Monaco

In contrast to different European states, Monaco does not have an official domestic league, and has not sought separately a membership of the UEFA or FIFA. UEFA as well as FIFA. This means that AS Monaco has no domestic league in its own country which has led to it being exiled into in the French league structure. AS Monaco is a full part of the French league, which allows it to compete for France in European tournaments. There are many other expatriate football clubs that operate across Europe however, AS Monaco is unique in the sense that it represents a country which is not part of the international organisations. While Vaduz as well as other Liechtenstein clubs are part of the Swiss league system because of Liechtenstein being a non-league country, the clubs have a national cup in their country, and are eligible for European football in this way. Two other microstates within Europe have teams that play in foreign countries, Andorra and San Marino however, they are not part of the existing national league structures.

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AS Monaco FC was founded on August 1, 1919, as the unification of various local clubs that were based on France and the Principality. Then, the multi-sports association of Association Sportive de Monaco was established on the 23rd of August 1924. AS Monaco FC was then acquired by the latter, and was renamed the football section of the larger Monegasque sporting club.

The first few years of the club's existence were in the amateur regional divisions in the Provence-Alpes Cote d'Azur region. increasing rapidly between leagues of the 1920s. The year 1933 was the time when Monaco received an invitation from the French Football Federation to turn professional. The Monegasques began their first season of second division football was a failure but they were dropped to amateur leagues following the following year. In 1948 Monaco was able to regain its status as a professional and was relegated back to French second division. They continued to consistently finish in the upper echelons. This continuous effort leading to their advancement into the French 1st division for the second time in 1953.

It was in 1960 that Monaco head coach Lucien Leduc took the team to the first trophy of professional competition The Coupe de France, beating Saint-Etienne by 4-2 after extra time. The first win was followed by a bigger one by the following year when Monaco taking home the French Championship for the first time in its history. They also qualified to play in the European Cup. Leduc then helped the club achieve the debut League as well as Cup Double in 1963. Following Leduc's departure, at the end of 1963 Monaco suffered a lackluster run, firmly rooted in the middle part of the division for the most period of the decade that followed and then alternating between the first and second divisions following 1963. in 1975 Jean-Louis Campora, son of the former President Charles Campora, became chairman of Monaco. In the second season of his tenure the club was re-established by Leduc who won the club's promotion to the first division, and also won them the title the following season in 1978. Leduc then left the club in 1979, only to be succeed by Lucien Muller and Gerard Banide who could not stop the decline of the club.

The first half of the 1980s saw the steady flow of wins in national championships. Monaco was crowned champions nearly every year. The most notable was it won the Coupe de France in 1980 and 1985, and the French Championship in 1982, was a Coupe de France finalist in 1984. In the 1985-86 season Monaco crushed Bordeaux 9-0. It was one of the most significant ever wins for the club in its history.

Unfortunately for Monaco supporters the club failed to make its domestic dominance translate into European achievement. At this point, Monaco had never passed the first round of any European competition. Monaco fell to Dundee United (1981), CSKA Sofia twice (1982 and 1984) and Universitatea Craiova (1985).

In 1986 the former Ajax coach Stefan Kovacs, who succeeded Rinus Michels, and worked on the Total Football ideals with the Dutch champions, emerged of an extended 3 year "retirement" to lead Monaco however, the team was not able to achieve success. After an unsustainable period and a lack of funds, they hired Arsene Wenger who was unnoticed, and had been as the manager of Nancy with no success. His tenure saw the club go through one of the most prosperous times, featuring many notable signings that were inspired, such as George Weah, Glenn Hoddle, Jurgen Klinsmann, and Youri Djorkaeff. Youth team policy led to the future World Cup winners Emmanuel Petit, Lilian Thuram and Thierry Henry. Under the leadership of Wenger the club won the league during the first season he was in charge (1988) as well as the Coupe de France in 1991 The club continued to be participating in the final phases of the European Cup and regularly challenging to win the league title. They could've enjoyed much more success during this time, but it was revealed in 1993 that rivals Marseille had been involved in match fixing and other irregularities, a belief Wenger was a long-time supporter of. In 1994, following being denied from Monaco's board of directors Monaco board from negotiating with German stronghold Bayern Munich for their vacant post as manager, after being shortlisted for the job, Wenger was released from the club, a couple of weeks after the position was already filled.

Following the departure of Wenger in the summer of 1997, the club was able to win two more league titles; Under Jean Tigana in 1997 and under Claude Puel in 2000. As the decade was coming towards its conclusion, rumors were being circulated suggesting that the club might be experiencing many financial challenges. In 2003, the problems with finances were brought to the forefront. While finishing third in their league, the team was sent into Ligue 2 by the French Professional League after accumulating an EUR50 million ($68 million) debt. While this was lowered on appeals to a ban on buying footballers, the punishment was sufficient to make it necessary for the president Jean-Louis Campora, who had been in charge for over 28 years, to leave the club. The new president was Pierre Svara, an administrator who was believed as close to the prince's Princely family but lacking previous football experience.

The following season brought amazing success on the pitch despite the club's financial struggles. The team, which was coached by former French captain of the national team Didier Deschamps, and featuring legendary players like Fernando Morientes, Ludovic Giuly, Jerome Rothen and Dado Prso, came in third place at the top of Ligue 1 and enjoyed a amazing run to the semi-final in the UEFA Champions League, beating Real Madrid and Chelsea along the route. But, despite their successes on the field 2003-04 was the club's most difficult financial year in the club's history. After just 12 months Deschamps was fired as head coach, and Svara was substituted with Michel Pastor.

When Francesco Guidolin hired to replace Deschamps one of Pastor's first responsibilities was to secure the players who had transformed the club into one of the top clubs in Europe. But he was unable in convincing them to remain and the replacements could not reproduce the previous success. Guidolin was only there for a year and was succeeded by an Assistant coach Laurent Banide who, in turn, lasted only one year prior to being replaced Brazilian Ricardo Gomes. In 2008 after four years with the club that had 6 coaches with only mid-table results Pastor quit the club in the face of harsh criticism of his managerial abilities.

in 2008 Jerome de Bontin, an investor in this club from 2003 assumed the presidency of the club and promised a complete overhaul. As president the club hired players like Park Chu-young, and Freddy Adu, but they were not able to achieve much on the field as they went through a turbulent season that ended with an average finish in the table. De Bontin resigned at the conclusion of the season and was replacing him by banker Etienne Franzi and a brand new directorship.

On July 9, 2009 Ricardo Gomes was replaced by the former Cannes as well as Rennes manager Guy Lacombe, inheriting a young squad that included a number of highly-rated youth players such as Cedric Mongongu Serge Gakpe, Vincent Muratori, Frederic Nimani, Nicolas N'Koulou, Park Cho-young, Yohan Mollo, and Yohann Thuram-Ulien. Lacombe guided Monaco to eighth within Ligue 1 in his first season as coach, however the club was not able to repeat the success during his second season. He was dismissed in January of 2011 which left Monaco at 17th within Ligue 1. He was replaced by the former manager Laurent Banide, who was unsuccessful in turning around the fortunes of the club. Monaco ended their 2010-11 season 18th and was relegated into Ligue 2.

In December of 2011, 66.67 percent from the club were sold off to Russian billionaire and oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev (via a trust in the name of his daughter Ekaterina's) and the club was at the bottom in Ligue 2. Banide was dismissed because of this slow performance in the first half of the 2011-12 season and became replaced Italian coach Marco Simone. While he managed to lift the club to eighth place by the final stages of the season the board of the club wanted promotion for the coming season, and he was fired and appointed his fellow countryman Claudio Ranieri, whose attacking style of football saw the team score 64 goals during the season 2012-13. While the club lost only 4 times in the season, Monaco was crowned champions at the end of the campaign and earned promotion into Ligue 1. Utilizing Rybolovlev's funding, Monaco were one of the top spenders in Europe in 2013, with a total of PS140 million, with the club's record of PS50 million to Radamel Falcao from Atletico Madrid as well as PS40 million to James Rodriguez from FC Porto. Monaco was ranked 2nd at the top of Ligue 1 in the 2013-14 season. Ranieri took over by Leonardo Jardim. The next year, Monaco cut expenses, selling Rodriguez to Real Madrid for EUR75m and the loan of Falcao for EUR75m to Manchester United. Despite the adulation of the departures, Monaco was third within Ligue 1 and made it to the quarterfinals in the Champions League, defeating Arsenal in the Round of 16 before being eliminated in the face of Juventus. Top scorer from 2013-14 season Anthony Martial, who managed 12 goals across every competition, left for Manchester United in the summer for EUR60m which was the most expensive price paid for a teen in the history of football. Then, along with the sale of Geoffrey Kondogbia, Layvin Kurzawa, Yannick Carrasco, Aymen Abdennour and Lucas Ocampos, among others players, saw the Monegasque club earn more than EUR180m during this transfer window.

Monaco was awarded their Ligue 1 title on 17 May 2017 after defeating AS Saint-Etienne 2-0. Radamel Falcao, and Kylian Mbappe scored 26 and 30 goals each to win the debut Ligue 1 title in 17 years. Monaco was undefeated in the final 20 matches of this season and won 18 of the 20 games.

The 2016-17 UEFA Champions League, Monaco made a comeback during the round of 16. losing the opening match 5-3 against Manchester City before beating the English team 3-1 at home by scoring away goals. Monaco also defeated Borussia Dortmund 6-3 on aggregate after losing 4-1 over two matches to Juventus. In the summer of 2014, Kylian Mbappe was loaned to PSG, a rival club PSG on loan with an the requirement to purchase for EUR180m that is the second-highest transfer price ever recorded, just behind Neymar. The teammates Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy were transferred to Manchester City for over EUR100m in total, and Tiemoue Bakayoko went to Chelsea for EUR40 million. Monaco finished 2nd in 2017-18 Ligue 1, 13 points in front of league champions PSG. In the summer of the year 2018, Fabinho was sold to Liverpool for EUR42 million.

Jardim was appointed manager by Thierry Henry on October of 2018 following a disappointing beginning in the new season. Henry was removed from his post in January. Jardim returned a few days after. Monaco finished the season 17th place, missing the playoffs for relegation by two points. In December 2019, Jardim was dismissed again after the span of 14 months. Then, former Spain director Robert Moreno was appointed in his place.

In 2019-20 the COVID-19 pandemic was stopped and reduced in the soccer seasons. Monaco ended their season in 9th place. Moreno was dismissed in July and was succeeded by the former Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac and finished the following season in third place with scores of 78 and won 24 matches out of 38 (63 percent). Kovac quit at the beginning of the 2022 season to be substituted by Philippe Clement.

Monaco played at the initial Stade Louis II since its construction in 1939. In 1985 the stadium was renovated with the current version. constructed on a similar site that was reclaimed from the Mediterranean that has now been a regular aspect of the stadium's coastal surrounding. The stadium's name is a tribute to its former prince Louis II of Monaco Louis II. It has the support of 18,523 people. It is home to 18,523 fans. Stade Louis II is noted for its famous nine arches, and has played host to many sporting events as well as European Cup finals. From 1998 until 2012, it was the venue for each occasion that took place in the UEFA Super Cup, but from 2013 onwards, UEFA decided to rotate the tournament across various venues.

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As of 29 August 2022

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  BRA Vanderson 3 DF  CHI Guillermo Maripán 4 MF  MLI Mohamed Camara 5 DF  FRA Benoît Badiashile 6 DF  FRA Axel Disasi 9 FW  NED Myron Boadu 10 FW  FRA Wissam Ben Yedder (captain) 11 MF  BRA Jean Lucas 12 DF  BRA Caio Henrique 14 DF  SEN Ismail Jakobs 15 MF  BEL Eliot Matazo 16 GK  GER Alexander Nübel (on loan from Bayern Munich) 17 MF  RUS Aleksandr Golovin 18 MF  JPN Takumi Minamino 19 MF  FRA Youssouf Fofana

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  FRA Maghnes Akliouche 23 DF  FRA Malang Sarr (on loan from Chelsea) 26 DF  FRA Ruben Aguilar 27 FW  SEN Krépin Diatta 29 MF  FRA Félix Lemaréchal 30 GK  FRA Thomas Didillon (on loan from Cercle Brugge) 31 FW  GER Kevin Volland 33 MF  FRA Eliesse Ben Seghir 36 FW   SUI Breel Embolo 41 MF  FRA Soungoutou Magassa 50 GK  FRA Yann Liénard 53 FW  FRA Willem Geubbels 77 FW  POR Gelson Martins 99 DF  FRA Yllan Okou

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• Ligue 1
• Winners (8): 1960–61, 1962–63, 1977–78, 1981–82, 1987–88, 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2016–17
• Runners-up (7): 1963–64, 1983–84, 1990–91, 1991–92, 2002–03, 2013–14, 2017–18
• Ligue 2
• Winners: 2012–13
• Runners-up (3): 1952–53, 1970–71, 1976–77
• Championnat de France Amateur
• Winners (3): 1963–64, 1970–71, 2007–08
• Coupe de France
• Winners (5): 1959–60, 1962–63, 1979–80, 1984–85, 1990–91
• Runners-up (5): 1973–74, 1983–84, 1988–89, 2009–10, 2020–21
• Coupe de la Ligue
• Winners: 2002–03
• Runners-up (3): 2000–01, 2016–17, 2017–18
• Trophée des Champions
• Winners (4): 1961, 1985, 1997, 2000
• Runners-up (3): 1960, 2017, 2018
• Coupe Charles Drago
• Winners: 1961

• European Cup Winners' Cup
• Runners-up (1): 1991–92
• UEFA Champions League
• Runners-up (1): 2003–04

As of 25 May 2022

Rank	Team	Points
59	KAA Gent	27.500
60	FC Krasnodar	26.500
61	Monaco	26.000
62	Real Sociedad	26.000
63	PAOK FC	25.000

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