchini
  • Patrice Luzi

M

  • Pape M'Bow
  • François M'Pelé
  • Yohan M'Vila
  • Moussa Maâzou
  • Mouaad Madri
  • Arnaud Maire
  • Albert Makiadi
  • Antoine Makoumbou
  • Maamar Mamouni
  • Riffi Mandanda
  • Jean-Jacques Mandrichi
  • Thomas Mangani
  • Charles Marchetti
  • Vincent Marchetti
  • Marcos (footballer, born 1979)
  • Éric Marester
  • Anthony Marin
  • Yohan Marmot
  • Mickael Marquet

2.3. Reserve squad

As of 12 October 2020. 

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK France FRA Dumenicu Borelli
GK France FRA Lucas Marsella
DF France FRA Pierre-Joseph Bucchini
DF France FRA Théo Emmanuelli
DF France FRA Baptiste Susini
MF France FRA Lucien Alessandri
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF France FRA Mala Baro
MF France FRA Paul-Baptiste Behe Leonardi
MF France FRA Pierre-Ange De Franchi
MF France FRA Noé Messin
FW France FRA Florian Danho
FW France FRA Zakariy Naili

 

3. Managers

  • Jean Pietri (pre–1955)
  • Félix Pironti (1955–57)
  • Michel Brusseaux (1957–58)
  • Jean Laune (1958–59)
  • Jean-Pierre Knayer (1959–63)
  • Mohamed Azzouz (1963–64)
  • Ernst Stojaspal (1964–65)
  • Alberto Muro (1965–70)
  • Louis Hon (1970–71)
  • Antoine Cuissard (1971–72)
  • André Mori (1972–73)
  • Louis Hon (1973–74)
  • Lulu Accorsi (1974–75)
  • Alain Mistre (1975–76)
  • François Paoli (1976–78)
  • Mohamed Azzouz (1978–79)
  • Unknown (1979–92)
  • Baptiste Gentili (1 July 1992 – 30 June 2001)
  • Rolland Courbis (1 July 2001 – 30 June 2003)
  • Dominique Bijotat (1 July 2002 – 21 September 2004)
  • Olivier Pantaloni (2004)
  • Rolland Courbis (8 February 2005 – 11 January 2006)
  • O. Pantaloni (interim) (11 January 2006 – 12 January 2006)
  • José Pasqualetti (12 January 2006 – 30 June 2006)
  • Ruud Krol (1 July 2006 – 30 June 2007)
  • Gernot Rohr (1 July 2007 – 30 August 2008)
  • José Pasqualetti (1 September 2008 – 23 February 2009)
  • Olivier Pantaloni (23 February 2009 – 13 June 2012)
  • Alex Dupont (22 June 2012 – 17 December 2012)
  • Albert Emon (21 December 2012 – 28 May 2013)
  • Fabrizio Ravanelli (7 June 2013 – 2 November 2013)
  • Christian Bracconi (interim) (3 November 2013 – 14 Oct)
  • Thierry Debès (interim) (Oct 2014)
  • Olivier Pantaloni (6 November 2014–)

5. Honours

Division 2 (Second Division)

  • Champions (2): 1966–67, 2001–02

Championnat National (Third Division)

  • Champions (1): 1997–98

Ligue de Corse (Corsican League)

  • Champions (9): 1920, 1921, 1934, 1939, 1948, 1950, 1955, 1964, 1994

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