Toulouse Football Club is French professional football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the premier division of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse located within the city.

Toulouse

Full name	Toulouse Football Club
Nickname(s)	Le Téfécé Les Violets Le Tef Les Pitchouns[1]
Short name	TFC
Founded	1970; 52 years ago (1970)
Ground	Stadium de Toulouse
Capacity	33,151
Coordinates	43°34′59″N 1°26′3″E
Owner	RedBird Capital Partners (85%)
President	Damien Comolli
Head coach	Philippe Montanier
League	Ligue 1
2021–22	Ligue 2, 1st of 20 (promoted)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Les Pitchouns have won Ligue 2 on three occasions.[2] Toulouse have participated in European competition five times, including in 2007 when they qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time.[3]

The president of Toulouse FC is Damien Comolli, who succeeded the French businessman Olivier Sadran who took over the club following its bankruptcy in 2001 which resulted in it being relegated to the Championnat National. The club has served as a springboard for several players, most notably the World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, international strikers André-Pierre Gignac[4]and Martin Braithwaite

History

The city was left without a big side in 1967 when Toulouse FC sold its players and place in the French top flight to Paris outfit Red Star, but three years later a new club, Union Sportive Toulouse, rose from the ashes. Adopting red and yellow jerseys, the club started out in Ligue 2 and in 1979 reclaimed the name Toulouse FC. Now wearing purple and white, Les Pitchouns gained top-flight promotion in 1982. A side containing Jacques Santini and Swiss forward Daniel Jeandupeux earned a penalty shoot-out victory against Diego Maradona's Napoli in the 1986–87 UEFA Cup, Toulouse's maiden European campaign.

After goalkeeper Fabien Barthez made his breakthrough and moved on, Toulouse were relegated in 1994. They subsequently bounced back and forth between Ligues 1 and 2 before slipping to the third flight in 2001 after financial problems. Toulouse were back in the top flight two seasons later, and in 2007 they finished third to earn a place in the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. There, Liverpool overpowered them 5–0 on aggregate.[3]

In 2008–09, Toulouse finished fourth in the Ligue 1 table with 64 points, and secured a spot in the new Europa League, while André-Pierre Gignac led all scorers in Ligue 1 with 24 goals and was awarded a call-up to the French national team.[4]

In the 2015–16 Ligue 1 season, Toulouse avoided relegation to Ligue 2 in the last game of the season. With 12 minutes to go, Toulouse were behind to Angers 2–1 and needed a win to survive, and scored two late goals and won the match 3–2.[5] Two years later, they finished 18th and won the promotion/relegation playoff 4–0 on aggregate against Ligue 2's AC Ajaccio.[6]

On 6 January 2020, Toulouse dismissed manager Antoine Kombouaré following the club's 1–0 loss to Championnat National 2 side Saint-Pryvé Saint-Hilaire in the Coupe de France. Under Kombouaré the club had lost ten matches in a row, leading him to be dismissed and replaced by Denis Zanko.[7] On 30 April that year, Toulouse were relegated to Ligue 2 after the LFP elected to end the season early due to the coronavirus pandemic.[8]

On 21 July 2020, RedBird Capital Partners acquired an 85% stake in Toulouse FC.[9] The club achieved promotion back to Ligue 1 in 2022.[10]

Name changes

• Union Sportive Toulouse (1970–79)
• Toulouse Football Club (1979–current)

Stadium

Toulouse play their home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse. Built in 1937, the stadium presently has a capacity of 33,150. The stadium was used as a venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, 2007 Rugby Union World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016.

Colours

The violet is a reference to one of two Toulouse nicknames: la Cité des violettes (the City of Violets), the second one being la Ville rose (the Pink City), which explains the colour of former alternate jerseys.[3] The team's logo displays the gold and blood-red Occitan cross, the symbol of Occitania, of which Toulouse is a historical capital.[4]

Club rivalries

Derby de la Garonne

The Derby de la Garonne is a derby match between Girondins de Bordeaux and Toulouse. The derby derives from the fact that Bordeaux and Toulouse are the two major cities in south-western France, both of which are situated on the Garonne River. The consistency and competitiveness of the rivalry developed following Toulouse's return to Ligue 1 after being administratively relegated to the Championnat National in 2001.[11]

Players

Current squad

As of 23 September 2022.[12]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FRA Thomas Himeur 2 DF  DEN Rasmus Nicolaisen 3 DF  DEN Mikkel Desler 4 DF  FRA Anthony Rouault 5 MF  AUS Denis Genreau 6 FW  MAR Zakaria Aboukhlal 7 FW  JPN Ado Onaiwu 8 MF  NED Branco van den Boomen 9 FW  ENG Rhys Healey 10 MF  BEL Brecht Dejaegere (captain) 11 FW  FRA Yanis Begraoui 12 DF  GUI Issiaga Sylla 14 DF  CPV Logan Costa 16 GK  NOR Kjetil Haug

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  NED Stijn Spierings 18 DF  SWE Oliver Zandén 19 MF  SRB Veljko Birmančević 20 FW  JAM Junior Flemmings 21 FW  BRA Rafael Ratão 23 DF  FRA Moussa Diarra 24 MF  GRE Theocharis Tsingaras (on loan from PAOK) 27 FW  NED Thijs Dallinga 28 MF  FRA Farès Chaïbi 30 GK  FRA Maxime Dupé 31 DF  CMR Kévin Keben 40 GK  SWE Isak Pettersson 50 GK  FRA Guillaume Restes

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  BFA Mamady Bangré (at Quevilly-Rouen until 30 June 2023) — MF  FRA Sam Sanna (at Laval until 30 June 2023) — MF  FIN Naatan Skyttä (at Viking until 31 December 2022)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  FRA Kléri Serber (at Botev Vratsa until 30 June 2023) — MF  FRA Tom Rapnouil (at Botev Vratsa until 30 June 2023)

Honours

As of 7 May 2022^[update].[2]

Domestic

• Ligue 2
  • Winners (3): 1981–82, 2002–03, 2021–22

Club officials

Source: LFP.fr

Managers

See also

• Toulouse FC (women)

References

Further reading

• Toulouse Football Club, de 1937 à nos jours, de Jean-Louis Berho et Didier Pitorre, avec la collaboration de Jean-Paul Cazeneuve et Jérôme Leclerc (Éditions Universelles)
• La Grande Histoire du TFC, de Nicolas Bernard (Éditions Universelles)
• TouFoulCan, la Bande-dessinée qui supporte le Toulouse Football Club.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Toulouse Football Club.

• Official website (in French)
• Toulouse Football Club at Ligue 1 (in French)
• Toulouse FC at UEFA

На других языках

[de] FC Toulouse

[es] Toulouse Football Club

[ru] Тулуза (футбольный клуб)