french professional football club

football club
Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace ( normally known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg ; german shepherd : Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri ) is a french association football clubhouse founded in 1906, based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It has possessed professional status since 1933 and is presently playing in Ligue 1, the top tier of french football, ever since winning the 2016–17 Ligue 2 championship. This comes after the club was demoted to the fifth tier of french football at the conclusion of the 2010–11 Championnat National season after going into fiscal liquidation. Renamed RC Strasbourg Alsace, they won the CFA championship in 2012–13, and finally became Championnat National champions in 2015–16. The club ‘s home stadium, since 1914, is the Stade de la Meinau.

The club is one of six clubs to have won all three major french trophies : the Championship in 1979, the Coupe de France in 1951, 1966 and 2001 and the Coupe de la Ligue in 1964, 1997, 2005 and 2019. Strasbourg is besides among the six teams to have played more than 2,000 games in France ‘s acme flight ( spanning 56 seasons ) [ 1 ] and has taken separate in 52 european games since 1961. [ 2 ] Despite these accomplishments, the baseball club has never in truth managed to establish itself as one of France ‘s lead clubs, experiencing delegating at least once a ten since the early 1950s. rush has changed its director 52 times in 75 years of professional shimmer, often under coerce from the fans. The fortune of the baseball club has constantly been wedded to the history of Alsace. Like the region, Racing has changed nationality three times and has a disruptive history. Founded in what was then a part of the german Empire, the club from the begin insisted on its german shepherd and popular roots, in opposition to the inaugural Strasbourg-based clubs which came from the German-born middle class. When Alsace was returned to France in 1919, the baseball club changed its name from “ 1. FC Neudorf ” to the stream “ Racing Club de Strasbourg ” in imitation of Pierre de Coubertin ‘s Racing Club de France, a authorize gesture of francophilia. Racing players lived through World War II as most Alsatians did : evacuated in 1939, annexed in 1940 and striving to avoid nazification and incorporation in the Wehrmacht between 1942 and 1944. When Alsace was definitively returned to France, Racing ‘s identity switched towards Jacobinism with, for example, emotional wins in the cup in 1951 and 1966 amidst Franco-Alsatian controversies. More recently, the baseball club has been eager to promote its european career along with its strong local ties. In April 2021, the club partnered up with french Esport organization Team Vitality for the FIFA eLigui 1, marking their foremost step into competitive Esports. [ 3 ]

history [edit ]

initiation and early years ( 1906–1945 ) [edit ]

academy award Heisserer The clubhouse was founded in 1906 by a group of youngsters in the Neudorf neighborhood of what was then Straßburg, Elsaß-Lothringen, in the german Empire, but is nowadays Strasbourg, Alsace, in France. With the aid of their primary-school teacher, they formed a team called “ Erster Fußball Club Neudorf ”, normally named “ FC Neudorf ”. At that time, the new 1. FCN was a child club in a then-remote southerly part of the Strasbourg sphere. Local football had been dominated since the 1890s by the more central and elitist Straßburger Fußball Verein. According to golf club historian Pierre Perny, the official institution of the FC Neudorf in 1907 may well have been accelerated by the planned move of FC Frankonia to the Haemmerle Garten, a large park in southerly Strasbourg close to the Neudorf. As its name told, FC Frankonia was chiefly composed of German-born immigrants from the Franconia region of southwest Germany – some of them soldiers – living in central and northerly Strasbourg, while FC Neudorf had clearly alsatian, popular roots. [ 4 ] FC Neudorf joined the southerly German league in 1909, starting at its lowest grade, Division C. They captured the Division C championship three years subsequently, earning forwarding to Division B. In 1914, FC Neudorf was able to evict rivals Frankonia from the Haemmerle Garten for a lease of 300 marks a year. This localization would late become the site of the Stade de la Meinau, where the club still plays today. In the consequence of World War I, the territory of Alsace-Lorraine came back to France and, on 11 January 1919, the club adopted the name “ Racing-Club Strasbourg-Neudorf ” until becoming simply “ Racing Club de Strasbourg ” later in the year. The use of the bible “ Racing ” does not denote any association with horse- or car-racing ; alternatively, it is an anglicism that was common in France at the time, as exemplified by the casing of the then-famous Racing Club de France, which was a emblematic inspiration for Strasbourg ‘s Racing as Alsace was reintegrated within France. The word is normally pronounced in French ( “ Le Racing ” ) or in Alsatian ( “ D’Racing ” ) without any english accentuation. Racing cursorily joined french competitions and won the Alsace backing in 1923, 1924 and 1927. They besides took separate in the Coupe de France, the only national competition at that prison term. In 1925, they reached the last sixteen, where they fell to Lille after eliminating the then-dominant Red Star Paris. On 10 June 1933, at the “ Restaurant de la Bourse ”, the club made the jump to the professional ranks and, thus, joined the national backing established just a year ahead. RCS started rival in Ligue 2 but immediately earned promotion to the clear flight at the end of the 1933–34 season, going through a copulate of two-legged playoff matches, first against Mulhouse ( 0–0 and 3–1 ), and then against AS Saint-Étienne ( 2–0 and 4–4 ). In the mid-1930s, Racing managed a second-place finish in 1934–35 and a third-place ending the next season. In 1937, the cabaret reached for the first time the final of the Coupe de France, losing to rivals Sochaux ( 1–2 ). This successful RCS team of the 1930s included two french internationals – Fritz Keller and Oscar Heisserer – angstrom well as german striker Oskar Rohr who still holds the club ‘s goalscoring record. With the outbreak of World War II, professional sport was suspended and Alsatians were evacuated to southwest France, specially in the Dordogne. During the Phoney War, a group of youngsters kept the baseball club existing in Périgueux, where they won the Dordogne championship in 1940. [ 5 ] After the french kill, Alsace was de facto annexed by the Third Reich and, in August 1940, the team took up bid as Rasensportclub Straßburg, ‘lawn sports club Strasbourg ‘ in the Gauliga Elsaß, a top-flight amateur division in german football. RCS captured their group in 1941 and participated in the regional finals, where they were put out by FC Mülhausen. The team earned second-place results in each of the stick to two seasons and made an appearance in the open turn of the DFB-Pokal in 1942. Starting in 1942, Alsatians were forcibly conscripted in the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS and several clubhouse players – including Oscar Heisserer – fled or had their teammates measuredly wound them to avoid incorporation. Oskar Rohr besides had been imprisoned since 1940 after serving in the french Foreign Legion at the outbreak of the war. [ 6 ] During a game against SS side “ SG SS Straßburg “, Rasensportclub players wore a consistent dwell of a blasphemous new jersey, white shorts and red socks as a clear display of french patriotism. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]

First national successes and failures ( 1945–1976 ) [edit ]

Allied armies retook Alsace in 1944 and the club promptly resumed meet as “ Racing Club de Strasbourg ” in France ‘s top flight. The team was then built around Oscar Heisserer —who became in April 1945 the first alsatian to captain the national team—and spanish defender Paco Mateo. In 1947, the Strasbourgeois reached for the second base time the final examination of the cup at Colombes, this time losing to Lille OSC 0–2. They remained in first-division contest until, at the end of the 1948–49 season, it appeared the english would be relegated. however, neighbouring club SR Colmar liquidated their professional team, leaving room for Strasbourg to stay up. In 1951, the Bleus won their inaugural major trophy, defeating Valenciennes 3–0 to finally bring the Coupe de France home. The meaning of this victory went far beyond the sporting region as Alsace was then shaken by the Oradour-sur-Glane slaughter probe. Fourteen Alsatians, most of them forcibly incorporated in the Das Reich division, had been charged with war crimes, a act that aroused considerable resentment in the region. immediately after their return in Strasbourg, the players held a emblematic and emotional ceremony at the city ‘s monument to the deaths. [ 9 ] only one year late, Strasbourg was relegated following the worst ever season in the clubhouse ‘s history. They were however back in the top flight after only one temper in Division 2. In 1954–55, thanks to the arrival of austrian asterisk Ernst Stojaspal, Strasbourg had one of its best championship seasons in the post-war era, finally ending with the fourth position. The golf club, however, was unable to build on this success and was relegated to Division 2 in 1957 and 1960, each clock time gaining immediate promotion back to the top fledge . 1966 Cup winners at the Strasbourg township hall. From left to right : Gress, Piat, Stiebel, Kaelbel During the 1960s, the clubhouse was able to participate in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup thanks to the city ‘s Foire européenne. In 1964–65 under Paul Frantz ‘s guidance, Racing ousted giants Milan and Barcelona before falling in the quarter-finals against Manchester United. A year late, they repeated as cup winners beating champions Nantes in final by the sexual conquest of 1–0. On this juncture, captain René Hauss accomplished the remarkable feat of winning two cups with the lapp club with a 15 years-interval. early key team members during this era included Raymond Kaelbel and young talents Gilbert Gress and Gérard Hausser. Again, Racing ‘s triumph in the cup was not without controversy, reporter Thierry Roland said on exist television receiver that “ the cup [ was ] leaving France ”, a comment that was deemed offensive by many in Alsace. [ 10 ] In 1968, Racing started a procedure that would finally lead to a fusion with two other clubs, the “ Association Sportive Culturelle de la Meinau ” and, most importantly, the CS des Pierrots 1922 Strasbourg. The amalgamation was effective in 1970 and the new entity was named “ Le Racing Pierrots Strasbourg Meinau ”, or RPSM. The Pierrots were then a very successful amateur team – they won the national amateur championship in 1969 and 1970—but lacked sufficient structures to jump to professional playing period while Racing was more affluent but in search for talent. The amalgamation thus appeared as an excellent opportunity to build a mighty football cabaret in Strasbourg and was favoured by business and political circles. however, the marriage was a difficult one with many inner struggles that were evidenced when some of the early Pierrots left the newfangled entity american samoa soon as 1971 to re-found their former club. [ 11 ] That same year, the RPSM was relegated despite the arrival at the end of the season of yugoslav star Ivica Osim. As common, Strasbourg then won immediate promotion with Osim and two french internationals in its ranks : Jean-Noël Huck and Marc Molitor. Back in division 1 in 1972, the club made one of the biggest transfer blunders in its history : Osim was sent to Sedan to leave a foreign musician smudge for Reinhard Libuda. The yugoslav left Strasbourg in tears but helped Sedan to decent results while Libuda was cursorily suspended due to a match fixing scandal in Germany and finally released in March 1973. [ 12 ] In 1976, the club was again relegated and went back to its old identity as Racing Club de Strasbourg, reflecting the concluding failure of the RPSM amalgamation .

glorious years ( 1976–1980 ) [edit ]

In 1976, the future seemed slightly darkness for Racing : the clubhouse had been relegated for the moment time in only four years, was torn apart by internal struggles following the bankruptcy of the fusion and was urgently seeking municipal subventions to reach a poise budget. [ 13 ] Financial difficulties meant that Racing was unable to retain or replace its best players ( Huck, Molitor, Gress, Hausser, Spiegel ) who left for other clubs or retired. This impossibility to buy on the transfer market meant that, for the first clock time, Strasbourg had to rely basically on players out of its youth academy and local anesthetic amateurish clubs. fortunately for the club, the mid-1970s saw the egress of a very talented coevals of youngsters consisting chiefly of Léonard Specht, Jean-Jacques Marx, René Deutschmann, Yves Ehrlacher, Albert Gemmrich, Roland Wagner and Joël Tanter. Along with goalkeeper Dominique Dropsy and captain Jacky Duguépéroux, these players formed the backbone of the team for the superb 1976–1980 period. During these four years, Racing won two championships ( D2 in 1977 and D1 in 1979 ), reached very honorable league rankings the two other years ( third gear in 1978, fifth in 1980 ) and had its best results ever in european play ( UEFA Cup round of sixteen in 1979, european Cup quarter finals in 1980 ). The start of the 1976–77 season was however unmanageable. In November, after a defeat at Amiens, Racing called Elek Schwartz out of retirement to help and supervise the work of player-manager Heinz Schilcher. Schwartz was an important actor of the 1930s team and had a celebrated international coaching career behind him, particularly with spells at the Netherlands national team and Benfica. Under his guidance, the team promptly improved, earning promotion to Division 1 and defeating Monaco for the Division 2 backing title, the beginning one in the golf club ‘s history. After accomplishing his deputation, Schwartz decidedly retired and was replaced by Gilbert Gress. As a player, Gress had achieved iconic status with Racing supporters. A child of the Neudorf, he was a genial musician with a strong personality, the inaugural Frenchman to shine in the neighbor Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart. His second gear return to Strasbourg, after a foremost rejoinder as a player, was greeted with enthusiasm and his charisma aroused a potent public interest for the team ‘s performances, with attendance rates at an all-time high. The 1977–78 season saw the peculiar dominance of the two promoted sides with Monaco going on to win the championship and Strasbourg reaching an unexpected third place, the best ranking since 1936. Gress printed his target on the team right away, insisting on the recruitment of experienced, hard-working players ( Jacky Novi, Raymond Domenech, Francis Piasecki ) rather of foreign stars and putting into commit innovative tactical ideas. A self-proclaimed supporter of Ajax ‘s total Football, Gress wanted all his players to both fight and fire and asked for great versatility. This was rather unusual in french football at that time. In most french clubs, defenders were told not to cross the midfield line and strikers had about no defensive duties. To the adverse, Gress instructed his forwards to exert immediate pressure on the other ‘s side defenders and encouraged offensive initiatives by his own backs. A sign of versatility was the fact the side ‘s top-scorer during that era, Albert Gemmrich, played on the leave wing despite being right-footed. Gemmrich developed an ability to score with both feet after an injury that forced him to train using only his left foot [ 14 ] and Gress used his peculiar profile to puzzle defences, with great achiever .
For the 1978–79 season, Racing kept basically the same team that had won forwarding in 1977 and a one-third place in 1978. The only exceptions were the accession of midfielder Roger Jouve and the exchange between striker Jacques Vergnes and Chadian player Nabatingue Toko. A french international, Vergnes clashed with Gress due to his unwillingness to assume defensive duties and his vocal music frustration after being regularly sidelined. He was quickly sent to Bordeaux six games after the depart the season. [ 15 ] His surrogate, Tonko, was the merely extraneous player on the police squad that year, a fact that again was strange since french golf club football was at that time distillery very subject on the qualities of players from abroad. Strasbourg took the lead early in the season and did not give it back until the end in hurt of far-flung agnosticism from national followers. The absence of big names in the team was considered by many to be a crippling handicap against established teams like Saint-Étienne or Nantes which had internationally renowned players. For his separate, Gress used the critical revue of the press to boost his musician ‘s motivation and insisted that “ the leading is the team ”. Racing finished atop the championship on 56 points with an undefeated home criminal record. The rejoinder from Lyon, where the title game was played, was triumphant with huge crowd greeting the team at every railroad track place in Alsace before the arrival of the train at Strasbourg. The club saw same apparent motion during the 1979 inter-season. Chairman Alain Léopold was replaced by the influential André Bord, Duguépéroux ended his pro career and Gemmrich left for Bordeaux. To replace him, Bord imposed the recruitment of Carlos Bianchi to Gress. Bianchi was a prolific goalscorer but he was besides a identical traditional striker with no purpose to commit to defence and teamplay, to Gress ‘ despair. The season was marked by the return of home struggles, specially with the increasingly confrontational kinship between Gress and Bord, but the team however achieved a fifth-place finish and advanced to the quarter-finals of the european Cup, where it was eliminated by Ajax ( 0–0 ; 0–4 ) .

chronic instability ( since 1980 ) [edit ]

The Bleus did not enjoy their success for long. In September 1980, Gress was controversially sacked and, after several seasons of middling results, Racing was returned to second-tier shimmer in 1986. For the first time, Strasbourg failed to win contiguous promotion back to the beginning tier, finally ending 9th target in its group, the worst rank ever for the club. Success however came bet on with the 1987–88 season as new director Henryk Kasperczak led Racing to its second Division 2 claim with players like Juan Simón, Peter Reichert and the returning Léonard Specht. Strasbourg, however, was unable to preserve its topographic point in the top-flight and was back in Division 2 in 1989. With Specht nowadays a coach, Racing failed to secure forwarding for the adjacent two seasons, each time falling in the playoffs, first against Nice and then again Lens. In 1991–92, Gress came back to his hometown as coach and, after defeating Rennes ( 0–0 ; 4–1 ) in the concluding promotion playoff peer, Strasbourg made a last return to the top flight. The 1992–93 season saw the golf club eat up in one-eighth space, a ranking that has not been equalled since, allowing the likes of José Cobos, Frank Leboeuf and Marc Keller to shine in the top flight. At the end of the 1993–94 season, Gress left Racing due to personal disagreements with the club ‘s guidance. He was replaced by Daniel Jeandupeux who was himself fired after eight months. Jacky Duguépéroux then took over the club and led it to its most bright menstruation since the 1979 entitle. During the 1990s, there was a hop on matter to for football in France with the advance of the home team and, like other clubs, Racing benefited from this context. The club was then able to attract french major players like Franck Sauzée and foreign stars like Aleksandr Mostovoi. With this mix of established players and rising prospects, the team reached the final of the cup in 1995, losing to Paris Saint-Germain ( 0–1 ). In April that same year, Strasbourg became the only team to defeat champions Nantes, 2–0 at lanthanum Meinau. [ 16 ] After successfully going through the 1995 Intertoto Cup during the summer, Racing was able to participate in the UEFA Cup where they reached the moment cycle, losing to italian giants AC Milan. In 1996, the Bosman govern entered into coerce and made it unmanageable for french clubs to retain their best players. Strasbourg was no exception. During the summer, the team lost Mostovoi and its two french internationals, Marc Keller and Frank Leboeuf. Despite these departures, Racing fared well in the league, staying most of the season in the clear 5 before ultimately settling for a 9th-place complete. That lapp year, the IMG – McCormack Group was chosen by the municipality to take master of the clubhouse. The players, silent trained by Jacky Duguépéroux, went on to capture the Coupe de la Ligue – the first national trophy in 18 years – by defeating Bordeaux in a penalty gunfight. A good UEFA Cup run followed that victory, allowing youthful players formed at the club like Olivier Dacourt or Valérien Ismaël to shine in continental gambling. After a successful reservation circle against Rangers and Liverpool, Strasbourg defeated Inter Milan 2–0 at lanthanum Meinau, but fell 0–3 in the away leg. In the meanwhile, IMG had taken over the clubhouse in the summer of 1997 and Patrick Proisy, erstwhile tennis player and mind of the french ramify, became president of the united states. He was joined a year later by his ally Claude Le Roy as coach. The Proisy–Le Roy menstruation at Racing was a disruptive one with poor results, several scandals and a general disenchantment of the fans towards the cabaret ‘s management. several fishy transfers during that period have led Strasbourg ‘s prosecutor to indict Proisy and Le Roy of misuse of company assets and forgery in 2006. [ 17 ] During their reign, the club sold all of its best prospects and basically replaced them with disappoint, expensive alien players such as Diego Hector Garay, Gonzalo Belloso and Mario Haas. In 2000–01, the club accomplished the paradoxical feat of being relegated after spending the hale season in the bottom three while winning the french cup with a victory on penalties against Amiens. On that occasion, Paraguayan asterisk José Luis Chilavert scored the winning punishment for Strasbourg at the Stade de France .
A game at the Stade de la Meinau In 2001–02, the club, led by coach Ivan Hašek, immediately re-took its place among the country ‘s football elite by finishing runner-up in Ligue 2. The year 2003 saw the departure of IMG and Proisy. [ 18 ] The club was taken over by a pool of local investors with erstwhile player Marc Keller staying as director-general. The new possession focused on cleaning up the club ‘s finances. In 2005, Racing won their second gear domestic trophy in four years when they beat Caen 2–1 in the final of the League Cup, a feat which provided them with a recommendation to the 2005–06 UEFA Cup, in which they reached the final sixteen. In 2006, Strasbourg was again relegated. The cabaret was taken over by veridical estate of the realm investor Philippe Ginestet and celebrated its centennial in the fall of 2006 with respective events, including an exhibition and a friendly catch against Marseille. [ 19 ] Ginestet hired french caption Jean-Pierre Papin as the new director [ 20 ] and the golf club again won immediate forwarding to the top flight in 2007, finishing at third stead. In hurt of this, Papin resigned as director, citing internal relationship problems, [ 21 ] and was succeeded by Jean-Marc Furlan. Under Furlan, the RCS was ineffective to preserve its spot in Ligue 1, chiefly due to eleven consecutive defeats at the end of the 2007–08 season, a record for post-World War II football in France. [ 22 ] Furlan was however confirmed as coach for the take after Ligue 2 season but failed in his mission to bring the baseball club back in the top-tier as Racing ended 4th with a huge frustration at Montpellier. Furlan ‘s contract was subsequently terminated and Phillipe Ginestet stepped devour from his military position as chair while remaining the major stockholder. He was succeeded by Léonard Specht, who picked Gilbert Gress as director. however, Gress cursorily entered in conflict with many members of the club, including Ginestet, whom he violently attacked just after his side ‘s get the better of to Châteauroux in the inaugural address league game. Ginestet then convened an extraordinary meeting of the circuit board to sack Gress, prompting Léonard Specht ‘s resignation. Gress was replaced by adjunct coach Pascal Janin, first gear as a caretaker and then as permanent coach, when Ginestet re-took the club ‘s presidency at the conclusion of August 2009. In the 2009–10 season, a final-day aside get the better of relegated Strasbourg to the National as they suffered their second relegation in three seasons. The 2010–11 season saw them narrowly miss out on promotion back to Ligue 2 as they finished fourth behind Guingamp. [ 23 ] On 17 July 2011, Racing Club de Strasbourg entered total elimination and were removed from the National in party favor of AS Cherbourg. [ 24 ] On 25 August 2011, after drawn-out negotiations with the FFF, Strasbourg were finally reinstated into the fifth tier of the french footballing, the CFA 2, Group C. [ 25 ] Strasbourg won promotion to the CFA, the one-fourth tier of french Football, at the inaugural undertake in the 2011–12 season finishing on 100 points. In 2012, the club was renamed RC Strasbourg Alsace with a comparable modern badge. Strasbourg finished as champions of the CFA at the end of the 2012–13 season and returned to the National. In 2014, Jacky Duguépéroux was given the role of coach for the third base clock time. He replaced François Keller, who, with three years of service, was their longest-serving coach since Gilbert Gress in the early-to-mid-1990s .

return to the professional leagues [edit ]

On 27 May 2016, Strasbourg drew 0–0 at Belfort to become champions of the National and hug promotion to Ligue 2, marking their return to the professional level after a six-year absence. [ 26 ]
On 19 May 2017, Strasbourg sealed its return to Ligue 1 after a nine-year absence from the french top tier following a 2–1 home victory over Bourg-Péronnas to claim the 2016-17 Ligue 2 backing. On 2 December 2017, Strasbourg claimed a remarkable victory over Paris Saint-Germain winning 2–1. This was the beginning defeat for PSG of the season as they had gone unbeaten in Ligue 1 and in the Champions League. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] At the end of the 2017/2018 Ligue 1 temper, Strasbourg finished 15th on the board securing their survival in the top flight for the future campaign. [ 29 ] On 30 March 2019, Strasbourg won their fourth Coupe de la Ligue title by beating Guingamp 4 – 1 on penalties following a 0 – 0 draw after extra meter. Strasbourg reached their fourth ever final by beating Lille in third gear round followed by beating Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux in the circle of 16, quarter final and trailer truck final examination respectively. The final examination was played at Lille ’ s Home Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Strasbourg ’ s Goalkeeper Bingourou Kamara was named the Man Of The Match.

In the 2020-21 Ligue 1 season, Strasbourg struggled for most of the campaign but managed to finish 15th on the table. [ 30 ]

Colours and crest [edit ]

While the colours of the town are crimson and white, Racing has always played in a combination of gloomy and white. The exact origin of this choice of color is unknown. Over the years, the most common uniform has been composed of a medium blue new jersey, white shorts and metier blue socks. During the last ten years, however, the team has regularly switched between medium blue, dark bluing, sky blue and white as the main color of its home jersey. [ 31 ] Since 2007, the Flag of Alsace is featured on the back of the golf club ‘s shirt. Hummel is the stream kit interior designer. Previously ( 1973–2000 ; 2004–2007 ), Racing was equipped by Adidas, which has its french buttocks in Landersheim, between Strasbourg and Saverne. ASICS besides supplied the baseball club ( 2000–03 ). The stream team crest has been in use – with interruptions – since 1976 and is broadly considered as the most lawful one. [ 32 ] It includes a conventionalized stork ( symbol of Alsace ), a bolshevik solidus stripe from the city ‘s coat of arms and a depicting of the Cathedral along with the club ‘s initials : RCS. Between 1997 and 2006, the clubhouse used another logo, introduced by Patrick Proisy. This crest was then considered to be more “ modern ” and was supposed to depict at the same meter the Cathedral and a stork. The resemblance, however, was far from being obvious to everyone and the plan was cursorily derogatively nicknamed “ Pac-Man “ ascribable to some common traits with the celebrated video game. In 2006, the new management of the cabaret, acceding to a patron requirement, re-installed the 1976 peak. [ 33 ]

stadium [edit ]

Racing have been playing at the Stade de la Meinau in southern Strasbourg always since 1914. The stadium hosted the 1938 World Cup and Euro 1984. Its maximum capacity was downsized from 45,000 to 29,000 during the 1990s to respect new guard standards .

Supporters and rivalries [edit ]

historically, Racing has its roots in southern Strasbourg in the wage-earning Neudorf, Meinau and Polygone neighbourhoods. In the 1930s, the team was the alone one in the area to jump to professional gambling and, with the help oneself of good results during that decade, it built confirm all around the town. In Strasbourg like in the rest of France, there is merely one pro football club in every city and hence no in-town competition, a fact that heavily contrasts with the situation in Great Britain, Italy or Spain. Nowadays, as the only professional football club in Alsace, Racing attracts a large fan base that covers both the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin départements ampere well as the easterly part of the Moselle. The fan-base outside of this area is basically limited to people that, for a reason or another, have a personal link with Alsace. The clubhouse besides has ties to the other slope of the Rhine, particularly through a garter friendship with Karlsruher SC [ 34 ] and regular friendly matches during the summer. On average, the attendance in Ligue 1 has been around 20,000 for a stadium capacity of 29,000. [ 35 ] Supporters groups include the “ Ultra Boys 90 ”, the “ Kop Ciel et Blanc ” and the “ Club central des supporters ”. [ 36 ] Most of the patron groups and the most vocal fans in general have elected location in the Kop at the “ Quart de Virage Nord-Ouest ” ( northwest draw corner ). Strasbourg supporters have the repute to be faithful so far critical. Former captain Corentin Martins has once asserted that the Strasbourg public is “ demanding, but fair ”. [ 37 ] Racing is constantly an emotional subject in Alsace. It is much said that some may love it or hate it, or even both at the lapp fourth dimension, but that it leaves no one indifferent. [ 38 ] Racing Strasbourg ‘s chief equal is Metz. The club compete is what is broadly referred as the “ Derby de l’Est ” ( “ the Eastern derby “ ) in France, a quite inappropriate term since the two cities are 150 kilometres apart. There is however a significant degree of inter-regional competition between Alsace and Lorraine, leading to some bitterness between the fans on both sides. The two clubs met each other in the quarter-finals of the 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup in what was the first base always match between two french teams in a european contest. [ 39 ] Strasbourg won the game 2–0. When Mulhouse was professional, the two sides besides nourished a competition that persists equally far as youth teams are concerned .

ownership and chairmanship [edit ]

overview [edit ]

Racing ‘s history has constantly been close intertwined with local business and politics. In the 1930s, the baseball club ‘s jump to professionalism was sustained by car manufacturer Emile Mathis who had his factory just in presence of the stade de la Meinau. [ 40 ] [ 41 ] RCS quickly entered a competition with Sochaux, a team that was backed by Mathis ‘ rival Peugeot. After WW2, Mathis ceased activeness and the cabaret had to find early sponsors including the Crédit Mutuel – a large bank initiation that has its roots in Alsace and appeared on the baseball club ‘s shirt throughout most of the 1960s and 1970s – equally well as the township ‘s municipality. In 1980, André Bord, a outstanding local Gaullist politician and early minister during the Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou presidencies, became chair. Bord could boast his connections in occupation, political and artistic elites and vowed to make Racing a big mention in french football. however, he cursorily entered a confrontation with charismatic coach Gilbert Gress that culminated in September 1980 when the announcement of Gress ‘ deviation provoked crowd wrath and riots scenes during a game against Nantes. [ 42 ] The inability for the influential president of the united states and the talented coach to get along with each other and the 1980 trauma may explain why Racing was unable to perform lastingly at the exceed level after the 1979 title. In 1986, Bord left the professional incision and insert manner architect Daniel Hechter as his successor. Hechter had previously been banned from pro football following his engagement in the Paris Saint-Germain clandestine funds scandal but was however able to re-take a president subcontract at Strasbourg thanks to a prison term reduction. It was the first attack to bring an foreigner to the local context at the club ‘s head, but the experiment ended in failure in 1990 as the club neared bankruptcy. [ 43 ] Racing was at that time salvaged by the Strasbourg municipality which took a 49 % share of the club but had to relinquish it a few years later as the Pasqua legislation restricted public support to professional sport. [ 44 ] In 1997, two projects were competing to buy the municipal contribution and effectively take master of the clubhouse. The first was led by then-president Roland Weller, a local businessman. The second bid was made by american IMG – McCormack Group through its french ramify headed by Patrick Proisy. At that time, IMG was trying to develop its activities in european football and had failed the previous year in its attempt to buy Olympique de Marseille. [ 45 ] The American group presented an ambitious project with an wholly new youth academy angstrom well as plans for a refurbish stadium, finally winning the rival for Racing ‘s ownership for a price of 1.5 million euro. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] The club became a “ Société Anonyme à Objet Sportif ” and then a “ Société Anonyme Sportive Professionnelle ”, a status very similar to the general bodied condition, albeit with restrictions like the impossibility to enter the standard market and the duty to keep ties with the original association. [ 48 ] Proisy became the chair of the board with wide control over the professional section but not the omni-sport social organization that still possessed the club ‘s name and its affiliation to the french Football Federation ( FFF ). This was evidenced in 2002 when Proisy and Bord, still a president of the omni-sport, entered a dispute that led to the inability for the pro players to wear the appoint “ Racing club de Strasbourg ” on their jersey for some clock. [ 49 ] Proisy ‘s reign at Strasbourg was fraught with misunderstandings, frustration and poor results on the pitch. The alsatian public particularly resented the fact that Proisy was unwilling to settle in Strasbourg, alternatively controlling the baseball club ‘s destiny from IMG ‘s offices in Paris. [ 43 ] [ 50 ] Racing ‘s troubles equally well as the township ‘s refusal to finance an extension of the stade de la Meinau to host the 1998 FIFA World Cup provoked heat consider during the 2001 municipal election and finally became part of the elements that drove to the get the better of of Catherine Trautmann. In 2003, the club was bought back by a pool of local anesthetic investors including Egon Gindorf who became chair, Patrick Adler, Pierre Schmidt and Philippe Ginestet who all had been club sponsors during the IMG era. The modern ownership bought the cabaret for a emblematic euro [ 51 ] to an IMG group tidal bore to cut its losses after the death of Mark McCormack [ 52 ] but had to cover a 3 million euro deficit to close the 2002–03 budget. [ 51 ] It is estimated that Racing lost 15 million euro during the IMG era, chiefly due to a dubious recruitment policy. Thanks to a prudent transplant policy initiated by film director Marc Keller and dear attendance rates, the new management was able to redress finances but the club ‘s economic situation has remained flimsy up to immediately. In 2004, Gindorf experienced personal and fiscal difficulties and was willing to scale down his interest at Racing. It was understand that Philippe Ginestet would become the fresh president at the end of the 2004–05 season. however, this move was opposed by Keller who, in June 2005, clearly announced that he would not work with Ginestet. Keller had in fact been acting as the baseball club ‘s head since 2002 but was alone a minor stockholder. He however was able to mobilise his iconic status with supporters to, at first, stuff Ginestet ‘s accession to chairmanship, provoking a deadlock that lasted throughout 2005 as the club was looking for an investor. In the fall of 2005, it was announced that Alain Afflelou, owner of the biggest optician in France and a early president of Bordeaux, would be the new owner, but he was finally out-bid by Ginestet who took control of the cabaret center through the 2005–06 season, forcing Keller ‘s deviation a few months late. Ginestet held a majority share during four years, which he sold in the conclusion of 2009 for a price of €1.6 million. [ 53 ] After some guess, the new owner was identified as Alain Fontenla, a french investment broker based in London. In 2010, Fontenla owned 85 %, along with Carousel Finance ( 15 % ) a holding named “ Racing investissements ”, which itself owned a majority share ( 70 % ) of EuroRacing, the main stockholder ( 78 % ) of the club. The other major stockholder of the club was Lohr SA, an industrial group centred on department of transportation activities. [ 54 ]

presidential history [edit ]

Below is a list of RC Strasbourg ‘s 15 presidents since the start of the professional earned run average in 1933. [ 55 ] The president has not always been the real owner of the club. For example, between 1990 and 1997 the municipality was the major stockholder, but it chose to delegate the chairmanships to independent local anesthetic entrepreneurs. The 2009–10 season saw a record of five consecutive presidents. early into the season, Léonard Specht stepped depressed from his stead, after the displace of Glibert Gress, whom he had appointed as director. [ 56 ] Philippe Ginestet then re-took the presidency, but left the club when the takeover by the newly owners was completed in December. The new owners chose to name Julien Fournier as the newly Chief executive [ 57 ] but, after some agitation, Fournier cursorily entered a dispute with the new major stockholder, Alain Fontenla. Fournier ‘s narrow was terminated in February and he was replaced by Luc Dayan on an interim basis. [ 58 ] only a calendar month late, former Sochaux president Jean-Claude Plessis came to replace Dayan. [ 59 ]

Players [edit ]

current team [edit ]

As of 31 August 2021.[60]

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

Out on loanword [edit ]

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

early players [edit ]

RCS does not have an official hall of fame or an all-time xi. respective selections have been made by press and supporters but none has achieved universal joint esteem. 21 players have been capped for France while playing for Strasbourg. The most celebrated one is Oscar Heisserer who played a record 18 times with the national team while at Strasbourg and was the first Alsatian and first and lone RCS player to wear the armband for France. [ 61 ] Dominique Dropsy, Léonard Specht and Gérard Hausser besides earned more than 10 caps while Marc Molitor is one of the rare examples of a player being capped for the national team while playing in the Division 2. [ 62 ] Unsurprisingly, it is during the 1978–1979 title season that Racing had the most players included in the national police squad. On 7 October 1978 were a record four RCS players ( Dominique Dropsy, Roger Jouve, Francis Piasecki, Albert Gemmrich ) on the field for a Euro 1980 qualifying game against Luxembourg. [ 63 ] This human body was repeated a month later for a friendly against Spain ( Dropsy, Piasecki, Gemmrich and Léonard Specht ). [ 64 ] Frank Leboeuf and Marc Keller were the end RCS players to earn a cap during the 1995–1996 temper. Leboeuf is one of the two early RCS in the french team that won World Cup, the other one being Youri Djorkaeff .
Morgan Schneiderlin played for France in the 2014 World Cup and has appeared for Southampton more than 250 times since leaving Strasbourg. Players to have once played for Strasbourg to have recently played for France include Olivier Dacourt and Richard Dutruel, ( both in 2004 ). furthermore, stream France international midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin is a product of RC Strasbourg ‘s Youth set-up, spending 13 years with the club before moving to Southampton after fair five first-team appearances for Strasbourg. Schneiderlin then moved to Manchester United on 14 July 2015 before a move to Everton in January 2017. [ 65 ] [ 66 ] With regional feelings still strong in Alsace, the performances of local players logically attract especial care. Seven out of the ten-spot players with the most apparitions for Racing are from Alsace : René Hauss ( who holds the record ), Léonard Specht, René Deutschmann, Edmond Haan, Gérard Hausser, Jean Schuth and Raymond Kaelbel. Since 1979, there is besides a particular custom that every Racing team to win a trophy or reach a concluding featured a Breton as captain, coach or both. Jacky Duguépéroux captained the 1979 team and won the Coupe de la Ligue in 1997 and 2005 as a coach. The 2001 Coupe de France winning team for itself included Yvon Pouliquen as director and Corentin Martins as captain. Pouliquen besides was the captain for the 1995 final .
[67] He had some judiciary issues with the club after his departure, which were settled.Paraguayan legend José Luis Chilavert was the goalkeeper of the squad when RC Strasbourg won the 2001 Coupe de France, scoring the winning penalty for the team.He had some judiciary issues with the club after his departure, which were settled. aside from french internationals and Alsatians, there is a hard tradition to have foreign players from Central and Eastern Europe at Strasbourg. The successful Racing team of the 1930s regularly included Austrians both as players and coaches, a custom that was continued when Ernst Stojaspal played at lanthanum Meinau in the 1950s. early Mitteleuropa players fondly remembered include Elek Schwartz, Ivica Osim, Ivan Hašek, Alexander Vencel or Danijel Ljuboja while russian Aleksandr Mostovoi is the final first ace to play for Racing to this date. besides, one of the greatest goalkeepers of all times, the Paraguayan José Luis Chilavert who, known for being three times selected IFFHS World ‘s Best Goalkeeper and his free-kick abilities, won the 2001 Coupe de France with the club .

Managers [edit ]

Strasbourg has had 47 managers in the professional earned run average, with the holder of the position changing 57 times. This is a record in French football only surpassed by Marseille. Gilbert Gress holds the record for the longest-serving director at the club, both for a single go ( 39 months between. 1977–80, 152 matches ) and overall ( 75 months in three spells, 275 matches ). Paul Frantz holds the record for the most spells at Racing with four ( 73 months overall, 227 matches ). Jacky Duguépéroux is the only coach to win two trophies with the clubhouse .

current coach staff [edit ]

Position Name
Manager Vacant
Assistant manager Tom Carlino
Goalkeeping coach Alexander Vencel
Fitness coach Dany Eberhardt
Reserve team coach and Head of youth development Jean-François Kuentz

Honours [edit ]

league [edit ]

Cups [edit ]

Europe [edit ]

Records [edit ]

References [edit ]

bibliography [edit ]

  • Pierre Perny, Racing 100 ans, 2006, 350 p.
  • Ronald Hirlé, Il était une fois le Racing, Toute l’histoire du club omnisport Strasbourgeois, 1991, 176 p.