AC Ajaccio

For the other Ajaccio side, see Gazélec Ajaccio.

Ajaccio

Full name	Athletic Club Ajaccien
Nickname(s)	L'ours (The Bears) [1]
Founded	1910;114 years ago (1910)
Ground	Stade François Coty
Capacity	10,446
Owner	Holding Ajaccio Imperial Corse Investissement
President	Daniele Bufano
Head coach	Olivier Pantaloni
League	Ligue 2
2022–23	Ligue 1, 18th of 20 (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Athletic Club Ajaccio (Corsican : Athletic Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French professional association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in Ligue 2. The club president is Christian Leca, and the first-team is coached by manager Olivier Pantaloni, ^[2] following the sacking of Christian Bracconi in October 2014. ^[3] 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). ^[4]

History

Depending on sources, it is agreed that Ajaccio began playing in 1909–10. Their adopted colors are red and white stripes. Though they used to play in what was previously utilised 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 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 to cause and shield themselves from violence. This final was abandoned and replayed much later.

A.C.A. became a professional team in 1965 thanks to the ambitious efforts of the club's leaders. They initially adopted the symbol of the polar bear, but this has since been dropped in favour of a more stylised logo that uses a part of the Corsican flag.

In 1967, the team became the first Corsican club to play in France's top division. Prior to the 2022–23 season, they were most recently in Ligue 1 in the 2013–14 season, when they were relegated after finishing in last place, following a spell of three seasons in the top flight; the drop was confirmed with defeat at neighbours Bastia. ^[5]

In November 2014, Olivier Pantaloni returned for a third spell as manager. ^[6] His team came third in 2017–18, qualifying for the play-offs, where they beat Le Havre in a semi-final marred by violence on and off the pitch, ^[7] before losing the final to Toulouse. ^[8] The club were denied promotion in 2019–20 when the season was curtailed with ten games remaining due to the coronavirus pandemic; Ajaccio were one point off the top two, who were the only ones to go up as the play-offs could not be contested. ^[9] In the 2021–22 Ligue 2 season, Ajaccio were promoted back to Ligue 1 after finishing second. ^[10] However, with three games in hand, the club were relegated directly back down. ^[11]

Players

Current squad

As of 30 January 2024 ^{[12] [13]}

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   FRA Mathieu Michel 3 DF   FRA Stephen Quemper 4 MF   FRA Mickaël Barreto 5 DF   FRA Clément Vidal 6 MF   FRA Thomas Mangani 7 MF   FRA Riad Nouri 9 FW   TUN Yoann Touzghar 10 MF   FRA Valentin Jacob 11 FW   CIV Ben Hamed Touré 14 FW   BFA Cyrille Bayala 16 GK   FRA François-Joseph Sollacaro 17 FW   FRA Everson Junior 18 FW   FRA Christopher Ibayi

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW   AUS Al Hassan Toure 20 MF   COM Mohamed Youssouf 21 DF   GLP Cédric Avinel 22 FW   FRA Moussa Soumano 25 DF   FRA Julien Benhaim 26 MF   FRA Tim Jabol-Folcarelli 27 DF   FRA Thibault Campanini 29 MF   MAR Hamza Sakhi 30 GK   FRA Ghjuvanni Quilichini 31 DF   ROU Tony Strata 35 DF   ALG Anthony Khelifa 37 MF   ALG Mehdi Puch-Herrantz 39 DF   FRA Salomon Abergel 44 DF   FRA Josué Escartin(on loan from Brest )

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   ALG Ivane Chegra (at Cholet until 30 June 2024)

Notable past players

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

Club officials

As of 6 November 2014

Position	Staff
President	Christian Leca
Sports coordinator	Johan Cavalli
Sporting Director	Patrick Vernet
Head Coach	Olivier Pantaloni
Assistant Head Coach	Jordan Galtier
Goalkeeping Coach	Thierry Debès
Fitness Coach	Tom Frère
Youth Coach	Damien Tibéri
Doctor	Guillaume Llotito
Physiotherapist	Jean-Xavier Stefanaggi Florian Renucci Ghjuvan Andria Piereschi
Intendent	Jean-André Paccioni

Coaches

• 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–)

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

References

1. "#324 – AC Ajaccio : l'Orsu" (in French). Footnickname. 15 November 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
2. "Pantaloni a été nommé". L'Équipe. 6 November 2014.
3. "L'AC Ajaccio débarque son entraîneur Christian Bracconi". Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
4. Willis, Craig; Hughes, Will; Bober, Sergiusz. "ECMI Minorities Blog. National and Linguistic Minorities in the Context of Professional Football across Europe: Five Examples from Non-kin State Situations". ECMI. ECMI. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
5. "Berbatov inspires Monaco to win, Ajaccio relegated". Taipei Times. AFP. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
6. "Olivier Pantaloni joins AC Ajaccio on two year deal". Get Football News France. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
7. "Four sent off as Ajaccio win chaotic Le Havre play-off". 21 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
8. "Ligue 1. Toulouse, vainqueur face à Ajaccio, est maintenu" [Ligue 1. Toulouse, winner against Ajaccio, stay up]. Ouest-France (in French). 27 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
9. "AC Ajaccio : le président persiste et signe pour les barrages !" [AC Ajaccio: the president persists and points towards playoffs!] (in French). Onze Mondiale. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
10. "AC Ajaccio bring Ligue 1 football back to Corsica". www.ligue1.com.
11. {{cite web|url=https://www.ligue1.com/Articles/Match-Reports/2023/05/13/psg-close-on-title-with-ajaccio-win/title=PSG close on title with Ajaccio win|website=www.ligue1.com}}
12. "I ghjucatori" (in French). AC Ajaccio. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
13. "L'heure de la reprise a sonné!" (in French). AC Ajaccio. Retrieved 3 July 2021.

External links

• AC Ajaccio at Soccerway