AC Arles-Avignon

Arles-Avignon

Full name

Athlétic Club Arles-Avignon

Nickname(s)

Les Lions (The Lions)

Founded

1913

Ground

Parc des Sports,
Avignon

Capacity

17,518

Chairman

Marcel Salerno

Manager

Hedi Taboubi

League

Division Honneur Régionale Méditerranée A (7th tier)

Website

Club home page

Home colours

Away colours

Third colours

Athlétic Club Arles-Avignon (French pronunciation: [aʁl-aviɲɔ̃]; commonly referred to as Arles-Avignon or simply Arles) is a French association football club originally based in Arles. The club was founded in 1912 as a result of a merger and was formerly known as Athlétic Club Arles, but in 2010, moved to the nearby commune of Avignon and adopted its current name. Arles-Avignon currently plays in Championnat de France Amateur, the fourth division in French football; it previously gained four promotions in five seasons to reach Ligue 1 in 2010.

Arles-Avignon plays its home matches at the Parc des Sports in nearby Avignon. The team is managed by former football player Franck Dumas and captained by defender Sébastien Cantini, who joined the club in 2012, after a five-year stint in Italy. In France, it has been commonplace to describe Arles-Avignon as an overachieving club primarily due to succeeding despite limited resources. Arles-Avignon's highest honour to date was winning its group in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football, in 2007. Regionally, the club has won the Division Honneur Sud-Est Ouest three times and its reserve team are the current defending champions of the Méditerranée Division Honneur Régionale.

Arles-Avignon is known locally as Les Lions (The Lions) and incorporates the nickname into a multitude of club's fixtures, most notably its crest. After merging with Avignon, the club unveiled its new crest on 4 June 2009.^[1] The crest combines both elements of each club's predecessors and unscripted on the crest is Pays d'Arles Grand Avignon, which pays tribute to the inhabitants of the city of Arles and the Grand Avignon, the metropolitan area that encompasses the commune of Avignon. In 2010, the club changed its crest again to coincide with its promotion to Ligue 1.

History

Athlétic Club Arles-Avignon was founded on 19 December 1912 under the name Athletic Club Arlésien as a result of a merger between three local clubs: La Pédale Joyeuse, Arles Auto-Vélo, and Arles Sports. The spent its early years playing in the Ligue du Sud-Est. To remain financially sound due to the onset of World War II, Arles merged with two clubs; Club Ouvrier and Sports cheminots with the new club retaining Arles' previous name. After the war, in 1954, the club reached the Championnat de France amateur under the leadership of manager Louis Pons. In 1960, Arles went through another merger, this time with local club Jeunesse Sportive Arlés. The merger was influenced by Honoré Autier, a former football player for FC Sète. In the Arles' ensuing season, the club fell back to the Ligue du Sud-Est, and after four attempts, returned to the Championnat de France amateur in 1965.

In the 1970s, Arles reached the second division of French football and, in its inaugural appearance in the 1970–71 season, finished 13th in its group. The club spent another three seasons in the league before falling to Division 3 in 1974. Arles returned to Division 2 in 1977, but after two seasons, were back in Division 3. In the 1980s, the club fell to Division 4. In 1992, under the tutelage of manager Jean-Louis Sanz, Arles earned promotion to the Championnat National and were inaugural members of the new league. The club played in the league for four seasons before earning promotion to the Championnat de France amateur 2. In 1999, Arles finished first in its group and were, subsequently, promoted to the Championnat de France amateur. The appearance in the fourth division was brief and, in 2002, Arles were back in the fifth division.

In 2005, Arles embarked on a magical run, which concluded with the club earning promotion to Ligue 1. From 2005–2010, the club achieved promotions in four of the five football seasons.^[2] In 2005, the club finished third in its group in the CFA 2. However, because the club's that finished ahead of them were reserve teams of professional club, Arles were allowed ascension to the CFA.^[3] In the ensuing season, Arles won its group in the CFA and were promoted back to National. After finishing the 2007–08 season mid-table, Arles surprised many by finishing third in the league, thus going up to Ligue 2. Just after earning promotion to Ligue 2, Arles confirmed that the club was leaving the Stade Fernand Fournier to moved into the Parc des Sports in nearby Avignon, a bigger and more modern venue.^[4] The club, subsequently, changed its name to its current form and adopted a new crest.

The club was initially not allowed to participate in Ligue 2 after the DNCG ruled the club ineligible due to irregularities in the club's financial accounts.^[5] However, following an appeal, the DNCG reversed its decision reinstating Arles' Ligue 2 status and also the club's professional status.^[6] In the club's return to the second division after over 35 years, Arles-Avignon against stunned French football enthusiasts by finishing third in the league. The club's final position was secured on the final day. Arles-Avignon was among four clubs battling for the final promotion spot and secured the position after a win over Clermont, who was one of the clubs fighting for the final spot.

In the Arles-Avignon's debut in Ligue 1, the club struggled losing its first eight matches. The club's first point in the league came in its ninth attempt in a 0–0 draw in Brest. The following week, Arles-Avignon recorded a surprising 0–0 draw with Lyon and, two weeks later, earned the club's first Ligue 1 win; a 3–2 victory over Caen.

On 10 July 2015, DNCG announced that Arles-Avignon was administratively relegated to Championnat de France Amateur from Ligue 2 for failing to guarantee sufficient capital.^[7]

Players

Notable players

Below are the notable former and current players who have represented Arles-Avignon and its predecessors league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1912. To appear in the section below, a player must have either played in at least 80 official matches for the club or represented their country's national team either while playing for Arles-Avignon or after departing the club.

For a complete list of Arles-Avignon players, see Category:AC Arles-Avignon players.

André Ayew, now of West Ham United, helped Arles achieve promotion to Ligue 1.

Management and staff

President: Marcel Salerno
Manager: Victor Zvunka
Assistant Manager: Bruno Irles

Honours

Championnat de France amateur
- Winners (1): 2007 (Group B)
Championnat de France amateur 2
- Winners (1); 1999 (Group D)
Division Honneur Sud-Est Ouest
- Champions (3): 1957, 1964, 1965
Division Honneur Sud-Est Languedoc
- Champions (3): 1954, 1958, 1959
Division Honneur Régionale (Méditerranée)
- Champions (1): 2010^[8]
Coupe de Provence
- Champions (2): 1943, 1985
- Runners-up (2): 1977, 2010

References

↑ "AC Arles-Avignon: Un nouveau logo". Foot National. Foot National. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
↑ "Arles-Avignon, ecco il 5° salto Miracolo nato con la lap dance" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
↑ "CFA 2 Gr. D 2006". Football en France. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
↑ "Arles-Avignon veut jouer a Avignon". L'Equipe. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2009.
↑ "Les décisions du mardi 23 juin". Ligue de Football Professionnel. 23 June 2009. Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
↑ "Arles-Avignon repêché par la DNCG". L'Equipe. 3 July 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2009.
↑ "Arles-Avignon rétrogradé en CFA". ledauphine.com (in French). 10 July 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
↑ Title was won by the club's reserve team.

External links

Official website (French)
Association site (French)

Ligue 1

2016–17 clubs	Angers Bastia Bordeaux Caen Dijon Guingamp Lille Lorient Lyon Marseille Metz Monaco Montpellier AS Nancy Nantes Nice Paris Saint-Germain Rennes Saint-Étienne Toulouse

Former clubs	Aix-en-Provence Ajaccio Gazélec Ajaccio Arles-Avignon Alès Antibes Angoulême Auxerre Avignon Béziers Boulogne Brest Cannes Châteauroux Club Français Colmar Evian Excelsior Roubaix FC Nancy Fives Grenoble Gueugnon Hyères Istres Laval Le Havre Le Mans Lens Limoges Foot Lyon OU Martigues Mulhouse Nîmes Niort Olympique Lillois Paris Paris-Charenton Racing Paris Racing Roubaix Red Star Paris Reims Roubaix-Tourcoing Rouen Sedan SO Montpellier Stade Français Stade Saint-Germain Strasbourg Sète Sochaux Toulon Tours Troyes Valenciennes

Competition	Teams (winners) Winning managers Players (foreign) Top scorers Stadia Broadcasters

Statistics and awards	Records Hat-tricks Yearly awards Player of the Year Player of the Month Prix Marc-Vivien Foé Richest clubs Deloitte list Forbes' list Average attendances

Associated competitions	Coupe de France Coupe de la Ligue Trophée des Champions UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League Division 1 Féminine

Division 1 / Ligue 1 seasons

Division 1 (1932–2002)	1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02

Ligue 1 (2002–present)	2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Ligue 2 teams

2016–17 clubs	Ajaccio Amiens Auxerre Bourg-en-Bresse Brest Clermont Gazélec Ajaccio Laval Le Havre Lens Nîmes Niort Orléans Red Star Reims Sochaux Strasbourg Tours Troyes Valenciennes

Former teams	Abbeville Aix-en-Provence Alès Ancenis Angers Angoulême Annecy Antibes Arles-Avignon Avignon CA Bastia SC Bastia Beauvais Besançon Béziers Blénod Blois Boulogne Bourges Bordeaux Caen Calais Cambrai Cannes Charleville Châteauroux Châtellerault Chaumont Cherbourg Cholet Club Français Colmar Corbeil-Essonnes Creil Créteil Dijon Douai Dunkerque Épinal Évian Évreux Fives Fontainebleau Forbach Grenoble GSC Marseille Gueugnon Guingamp Haguenau Hazebrouck Hyères Istres La Ciotat La Roche-sur-Yon La Rochelle Le Mans Le Puy Foot Le Touquet Libourne-Saint-Seurin Lille Olympique Lillois Limoges Foot Lorient Louhans-Cuiseaux Lucé Lyon Lyon OU Malakoff Mantes Marignane Marseille Martigues Melun Merlebach Metz Monaco Montceau-les-Mines Montélimar Montluçon Montmorillon Montpellier Mouzon Mulhouse AS Nancy FC Nancy Nantes Nice Nivers Nœux-les-Mines Paris-Charenton Paris FC Paris-Joinville Paris-Neuilly Paris Saint-Germain Racing Paris Perpignan Poissy Poitiers Quevilly Quimper Rodez Rennes Excelsior Roubaix Racing Roubaix Roubaix-Tourcoing Rouen Saint-Brieuc Saint-Dié Saint-Dizier Saint-Étienne Saint-Quentin Saint-Seurin Sedan Sète Stade Français Tavaux Thionville Thonon-Chablais Toulon Toulouse Toulouse (1937) Troyes AF Troyes ASTS Valence Vannes Vauban Strasbourg Villefranche Viry-Châtillon Vittel Wasquehal

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