Toulouse FC
| Full name | Toulouse Football Club | |||
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| Nickname(s) | TFC, le Téfécé, le Tef, Les Pitchouns | |||
| Founded | 1970 | |||
| Ground | Stadium Municipal | |||
| Capacity | 33,150 | |||
| Chairman | Olivier Sadran | |||
| Manager | Pascal Dupraz | |||
| League | Ligue 1 | |||
| 2014–15 | Ligue 1, 17th | |||
| Website | http://www.tfc.info/ | |||
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Toulouse Football Club, also known simply as Toulouse (familiarly as TFC), is a French association football club based in the city of Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top level of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium Municipal located within the city. The first team is managed by Pascal Dupraz and captained by forward Martin Braithwaite.
Les Pitchouns have won 3 Ligue 2 and 1 Coupe de France.[1] Toulouse have participated in European competition five times. In 2008, the club, among celebratory fanfare, qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history and, in the following season, played in the inaugural edition of the UEFA Europa League.[2]
Toulouse is presided over by the French businessman Olivier Sadran, who took over the club following its bankruptcy in 2001 which resulted in it being relegated to the Championnat National. The club has served as a springboard for several players, most notably the World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and international striker André-Pierre Gignac.[3]
History
The city was left without a big side in 1967 when Toulouse FC sold its players and place in the French top flight to Paris outfit Red Star, but three years later a new club, Union Sportive Toulouse, rose from the ashes. Adopting red and yellow jerseys, the club started out in Ligue 2 and in 1977 reclaimed the name Toulouse FC. Now wearing purple and white, Les Pitchouns gained top-flight promotion in 1982. A side containing Jacques Santini and Swiss forward Daniel Jeandupeux earned a famous penalty shoot-out victory against Diego Maradona's Napoli in the 1986–87 UEFA Cup, Toulouse's maiden European campaign, but it failed to herald a bright new era. Instead, with goalkeeper Fabien Barthez having made his breakthrough and moved on, Toulouse were relegated in 1994. They subsequently bounced back and forth between Ligues 1 and 2 before slipping to the third flight in 2001 after financial problems. Toulouse were back in the top flight two seasons later, steadily finding their feet before a memorable 2007 campaign when they finished third to earn a place in the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. The draw was unfavourable, however, and Liverpool overpowered them 5–0 on aggregate.[2]
In the second match of the 2007–08 season, Toulouse beat the Olympique Lyonnais 1–0 at the Stadium Municipal with a goal from Johan Elmander. After the victory against Olympique Lyonnais Toulouse struggled all season to avoid relegation. Their Ligue 1 place was finally secured on the last day of the season with a 2–1 home win against Valenciennes. The 2008–09 season marked unexpected success for Toulouse. The club finished fourth in the Ligue 1 table with 64 points, and secured a spot in the new Europa League. After a difficult season the previous year in which the club struggled to avoid relegation, not much was expected of Toulouse. The 2008–09 season also marked the emergence of striker André-Pierre Gignac, who led all scorers in Ligue 1 with 24 goals and was awarded a call-up to the French national team.[3]
Name changes
Stadium
Toulouse play their home matches at the Stadium Municipal. Built in 1937, the stadium presently has a capacity of 35,472. The stadium was used as a venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2007 Rugby Union World Cup.[3]
Colours
The violet is a reference to one of two Toulouse nicknames: la Cité des violettes (the City of Violets), the second one being la Ville rose (the Pink City), which explains the colour of former alternate jerseys.[2] The team's logo displays the gold and blood-red Occitan cross, the symbol of Occitania, of which Toulouse is a historical capital.[3]
Club rivalries
Derby de la Garonne
The Derby de la Garonne is a derby match between Girondins de Bordeaux and Toulouse. The name of the derby derives from the fact that Bordeaux and Toulouse are the two major clubs that play in cities that situate themselves along the Garonne River. The consistency and competitiveness of the rivalry developed following Toulouse's return to Ligue 1 after being administratively relegated to the Championnat National in 2001.[4]
Players
Current squad
French teams are limited to four players without EU citizenship. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player; several non-European players on the squad have dual citizenship with an EU country. Also, players from the ACP countries—countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement—are not counted against non-EU quotas due to the Kolpak ruling.
- As of 7 August 2015[5]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Honours
Domestic
Club officials
The Board
| President | Olivier Sadran |
| Association President | José Da Silva |
| Manager | Pascal Dupraz |
| Academy Director | Rémy Loret |
Source: LFP.fr
Managers
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See also
References
- ^ a b "TOULOUSE FOOTBALL CLUB". LFP. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
- ^ a b c d e "Toulouse FC". UEFA. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Wiki". TFC.info. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
- ^ "Didot-Gourcuff, le duel breton du derby de la Garonne" (in French). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 5 March 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
- ^ "Effectif pro". tfc.info. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
Further reading
- Toulouse Football Club, de 1937 à nos jours, de Jean-Louis Berho et Didier Pitorre, avec la collaboration de Jean-Paul Cazeneuve et Jérôme Leclerc (Éditions Universelles)
- La Grande Histoire du TFC, de Nicolas Bernard (Éditions Universelles)
- TouFoulCan, la Bande-dessinée qui supporte le Toulouse Football Club.
External links
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