football club
Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace ( normally known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or just Strasbourg ; german shepherd : Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri ) is a french association football club founded in 1906, based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It has possessed master condition since 1933 and is presently playing in Ligue 1, the top grade of french football, ever since winning the 2016–17 Ligue 2 championship. This comes after the club was demoted to the fifth grade of french football at the conclusion of the 2010–11 Championnat National temper 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.
Reading: RC Strasbourg Alsace
The cabaret 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 top flight ( spanning 56 seasons ) [ 1 ] and has taken contribution in 52 european games since 1961. [ 2 ] Despite these accomplishments, the club has never truly managed to establish itself as one of France ‘s lead clubs, experiencing delegating at least once a ten since the early 1950s. race has changed its director 52 times in 75 years of professional play, often under pressure from the fans. The fortune of the club has always been wedded to the history of Alsace. Like the region, Racing has changed nationality three times and has a disturb history. Founded in what was then a character of the german Empire, the club from the begin insisted on its german shepherd and popular roots, in opposition to the first gear Strasbourg-based clubs which came from the German-born middle class. When Alsace was returned to France in 1919, the 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 clear 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 club has been tidal bore to promote its european career along with its potent local anesthetic ties. In April 2021, the club partnered up with french Esport constitution Team Vitality for the FIFA eLigui 1, marking their first step into competitive Esports. [ 3 ]
history [edit ]
foundation and early on years ( 1906–1945 ) [edit ]
academy award Heisserer The club was founded in 1906 by a group of youngsters in the Neudorf vicinity 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 newly 1. FCN was a minor club in a then-remote southern part of the Strasbourg area. Local football had been dominated since the 1890s by the more cardinal and elitist Straßburger Fußball Verein. According to club historian Pierre Perny, the official administration 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 southern Strasbourg close to the Neudorf. As its name told, FC Frankonia was chiefly composed of German-born immigrants from the Franconia area of southwest Germany – some of them soldiers – living in cardinal and northern Strasbourg, while FC Neudorf had distinctly alsatian, democratic 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 late, earning forwarding to Division B. In 1914, FC Neudorf was able to evict rivals Frankonia from the Haemmerle Garten for a rent of 300 marks a year. This location would late become the locate of the Stade de la Meinau, where the club still plays today. In the aftermath of World War I, the district of Alsace-Lorraine came second to France and, on 11 January 1919, the cabaret adopted the name “ Racing-Club Strasbourg-Neudorf ” until becoming simply “ Racing Club de Strasbourg ” later in the year. The use of the word “ Racing ” does not denote any association with horse- or car-racing ; rather, it is an anglicism that was coarse in France at the fourth dimension, as exemplified by the case 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 emphasizing. Racing cursorily joined french competitions and won the Alsace championship in 1923, 1924 and 1927. They besides took function in the Coupe de France, the only national competition at that clock time. In 1925, they reached the death 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 golf club made the startle to the professional ranks and, frankincense, joined the national backing established just a year ahead. RCS started contest in Ligue 2 but immediately earned forwarding to the top trajectory at the end of the 1933–34 season, going through a pair of two-legged playoff matches, first base 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 finish the future season. In 1937, the club reached for the first base fourth dimension the concluding 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 – vitamin a well as german striker Oskar Rohr who still holds the baseball club ‘s goalscoring record. With the outbreak of World War II, professional sport was suspended and Alsatians were evacuated to southwest France, particularly in the Dordogne. During the Phoney War, a group of youngsters kept the club existing in Périgueux, where they won the Dordogne backing in 1940. [ 5 ] After the french frustration, Alsace was de facto annexed by the Third Reich and, in August 1940, the team took up bring 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 follow two seasons and made an appearance in the open round 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 intentionally 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 plot against SS side “ SG SS Straßburg “, Rasensportclub players wore a uniform dwell of a blue jersey, white shorts and bolshevik socks as a clear display of french patriotism. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
First home successes and failures ( 1945–1976 ) [edit ]
Allied armies retook Alsace in 1944 and the club promptly resumed fun as “ Racing Club de Strasbourg ” in France ‘s top flight. The team was then built around Oscar Heisserer —who became in April 1945 the inaugural alsatian to captain the national team—and spanish defender Paco Mateo. In 1947, the Strasbourgeois reached for the second time the final of the cup at Colombes, this time losing to Lille OSC 0–2. They remained in first-division competition until, at the end of the 1948–49 season, it appeared the side 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 first major trophy, defeating Valenciennes 3–0 to ultimately bring the Coupe de France home. The significance of this victory went far beyond the sporting kingdom 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 move that aroused considerable resentment in the region. immediately after their return in Strasbourg, the players held a symbolic and emotional ceremony at the city ‘s repository to the deaths. [ 9 ] only one year former, Strasbourg was relegated following the worst ever season in the club ‘s history. They were however back in the lead trajectory after lone one season in Division 2. In 1954–55, thanks to the arrival of austrian star Ernst Stojaspal, Strasbourg had one of its best championship seasons in the post-war era, finally ending with the fourth home. The club, however, was unable to build on this success and was relegated to Division 2 in 1957 and 1960, each time gaining contiguous promotion spinal column to the clear flight . 1966 Cup winners at the Strasbourg township hall. From left to right : Gress, Piat, Stiebel, Kaelbel During the 1960s, the club 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 former, they repeated as cup winners beating champions Nantes in final by the grudge of 1–0. On this occasion, captain René Hauss accomplished the remarkable feat of winning two cups with the lapp clubhouse with a 15 years-interval. early key team members during this era included Raymond Kaelbel and new talents Gilbert Gress and Gérard Hausser. Again, Racing ‘s gloat in the cup was not without controversy, reporter Thierry Roland said on live television receiver that “ the cup [ was ] leaving France ”, a comment that was deemed offensive by many in Alsace. [ 10 ] In 1968, Racing started a action that would finally lead to a amalgamation 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 play while Racing was more affluent but in search for endowment. The fusion therefore appeared as an excellent opportunity to build a knock-down football club in Strasbourg and was favoured by business and political circles. however, the wedding was a difficult one with many internal struggles that were evidenced when some of the former Pierrots left the raw entity adenine soon as 1971 to re-found their early club. [ 11 ] That like year, the RPSM was relegated despite the arrival at the end of the season of yugoslavian star Ivica Osim. As common, Strasbourg then won immediate forwarding with Osim and two french internationals in its ranks : Jean-Noël Huck and Marc Molitor. Back in division 1 in 1972, the golf club made one of the biggest transplant blunders in its history : Osim was sent to Sedan to leave a foreign musician topographic point for Reinhard Libuda. The yugoslav leave Strasbourg in tears but helped Sedan to decent results while Libuda was cursorily suspended ascribable to a match fixing scandal in Germany and finally released in March 1973. [ 12 ] In 1976, the club was again relegated and went spinal column to its erstwhile identity as Racing Club de Strasbourg, reflecting the final failure of the RPSM fusion .
glorious years ( 1976–1980 ) [edit ]
In 1976, the future seemed reasonably dark for Racing : the club had been relegated for the moment time in only four years, was torn apart by inner 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 marketplace meant that, for the first time, Strasbourg had to rely basically on players out of its young person academy and local anesthetic amateur clubs. fortunately for the golf club, the mid-1970s saw the egress of a very talented generation 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 spine 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 early years ( third base in 1978, fifth in 1980 ) and had its best results ever in european play ( UEFA Cup polish of sixteen in 1979, european Cup quarter finals in 1980 ). The start of the 1976–77 season was however difficult. In November, after a kill at Amiens, Racing called Elek Schwartz out of retirement to help and supervise the cultivate of player-manager Heinz Schilcher. Schwartz was an significant player of the 1930s team and had a celebrated external coach career behind him, specially with spells at the Netherlands national team and Benfica. Under his steering, the team cursorily improved, earning promotion to Division 1 and defeating Monaco for the Division 2 backing title, the first base one in the club ‘s history. After accomplishing his mission, 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 affable musician with a firm personality, the beginning Frenchman to shine in the neighbor Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart. His second hark back to Strasbourg, after a first rejoinder as a player, was greeted with enthusiasm and his charisma aroused a hard populace interest for the team ‘s performances, with attendance rates at an all-time senior high school. The 1977–78 temper saw the peculiar laterality of the two promoted sides with Monaco going on to win the backing and Strasbourg reaching an unexpected third gear position, the best rank since 1936. Gress printed his check on the team justly away, insisting on the recruitment of know, hard-working players ( Jacky Novi, Raymond Domenech, Francis Piasecki ) rather of foreign stars and putting into practice innovative tactical ideas. A self-proclaimed admirer of Ajax ‘s full Football, Gress wanted all his players to both defend and attack and asked for big versatility. This was rather strange in french football at that time. In most french clubs, defenders were told not to cross the midfield channel and strikers had about no defensive duties. To the contrary, 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 lone his left foot [ 14 ] and Gress used his particular visibility to puzzle defences, with great success .
For the 1978–79 season, Racing kept basically the same team that had won promotion in 1977 and a one-third place in 1978. The merely exceptions were the addition of midfielder Roger Jouve and the exchange between striker Jacques Vergnes and Chadian musician Nabatingue Toko. A french external, Vergnes clashed with Gress due to his unwillingness to assume defensive duties and his outspoken frustration after being regularly sidelined. He was promptly sent to Bordeaux six games after the get down the season. [ 15 ] His refilling, Tonko, was the only extraneous player on the police squad that class, a fact that again was unusual since french cabaret football was at that time still very pendent on the qualities of players from overseas. Strasbourg took the run early on in the season and did not give it back until the end in hurt of widespread agnosticism from national followers. The absence of big names in the team was considered by many to be a cripple handicap against established teams like Saint-Étienne or Nantes which had internationally renowned players. For his separate, Gress used the critical review of the press to boost his player ‘s motivation and insisted that “ the star is the team ”. Racing finished atop the championship on 56 points with an undefeated home record. The return from Lyon, where the title crippled was played, was exultant with huge crowd greeting the team at every railway station in Alsace before the arrival of the train at Strasbourg. The club saw like 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 fecund goalscorer but he was besides a very traditional striker with no purpose to commit to defence and teamplay, to Gress ‘ despair. The season was marked by the reelect of internal struggles, specially with the increasingly confrontational relationship between Gress and Bord, but the team however achieved a fifth-place finish up and advanced to the quarter-finals of the european Cup, where it was eliminated by Ajax ( 0–0 ; 0–4 ) .
chronic imbalance ( since 1980 ) [edit ]
The Bleus did not enjoy their success for retentive. In September 1980, Gress was controversially sacked and, after respective seasons of middling results, Racing was returned to second-tier play in 1986. For the first time, Strasbourg failed to win immediate forwarding back to the first tier, finally ending 9th identify in its group, the worst rank ever for the club. Success however came spinal column with the 1987–88 season as raw coach Henryk Kasperczak led Racing to its second gear Division 2 style with players like Juan Simón, Peter Reichert and the returning Léonard Specht. Strasbourg, however, was unable to preserve its spot in the top-flight and was back in Division 2 in 1989. With Specht immediately a coach, Racing failed to secure promotion for the future two seasons, each time falling in the playoffs, inaugural against Nice and then again Lens. In 1991–92, Gress came back to his hometown as director and, after defeating Rennes ( 0–0 ; 4–1 ) in the final promotion playoff match, Strasbourg made a survive fall to the top flight. The 1992–93 season saw the club ending in eighth place, a rank that has not been equalled since, allowing the likes of José Cobos, Frank Leboeuf and Marc Keller to shine in the top trajectory. At the end of the 1993–94 season, Gress left Racing ascribable to personal disagreements with the club ‘s direction. He was replaced by Daniel Jeandupeux who was himself fired after eight months. Jacky Duguépéroux then took over the clubhouse and led it to its most brilliant period since the 1979 entitle. During the 1990s, there was a mount concern for football in France with the rise of the national team and, like other clubs, Racing benefited from this context. The club was then able to attract french major players like Franck Sauzée and alien 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 like year, Strasbourg became the only team to defeat champions Nantes, 2–0 at la 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 second round, losing to italian giants AC Milan. In 1996, the Bosman rule entered into push 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 top 5 before ultimately settling for a 9th-place complete. That same class, the IMG – McCormack Group was chosen by the municipality to take command of the club. The players, distillery 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 young players formed at the club like Olivier Dacourt or Valérien Ismaël to shine in continental bid. After a successful qualification round against Rangers and Liverpool, Strasbourg defeated Inter Milan 2–0 at louisiana Meinau, but fell 0–3 in the aside leg. In the meanwhile, IMG had taken over the club in the summer of 1997 and Patrick Proisy, erstwhile tennis player and forefront of the french arm, became president. He was joined a class late by his friend Claude Le Roy as coach. The Proisy–Le Roy menstruation at Racing was a trouble matchless with poor results, several scandals and a general disenchantment of the fans towards the clubhouse ‘s management. several fishy transfers during that period have led Strasbourg ‘s prosecutor to indict Proisy and Le Roy of misapply of caller assets and counterfeit 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 whole temper in the bed three while winning the french cup with a victory on penalties against Amiens. On that occasion, Paraguayan star José Luis Chilavert scored the winning penalty for Strasbourg at the Stade de France .
A game at the Stade de la Meinau In 2001–02, the cabaret, led by director Ivan Hašek, immediately re-took its space among the area ‘s football elect by finishing runner-up in Ligue 2. The year 2003 saw the passing of IMG and Proisy. [ 18 ] The club was taken over by a pool of local investors with former player Marc Keller staying as director-general. The new ownership focused on cleaning up the club ‘s finances. In 2005, Racing won their second 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 last sixteen. In 2006, Strasbourg was again relegated. The cabaret was taken over by substantial estate investor Philippe Ginestet and celebrated its centennial in the fall of 2006 with versatile events, including an exhibition and a friendly match against Marseille. [ 19 ] Ginestet hired french caption Jean-Pierre Papin as the new director [ 20 ] and the baseball club again won immediate promotion to the top flight in 2007, finishing at one-third place. In malice of this, Papin resigned as coach, citing internal kinship problems, [ 21 ] and was succeeded by Jean-Marc Furlan. Under Furlan, the RCS was unable to preserve its blot in Ligue 1, chiefly due to eleven straight defeats at the end of the 2007–08 season, a criminal record for post-World War II football in France. [ 22 ] Furlan was however confirmed as coach for the adopt Ligue 2 season but failed in his mission to bring the golf club back in the top-tier as Racing ended 4th with a huge frustration at Montpellier. Furlan ‘s abridge was subsequently terminated and Phillipe Ginestet stepped depressed from his position as chair while remaining the major stockholder. He was succeeded by Léonard Specht, who picked Gilbert Gress as coach. however, Gress cursorily entered in conflict with many members of the club, including Ginestet, whom he violently attacked good after his side ‘s defeat to Châteauroux in the inauguration league game. Ginestet then convened an extraordinary confluence of the board to sack Gress, prompting Léonard Specht ‘s resignation. Gress was replaced by adjunct director Pascal Janin, first as a caretaker and then as permanent coach, when Ginestet re-took the baseball club ‘s presidency at the end of August 2009. In the 2009–10 season, a final-day away kill relegated Strasbourg to the National as they suffered their second relegation in three seasons. The 2010–11 temper saw them narrowly miss out on forwarding back to Ligue 2 as they finished fourthly behind Guingamp. [ 23 ] On 17 July 2011, Racing Club de Strasbourg entered total extermination and were removed from the National in 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 fourthly grade of french Football, at the first undertake in the 2011–12 season finishing on 100 points. In 2012, the club was renamed RC Strasbourg Alsace with a equate newfangled 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 function of coach for the third time. He replaced François Keller, who, with three years of military service, was their longest-serving director 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 clinch promotion to Ligue 2, marking their render 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 championship. On 2 December 2017, Strasbourg claimed a noteworthy victory over Paris Saint-Germain winning 2–1. This was the first frustration 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 season, Strasbourg finished 15th on the postpone securing their survival in the top flight for the next campaign. [ 29 ] On 30 March 2019, Strasbourg won their one-fourth Coupe de la Ligue style by beating Guingamp 4 – 1 on penalties following a 0 – 0 draw after extra time. Strasbourg reached their one-fourth ever final examination by beating Lille in third round followed by beating Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux in the round of 16, quarter final examination and trailer truck concluding respectively. The final was played at Lille ’ s Home Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Strasbourg ’ s Goalkeeper Bingourou Kamara was named the Man Of The Match.
Read more: S.S. Lazio
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 bolshevik and white, Racing has always played in a combination of blue and white. The accurate origin of this choice of colors is unknown. Over the years, the most common uniform has been composed of a medium amobarbital sodium jersey, white shorts and medium blue sky socks. During the last ten-spot years, however, the team has regularly switched between medium blue sky, blue blue, flip blue and white as the chief color of its home jersey. [ 31 ] Since 2007, the Flag of Alsace is featured on the second of the club ‘s shirt. Hummel is the current kit graphic designer. Previously ( 1973–2000 ; 2004–2007 ), Racing was equipped by Adidas, which has its french seat in Landersheim, between Strasbourg and Saverne. ASICS besides supplied the club ( 2000–03 ). The current team crown has been in use – with interruptions – since 1976 and is generally considered as the most legitimate one. [ 32 ] It includes a conventionalized stork ( symbol of Alsace ), a red 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 cabaret used another logo, introduced by Patrick Proisy. This crest was then considered to be more “ advanced ” and was supposed to depict at the same time the Cathedral and a stork. The resemblance, however, was far from being obvious to everyone and the purpose was promptly derogatively nicknamed “ Pac-Man “ due to some common traits with the celebrated television game. In 2006, the fresh management of the club, acceding to a patron demand, re-installed the 1976 cap. [ 33 ]
stadium [edit ]
Racing have been playing at the Stade de la Meinau in southerly Strasbourg ever since 1914. The stadium hosted the 1938 World Cup and Euro 1984. Its maximal capacity was downsized from 45,000 to 29,000 during the 1990s to respect new base hit standards .
Supporters and rivalries [edit ]
historically, Racing has its roots in southerly Strasbourg in the propertyless Neudorf, Meinau and Polygone neighbourhoods. In the 1930s, the team was the only one in the area to jump to professional play and, with the help of good results during that ten, it built support all around the town. In Strasbourg like in the rest of France, there is only one pro football club in every city and therefore no in-town competition, a fact that heavily contrasts with the site in Great Britain, Italy or Spain. Nowadays, as the only master football club in Alsace, Racing attracts a large fan base that covers both the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin départements arsenic well as the eastern separate of the Moselle. The fan-base external of this area is basically limit to people that, for a rationality or another, have a personal connection with Alsace. The club besides has ties to the early side of the Rhine, specially through a supporter friendship with Karlsruher SC [ 34 ] and regular friendly matches during the summer. On median, 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 garter groups and the most outspoken fans in general have elected localization in the Kop at the “ Quart de Virage Nord-Ouest ” ( northwest quarter corner ). Strasbourg supporters have the reputation to be congregation so far critical. Former captain Corentin Martins has once asserted that the Strasbourg public is “ demanding, but fairly ”. [ 37 ] Racing is constantly an emotional topic in Alsace. It is frequently said that some may love it or hate it, or even both at the same time, but that it leaves no matchless inert. [ 38 ] Racing Strasbourg ‘s main rival 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 beginning always match between two french teams in a european rival. [ 39 ] Strasbourg won the game 2–0. When Mulhouse was professional, the two sides besides nourished a competition that persists american samoa far as young person teams are concerned .
ownership and chairmanship [edit ]
overview [edit ]
Racing ‘s history has constantly been closely intertwined with local business and politics. In the 1930s, the club ‘s jump to professionalism was sustained by cable car manufacturer Emile Mathis who had his factory just in front of the stade de la Meinau. [ 40 ] [ 41 ] RCS promptly entered a competition with Sochaux, a team that was backed by Mathis ‘ rival Peugeot. After WW2, Mathis ceased natural process and the club had to find other sponsors including the Crédit Mutuel – a boastfully bank institution that has its roots in Alsace and appeared on the club ‘s shirt throughout most of the 1960s and 1970s – angstrom 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 president. Bord could boast his connections in business, political and artistic elites and vowed to make Racing a boastfully name in french football. however, he promptly entered a confrontation with charismatic director Gilbert Gress that culminated in September 1980 when the announcement of Gress ‘ passing provoked herd wrath and riots scenes during a game against Nantes. [ 42 ] The inability for the influential president and the talented director to get along with each early 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 introduce fashion couturier Daniel Hechter as his successor. Hechter had previously been banned from professional football following his participation in the Paris Saint-Germain secret funds scandal but was however able to re-take a president job at Strasbourg thanks to a prison term reduction. It was the first attack to bring an foreigner to the local context at the golf 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 % partake of the club but had to relinquish it a few years late as the Pasqua legislation restricted populace hold to professional sport. [ 44 ] In 1997, two projects were competing to buy the municipal share and efficaciously take control of the club. The inaugural was led by then-president Roland Weller, a local anesthetic businessman. The moment bid was made by american IMG – McCormack Group through its french branch headed by Patrick Proisy. At that time, IMG was trying to develop its activities in european football and had failed the previous class in its feat to buy Olympique de Marseille. [ 45 ] The American group presented an ambitious project with an entirely modern young person academy american samoa well as plans for a animate 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 corporate status, albeit with restrictions like the impossibility to enter the stock commercialize and the obligation to keep ties with the original association. [ 48 ] Proisy became the president of the board with full control over the master section but not the omni-sport structure that still possessed the clubhouse ‘s identify and its affiliation to the french Football Federation ( FFF ). This was evidenced in 2002 when Proisy and Bord, distillery a chair of the omni-sport, entered a dispute that led to the inability for the pro players to wear the name “ Racing clubhouse de Strasbourg ” on their jersey for some time. [ 49 ] Proisy ‘s predominate at Strasbourg was fraught with misunderstandings, frustration and poor results on the pitch. The german shepherd populace particularly resented the fact that Proisy was unwilling to settle in Strasbourg, alternatively controlling the golf club ‘s fortune from IMG ‘s offices in Paris. [ 43 ] [ 50 ] Racing ‘s troubles ampere well as the township ‘s refusal to finance an extension of the stade de la Meinau to host the 1998 FIFA World Cup provoked inflame debate during the 2001 municipal election and finally became separate of the elements that drove to the kill of Catherine Trautmann. In 2003, the club was bought back by a pool of local investors including Egon Gindorf who became president, Patrick Adler, Pierre Schmidt and Philippe Ginestet who all had been club sponsors during the IMG era. The newly possession bought the cabaret for a emblematic euro [ 51 ] to an IMG group eager 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 ascribable to a dubious recruitment policy. Thanks to a prudent remove policy initiated by director Marc Keller and thoroughly attendance rates, the newly management was able to redress finances but the club ‘s economic situation has remained flimsy up to now. In 2004, Gindorf experienced personal and fiscal difficulties and was will to scale down his participation at Racing. It was understand that Philippe Ginestet would become the newly president at the conclusion 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 cabaret ‘s head since 2002 but was merely a minor stockholder. He however was able to mobilise his iconic status with supporters to, at first, obstruct 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 former president of Bordeaux, would be the fresh owner, but he was finally out-bid by Ginestet who took control of the club midway through the 2005–06 season, forcing Keller ‘s departure a few months later. Ginestet held a majority plowshare during four years, which he sold in the end of 2009 for a price of €1.6 million. [ 53 ] After some speculation, the new owner was identified as Alain Fontenla, a french investment broke based in London. In 2010, Fontenla owned 85 %, along with Carousel Finance ( 15 % ) a holding named “ Racing investissements ”, which itself owned a majority partake ( 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 tilt of RC Strasbourg ‘s 15 presidents since the get down of the professional era in 1933. [ 55 ] The president of the united states has not constantly been the real owner of the cabaret. For example, between 1990 and 1997 the municipality was the major stockholder, but it chose to delegate the chairmanships to autonomous local anesthetic entrepreneurs. The 2009–10 season saw a record of five consecutive presidents. early into the temper, Léonard Specht stepped down from his position, after the dismissal of Glibert Gress, whom he had appointed as coach. [ 56 ] Philippe Ginestet then re-took the presidency, but left the clubhouse when the coup d’etat by the raw owners was completed in December. The new owners chose to name Julien Fournier as the newfangled Chief executive [ 57 ] but, after some tumult, Fournier quickly entered a quarrel with the new major stockholder, Alain Fontenla. Fournier ‘s contract was terminated in February and he was replaced by Luc Dayan on an interim basis. [ 58 ] merely a month late, early Sochaux chair Jean-Claude Plessis came to replace Dayan. [ 59 ]
Players [edit ]
current squad [edit ]
- As of 31 August 2021.[60]
note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .
Out on lend [edit ]
note : 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 respect. 21 players have been capped for France while playing for Strasbourg. The most noteworthy one is Oscar Heisserer who played a commemorate 18 times with the national team while at Strasbourg and was the first Alsatian and foremost and alone RCS actor 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 home 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 team. 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 name was repeated a month later for a friendly against Spain ( Dropsy, Piasecki, Gemmrich and Léonard Specht ). [ 64 ] Frank Leboeuf and Marc Keller were the last RCS players to earn a cap during the 1995–1996 season. 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 baseball club before moving to Southampton after just five first-team appearances for Strasbourg. Schneiderlin then moved to Manchester United on 14 July 2015 before a go to Everton in January 2017. [ 65 ] [ 66 ] With regional feelings still potent in Alsace, the performances of local players logically attract special attention. Seven out of the ten players with the most apparitions for Racing are from Alsace : René Hauss ( who holds the read ), Léonard Specht, René Deutschmann, Edmond Haan, Gérard Hausser, Jean Schuth and Raymond Kaelbel. Since 1979, there is besides a curious custom that every Racing team to win a trophy or reach a concluding featured a Breton as master, director or both. Jacky Duguépéroux captained the 1979 team and won the Coupe de la Ligue in 1997 and 2005 as a director. 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. apart from french internationals and Alsatians, there is a impregnable 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 tradition that was continued when Ernst Stojaspal played at louisiana 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 end first star topology 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 clubhouse .
Managers [edit ]
Strasbourg has had 47 managers in the professional era, with the holder of the office 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 individual spell ( 39 months between. 1977–80, 152 matches ) and overall ( 75 months in three spells, 275 matches ). Paul Frantz holds the commemorate for the most spells at Racing with four ( 73 months overall, 227 matches ). Jacky Duguépéroux is the lone coach to win two trophies with the club .
stream 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.
Read more: S.S. Lazio