Football in Monaco
Wednesday 1 July 2009
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Monaco may only be the size of 400 pitches, but the principality has seen some exciting matches over the years at the heart of European football.
Major honours
AS Monaco FC were founded in 1924 and turned professional soon after the Second World War. They were in France's top division by 1953 and first gained major honours in the early 1960s, when a team featuring French legend Michel Hidalgo twice won the championship. Although regularly capable of producing a strong domestic challenge under a good coach – in particular Lucien Leduc, Gérard Banide, Arsène Wenger, Jean Tigana and Claude Puel – Monaco took until 2004 to reach the European Champion Clubs' Cup final.
Final appearance
Former France midfielder Didier Deschamps was at the helm as the red-and-whites reached the UEFA Champions League showpiece in Gelsenkirchen, where their run was ended by FC Porto. However, it was an achievement well worth celebrating given that the only previous French clubs to reach the final were Stade de Reims Champagne, AS Saint-Etienne and Olympique de Marseille. That 2003/04 campaign had more than its share of famous moments. On 5 November 2003, the Stade Louis II witnessed the highest scoring game in UEFA Champions League history as Deschamps' side thrashed RC Deportivo La Coruña 8-3, with Croatian striker Dado Pršo scoring the fastest four-goal haul on record between the 26th and 49th minutes.
Record attendance
The semi-final saw Monaco beat Chelsea FC 3-1 at home in front of an 18,523 crowd – still the highest attendance at any game in the principality. Ten thousand were on hand to watch France defeat Morocco 2-1 in a friendly game on 5 February 1988 – the only international to be played at Stade Louis II. More memorable to Monegasque fans is the first French Cup won by Monaco in 1960, with the Asémistes beating AS Saint-Etienne 4-2 in the final in Colombes, near Paris. Prince Rainier III handed the trophy to team captain Raymond Kaelbel and prompted joy in the usually calm region, with fans cheering the homecoming team on a parade from Nice airport along the Riviera.
Iconic shirt
It was the start of the club's first golden era under coach Lucien Leduc. The following year they started to wear their famous diagonally divided red-and-white shirt, designed by Princess Grace herself, and won the first of five national titles, with Hidalgo and his team-mates beating Valenciennes FC 1-0 to edge out RC Paris in the last round of games on 4 June 1961. Monaco arguably trumped that achievement in 1978 as Les Princes became – and remain – the only club to have won the league as a promoted side, thanks to the goals of Argentinian striker Delio Onnis who is still the highest scorer in the French league with 299 goals. It was to be the final major success celebrated at the old Stade Louis II.
Upgraded stadium
The decision to upgrade the stadium, situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the local zoo, was taken in the late 1970s and Prince Albert had the honour of opening the new-look venue on 23 January 1985. The new stadium saw the likes of Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet score their first goals and three more French titles were won at home in 1987/88, 1996/97 and 1999/2000.
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