ES Troyes AC

ES Troyes AC

The first soccer team in Troyes was founded in 1900, under the name Union Sportive Troyenne (UST). In 1931, the club merged with AS Savinienne, a club located in the suburbs around Troyes to create the Association Sportive Troyenne et Savinienne (ASTS). The newly-formed club was made professional in 1935 and was a part of Ligue 2. The club was promoted to Premiere Division in 1954-55, under the direction of former manager and International athlete Roger Courtois (1952-1963), and players like Abdelaziz Ben Tifour, Marcel Artelesa or Pierre Flamion. It was one of the most glorious times for the club since they reached their Coupe de France final in 1956, in which they faced CS Sedan Ardennes, which they lost 3-1. On the same day the team's youth squad of the club took home the Coupe Gambardella, the French Youth cup. The time, they was unable to maintain its spot in the French first division, but was then back in Division 2. It was able to make it into the Premiere Division again in 1960 however it only lasted for one season before it was removed in the year 1961. The club was facing issues with its finances, and they had to quit professional football at the conclusion of the 1962-63 season where they placed 17th of 20 teams. They continued to play for the next four seasons at the regional level under the direction by an ex- ASTS star Jacques Diebold, before disappearing.

In the following year, with no big club named Troyes A new club was established in 1967 under the name of Troyes Omnisports, still at regional level. The name was changed to Troyes Aube Football (TAF) in the year 1970, when it was granted its professional status back, and was allowed to the Third Division. They were elevated into the Second Division after just one year. Their first season in Second Division, under the direction by Pierre Flamion, they finished second, but did not be promoted, since there three Second division groups in the same season. They won the title next year, in 1973 and then lost at the final of Champions to the champions of the two groups that had been formed in the final against RC Lens. The club experienced its longest run of consecutive games during Ligue 1, as they were in the top division between 1973 and 1978. However, it was a tough period, as they was constantly fighting to avoid losing its place. Pierre Flamion left in 1975 being replaced with Rene Cedolin, former Stade Rennais manager. Its top position was 15th of 20 in the 1976-77. Despite having excellent players, like forward Gerard Tonnel (1972-1975, 107 games and 69 goals between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2) and the right-back Rene Le Lamer (1973-1978) and goalie Guy Formici (1970-1978) and Yugoslavian star forward Ilija Petkovic (1973-1976). They were eventually relegated in 1978 and finished 19th. They went through back-to-back demotions, finishing 17th place in second division, and fell into the 3rd division. The club ended up going bankrupt and a merger together with patronage Laique de Troyes, leaving Troyes without an official Football Club again.

After the demise of the professional team from Troyes There was an attempt by some to create the club so that it might be able into professional form. In 1979, at first shortly after the dissolution of the TAF it was decided to merge the amateur teams of the TAF and the Patronage Laique de Troyes, forming the PL Foot, once again under the direction under the direction of Jacques Diebold. The club was able to make it to fourth division Fourth Division in the year 1984 however they were exiled after only one season, and finished 17th. To create a longer-lasting organization, Maurice Cacciaguerra, Angel Masoni along with others decided to form ATC. Association Troyes Aube Champagne (ATAC) which took over the role of the PL Foot in the Division d'Honneur, French sixth division, which is a the regional level.

The new team won the championship in their first season and was then moved to the Fourth division in 1987. After only three seasons they were ranked first in the Fourth Division in 1990, and then moved up to in the Third Division. Although they were well-ranked during the following three seasons, the club did not manage to earn an upgrade to second Division. In the wake of the reform of French soccer leagues, in the year 1993 the club was moved to the newly created Nationale 2, the new fourth division that plays French football. The new head coach Angel Masoni called Alain Perrin to lead the team. Perrin would go on to become an extremely successful coach in Troyes and remained for nine years from 1993 until 2002. In his debut year, he took home his first Nationale 2, and ATAC was elevated to Nationale 1 in 1994. The next one, Troyes finished 10th, after which he finished 2nd in 1995-96. He was elevated up to Ligue 2: for the first time since 1979, Troyes were playing professional football.

Troyes debut season difficult, and they ended up finishing 20th of 22 teams. The team was able to finish 20th, being able to stay in the Deuxieme division because of the collapse of FC Perpignan and FCO Charleville. The subsequent two seasons were better, finishing 5th in 1997-98 and 3rd in 1998-1999, because of their presence in the squad of stars who were familiar with this level, like Frederic Adam, Richard Jeziersky, David Hamed, Samuel Boutal as well as fans' favorite Sladan Dukic, as well as local players such as the captain Mohammed Bradja. Troyes led the way in the beginning in the campaign. Although the second half was tougher Troyes finished third in the league, but only on an average, following a final victory against AS Cannes. Most importantly, Troyes was elevated up to Ligue 1, 21 years after the last time it played at this stage.

In Troyes the first season of Ligue 1 in 1999-2000, the team finished 14th place, thus avoiding the possibility of relegation. After the season the title ATAC became ESTAC because of the complaints of an French discount store chain that had the identical name. The glory days arrived during the following two seasons, when they finished second twice and qualified to be the very first team in history to compete for their first Intertoto Cup in 2001 and 2002. In 2001 the team was comprised of Jerome Rothen, Rafik Saifi, Tony Heurtebis, Fabio Celestini, and Nicolas Gousse on the side they beat Newcastle United in an epic Intertoto Cup second leg final that ended 4-4 at St James' Park.

After qualifying for the first round in the UEFA Cup over Slovakian MFK Ruzomberok (6-1; 0-1) The team were defeated by Leeds United 4-5 on aggregate despite having won the first leg by a score of 3-2. They were unable to advance for the third stage. In the following year, they defeated Spanish team Villareal CF, drawing 0-0 in the first leg, and winning the second leg by a score of 2-1. But the outcome was void because Troyes used a player disqualified, David Vairelles. UEFA had to disqualify ESTAC and Villareal was substituted in their place. The demotion of coach Jacky Bonnevay and the nomination of Faruk Hadzibegic as manager in January did not do much to save Troyes. They were relegated to the bottom of Ligue 1, and were moved into Ligue 2.

With the help of the new president Thierry Gomez Troyes did not go bankrupt and finished the season 10th. In 2004 Jean-Marc Furlan, who had amazing results in Coupe de France with amateur team Libourne Saint-Seurin, was appointed manager. In his debut campaign, the team earned the promotion by finishing third mostly due to the outstanding performance of two strikers who were on loan, Sebastien Grax of AS Monaco and Bafetimbi Gomis from AS Saint-Etienne. They played striking football, reminiscent of the style of the former director Alain Perrin. The club was at the top of Ligue 1 in 2005-06, however, they failed in the following season (2006-07) and finished at 18th place. Furlan quit at the conclusion of the season then Denis Troch became the new manager. In the end, the club failed to get promoted and with Troyes getting just four points over the final 11 games and finishing 6th despite being among the top three positions for much of the campaign Troch was fired after the end to the campaign. Ludovic Batelli was promoted to the next season and had to battle against the possibility of relegation. The club fired him in April 2009, and the interim manager Claude Robin, previously Troyes director of formation failed to avoid the drop.

The club was having financial problems, Thierry Gomez stepped down as president. He became replaced Daniel Masoni, son of the previous vice president Angel Masoni. On July 9, 2009, Daniel hired Patrick Remy to replace Robin as manager. Remy did well in getting Troyes returning to Ligue 2, finishing third in the Championnat National in 2010. After a disagreement with the president Masoni, Remy quit in June of 2010 and Jean-Marc Farran was appointed to run the club. The club was within Ligue 2 in the 2010-11 season, and finished 16th. After slow beginnings in the start of the season, the results increased as the season progressed along. Things improved significantly and Troyes began to compete to be promoted. They were successful in their 37th fixture of the campaign winning against AS Monaco, on 11 May 2012. Critical victories against the arch-rivals Sedan with an injury-time goal in the final minute by right back youngster Djibril Sidibe. Then just a few weeks later, against Clermont which was third in the league at the time, enabled Troyes to rise to the third spot in the top three.

They play one of the more thrilling football in the league featuring players like Marcos and Mounir Obbadi and a stout defence that is led by Rincon, Julien Outrebon, Matthieu Saunier and Stephen Drouin with the left back Fabrice N'Sakala as well as right back Djibril Sidibe. Both members of the Academy and the midfielders Julien Faussurier and captain Eloge Enza Yamissi have done what was not expected at the start of the campaign. They were a force in the second part of the season with only four defeats five draws, and 10 wins (with only one loss in their 10 final games of this season). Troyes returned to Ligue 1 five years after their last time in the league only two seasons after they had been as a third-tier team.

The year 2015-16 Ligue 1 season, Troyes were dropped in the 2015-16 season to Ligue 2 after finishing last on the list, having won only three games over the course of the year. They were defeated in one game that they lost 9-0 against Paris Saint-Germain. On the 29th of May, 2017 Troyes were promoted into Ligue 1 at the first chance after beating Lorient with a 2-1 aggregate win in the playoff/relegation fixture. On May 20, 2018 Troyes was sacked back into Ligue 2 after just one season in the top division and finishing second the bottom.

For the 2017-19 Ligue 2 season, Troyes was third on the league table. Troyes was to lose the semi-final of playoffs to RC Lens 2-1 after extra time.

On September 3, 2020, City Football Group (CFG) announced that they had bought the majority part of Troyes AC.

For the 2021-21 Ligue 2 season, Troyes were promoted in Ligue 1 as champions of the division.

Detail of the players as below mentioned.

As of 2 September 2022

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  POL Mateusz Lis (on loan from Southampton) 2 DF  ECU Jackson Porozo 3 DF  FRA Thierno Baldé 4 DF  USA Erik Palmer-Brown 5 MF  FRA Tristan Dingomé 6 MF  MLI Rominigue Kouamé 8 MF  FRA Lucien Agoumé (on loan from Inter Milan) 9 FW  CAN Iké Ugbo 10 MF  FRA Florian Tardieu (vice-captain) 11 MF  POR Rony Lopes (on loan from Sevilla) 12 DF  POR Abdu Conté 14 FW  SWE Amar Abdirahman Ahmed 17 DF  GUF Yoann Salmier 19 DF  DEN Andreas Bruus 20 MF  FRA Renaud Ripart 21 FW  COL Marlos Moreno 22 DF  FRA Tanguy Zoukrou 23 DF  FRA Adil Rami (captain) 24 MF  FRA Xavier Chavalerin 25 FW  GNB Mama Baldé 26 FW  SEN Pape Ndiaga Yade (on loan from Metz) 27 FW  FRA Kyliane Dong 28 MF  FRA Derek Mazou-Sacko 29 MF  FRA Wilson Odobert 30 GK  FRA Gauthier Gallon 36 MF  FRA Ryan Fage 37 DF  FRA Eric N'Jo 39 DF  FRA Yasser Larouci 40 GK  FRA Jessy Moulin 43 DF  FRA Mahamadou Dembélé 44 FW  ENG Levi Lumeka 45 DF  FRA Gabriel Mutombo — MF  CRO Ante Palaversa

For a complete list the former Troyes AC players with a JFDBET article.

As of 8 March 2022.

•  Bernard Deferrez (Jan 1986 – April 1988)
•  Pierre Flamion (April 1988 – June 1988)
•  Jean Louis Coustillet (1988–92)
•  Patrick Aussems (1992 – Dec 1992)
•  Pierre Flamion (1992–93)
•  Alain Perrin (July 1993 – June 2002)
•  Jacky Bonnevay (July 2002 – Dec 2002)
•  Serge Romano (interim) (Dec 2002 – Jan 2003)
•  Faruk Hadžibegić (Jan 2003 – June 2004)
•  Jean-Marc Furlan (May 2004 – June 2007)
•  Denis Troch (July 2007 – June 2008)
•  Ludovic Batelli (July 2008 – April 2009)
•  Claude Robin (April 2009 – June 2009)
•  Patrick Rémy (July 2009 – June 2010)
•  Jean-Marc Furlan (June 2010 – Dec 2015)
•  Claude Robin (Dec 2015 – Feb 2016)
•  Mohamed Bradja (Feb 2016 – June 2016)
•  Jean-Louis Garcia (Jul 2016 – May 2018)
•  Rui Almeida (May 2019 – June 2019)
•  Laurent Batlles (June 2019 – Dec 2021)
•  Bruno Irles (Jan 2022 – )

As per detail below.

Ligue 2

• Winners: 2014–15, 2020–21

UEFA Intertoto Cup

• Winners: 2001