Alternate Football Wikis

[ArupinumMaivista]

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Name: Olympique de Marseille
Nicknames: The Phocaeans, The Olympians, The Youngs from Marseille
Founded: 31 August 1899
Home Ground: Stade Velodrome
Capacity: 67,394
League: Ligue 1

Honours

Domestic (29):

French Ligue 1 (11):
1936/37, 1947/48, 1970/71, 1971/72, 1972/73, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1998/99, 2008/09, 2009/10 2021/22

Coupe de France (12):
1923/24, 1925/26, 1926/27, 1934/35, 1937/38, 1942/43, 1968/69, 1971/72, 1975/76, 1988/89, 2005/06, 2017/18

Coupe de la Ligue (3):
2009/10, 2010/11, 2011/12

Trophee dês Champions (2):
1971, 2011

Ligue 2:
Runners-up (1965-66)

Continental:

European Champions League:
Quarter-finals (1999-00)

UEFA cup/Europa League:
1998-99

Intertoto Cup:
2005

Regional:

Vichy French championship:
1940-41

Early history to World War II

Olympique de Marseille was founded as an omnisport club in 1892 by René Dufaure de Montmirail, a French sports official. Known as Sporting Club, US Phocéenne and Football Club de Marseille in the first seven years after its foundation, the club adopted the name Olympique de Marseille in 1899 in honour of the anniversary of Marseille's founding by Greeks from Phocaea some 25 centuries earlier, with the name Olympique, coming from ancient Olympic Games. Still, football in itself would only become prominent around 1902, when a group of Englishmen and Germans brought the sport to greater popularity, during the time when rugby was Marseille's favourite sport.

With Marseille already having the funds thanks to the Omnisport club, the Footballing division quickly rose to becoming one of the best-organised and wealthiest Football clubs in France. Already by 1904, The Phocaeans won their first trophy when winning the Adriatic Championship, and further success came after the war when they won their first National trophy - the Coupe de France of 1923/24.

René Dufaure de Montmirail

Following the introduction of a professional Championship in Division 1, Marseille was one of the first Teams to participate in the competition. Although the early results weren't ideal, Marseille remained consistent for much of the decade and in 1937, the Olympians prevailed in a tight Championship fight against Sochaux, winning the league thanks to higher goal difference, and the help of Vasconcellos. In 1938, Marseille would sign in what would become the club’s “Black Pearl” - Larbi Benbarek. The Moroccan was only 20 years old, and he was an instant favourite among the fans, scoring 29 goals in the 1938-39 season. However, World War 2 brought an abrupt change to France’s footballing landscape. During this period, where France was split into the German-occupied and Vichy zones, Marseille played in the “Free zone” of Vichy France, where the team won the championship in 1941, and then proceeded to win the French Cup in 1943.

Marseille's 1937 squad

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After the war, Marseille picked up right where they left off and became one of the most successful sides in Division 1 during the late 40s, and 1947/48 would soon become a record season, as Olympique de Marseille outran the competition to win the league by a massive 8 points, and scoring 103 goals thanks to Larbi Benbarek’s efforts. With that, Marseille won what was by then its 2nd ever national title. But, the early 50s would then come in and serve as a bad wake-up call for The Phocaeans. In 1952, Marseille were about to be relegated, but Gunnar Andersson saved his team, finishing as top scorer with 31 goals. That would not be the end of it though, and OM would devolve into a mid-table side for much of the decade, with the club suffering three seasons where it looked like Marseille could go down until disaster struck in the 1958-59 season, and Marseille finished bottom of the league. With that, Marseille would now have to play in the 2nd Division for the first time.

Larbi Benbarek - the Black Pearl of Marseille

​

Crisis in the 60s

Following the Relegation, Marseille would spend the next 6 years wallowing in the 2nd Division of French football, with the club mostly relying on junior players, all while going through a Financial crisis that had hit French football during the 60s. In 1965 though, the election of Marcel Leclerc promised change. Already, in the 1965-66 season, Marseille finally emerged from Division 2 and signed a coup by bringing in Yugoslavia's own Josip Skoblar into the team. The Croatian player had already proven himself as a formidable player by helping OFK Belgrade win the Yugoslav league in 1964, and he was by now busy scoring goals in Hannover 96. But, Hannover was reluctant from simply giving Skoblar to Marseille, despite the player wishing to transfer to the French team. Marcel Leclerc then personally went to Hannover and brought Skoblar back to Marseille, where he was awaited with great enthusiasm by the fans.

Leclerc as president

With Skoblar in the team, Leclerc then managed to bring in Roger Magnusson from Juventus and rival Saint Etienne's duo of Georges Carnus and Bernard Busquier. The late 60s would prove to be a time of Marseille resurgence, as the Olympians won the 1968/69 Coupe de France, thus entering in a European competition for the first time. There, Marseille dominated against Czechoslovak side Pardubice, before losing in the 2nd round to Hajduk Split, who were led by Branko Zebec.

Skoblar, Magnusson and Keita - Marseille's greatest trio of forwards

​

At the start of the seventies, Marseille came in guns blazing into the league, in what was a tight fight for first place between OM and Saint Etienne. Crucially though, with 98 goals scored (44 by Josip Skoblar) and 55 points, Marseille managed to win the national title and thus became national champions for the first time in 23 years. The Olympians didn't stop there, and Marseille won its second consecutive title a year later. The bringing of Zoltan Varga meant that Marseille had one of the most international squads in France, and the Phocaeans challenged for another title in 1973, thus scoring an astonishing hatrick.

The bringing of Caju and Jairzinho into the squad promised more fireworks as Marseille finished a distant second To Saint Etienne, but other than a Coupe de France in 1976 - Marseille began to suffer inconsistent seasons, while the financial situation once again began to look bleak due to Leclerc's constant spending on expensive players. For the rest of the decade, Marseille devolved into a mid-table team.

Jairzinho in Olympique's shirt

​

By the late 80s though, a change once again occurred when Marseille brought in several players that ended up being some of the club's most crucial. Jean-Pierre Papin, Klaus Allofs, Abedi Pele, Fabien Barthez and Chris Waddle were among the most important of the signings, and the fruits of the effort was soon payed off when Marseille won the 1989 Coupe de France and managed to reach the Semi-finals of the Cup Winners Cup, where they only lost to eventual winners Sampdoria. During that period, Olympique nabbed two additional titles and managed to rise into a consistent side that exchanged titles with Monaco, RC Paris and Bordeaux. For 1998-99, Marseille celebrated its 100th anniversary, and signed Robert Pires, Christophe Dugarry, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Laurent Blanc, and outran Championship rivals Bordeaux in an effort to win the league title, along with achieving a unique double by winning the UEFA Cup that very same season against Atletico Madrid.

Fabrizio Ravanelli during OM's 98-99 UEFA Cup Campaign

​

In 2004 Marseille once again came close to Winning the UEFA Cup when they reached the final thanks to the heroics of Didier Drogba, but Valência prevailed that day. Nevertheless, Marseille's fans didn't have to wait long for another trophy, as the Phocaeans won the 2006 Coupe de France, thus Qualifying for the Champions league.

With Didier Deschamps as manager, another tight race with Bordeaux followed in 2009, and Marseille managed to win by only two points, featuring two entertaining matches during the season with the Girodines. From 2009 to 2012, Marseille accumulated 6 trophies in what ended up being the club's most successful period. Along with the 2009 and 2010 titles, Marseille then won a hatrick of Coupe de la Ligue trophies, and then won the Coupe dês Champions in 2011 after beating Lille 5-4, thus capping off this period of glory. However, this golden period was them followed by a hangover, as Marseille entered the 2011-12 season bottom of the league, along with losing to Metalist Kharkiv in the first round of the Euroleague.

Didier Drogba

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With the club in dire straits, the fans invaded the pitch to express their frustration, and Deschamps resigned from the club after suffering through 12 games without a victory. Fortunately, a Coupe de la Ligue win ensured Marseille would play In Europe the following season, when Elie Baup would become the new coach. Embarrassingly though, Marseille won all of its games in Europe, and the club struggled in the league. The following four years would be ones of sheer frustration, as Marseille regularly fought for relegation and switched coaches almost yearly. During this period, Marcelo Bielsa was assigned as coach for the 2014-15 season, in which Marseille played fun and attacking football, and challenged for the league against Lille, Saint Etienne and Monaco, including a 5-0 demolishing of Reims, but a late season collapse meant that Marseille could only finish fourth. Even worse was the fact Marseille entered the next season winless for the first 6 games, leading to a fan riot that resulted in Bielsa resigning.

The fan riots during the 2015 season

​

Hope did appear when Marseille signed Rudi Garcia as their Manager, and the club slowly rose up the table of Ligue 1 in an apparent resurgence, but it was only a false dawn, as Marseille dipped in form by 2019, when André Villas-Boas offered to resign due to the club's poor form, which even led to fan riots in the city of Marseille. Finally, relief came when former Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli was appointed as manager of OM, and the club entered the 2021-22 season in a tight race with Monaco, Rennes and Nice. However, thanks to Duje Ćaleta-Car, Dimitri Payet and Michy Batshuayi, the club entered the final matchday level on points with Monaco, needing a win and 6 goals to win the league if the clubs finished with the same amount of points. In the home match against Strasbourg, Marseille won with four goals, but Monaco led in their game against Lens, thus meaning that Monaco would win the league. However, in the final moments of the game, Lens equalized, and the Stade Velodrome erupted as the match ended, with Marseille being crowned Champions for the first time since 2010.

Players celebrating as the news of Lens equalizing reaches Stade Velodrome

​

 

[kinnikuniverse]

​

Name: Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire
City: Saint-Étienne, France
Year of birth: 1919
Nicknames: Les Verts (the Greens), Les Stéphanois (the Stephanese)
Home grounds: Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
Capacity: 41,965
League: Ligue 1

HONORS

DOMESTIC

Ligue 1: 1943-1944, 1963-1964, 1966-1967, 1967-1968, 1969-1970, 1973-1974, 1974-1975, 1981-1982, 2016-2017

Coupe de France: 1961-1962, 1967-1968, 1969-1970, 1973-1974, 1974-1975, 2014-2015

Coupe de La Ligue: 2012-2013

EUROPEAN

European Cup/Champions League: 1975-1976

UEFA Cup: best finish quarter finals 1979-1980, 1980-1981

Cup Winners Cup: best finish runner-up 2015-2016


The origins of AS Saint-Étienne are quite muddied. While it is generally agreed that it was originally formed by businessman Geoffroy Guichard as the football team of his retail franchise Magasins Casino, the exact date of birth is still contentious. While the dictionary of french football clubs cite the founding year as 1919, the club was declared only in march 1920, the month where the club registered into the french football federation.

​

Geoffroy Guichard, founder of Casino stores and Saint-Étienne


As one would guess from a company team, the roster was mainly composed of employees of the Casino stores in the club's first years of existence. In 1927, the club changed its name to Association Sportive Stéphanoise, but it would be in 1931, whem French Football became professional, that the club would change to its current name.

Havign built their stadium, Saint-Étienne first appaeared in the professional leagues in 1933 in the newly-created second division, coming close to promotion in its first two seasons before the arrival of expensive stars and english coach Teddy Duckworth finally put Saint-Étienne over the hump and into the first division in 1938, where they would finish in a surprising 4th place in their first top flight campaign.

​

Saint-Étienne's 1943-1944 side, the first side to win the league title.


Under the coaching of Austrian Ignace Tax, Saint-Étienne would win their first top flight title in 1943-1944, before financial difficulties from the free-spending ways threatened the club's future. That is where the Guichard family, namely Geoffroy's son Pierre, took back control of the cluba nd started managing it like a business, with the focus now being on scouting the best youth talents across france so as to build a young and cheaper side.

Robert Herrin, the club's biggest icon and most successful person, both as player and manager.


This long rebuild and focus on youth development would prove extremely fruitful for Saint-Étienne once the 60s arrived. in 1962, with the youngest team in France, the club would win the coupe de france and, two years later, win its second ligue 1 title. This would be the start of the golden years of the club. Ligue 1 title would come in 1967, and not even Goalkeeper Goerges Carnus and Bernard Bosquier going to Marseille stopped the club, for they would win the 1968 title and complete four doubles in 1968, 1970, 1974 and 1975.

The 70s team, coached by former player Robert Herrin and led by Yugoslav goalkeeper Ivan Kurkovic, argentine defender Osvaldo Piazza and homegrown stars like Christian Lopez, Gerard Jeanvion, the Revelli brothers, Jacques Santini, Dominique Rocheteau and cameroonian sensation Roger Milla, would achieve its greates ever triumph, when they defeated reigning European Champions Don Revie's Leeds United in 1976 to give France its second ever European cup after Stade de Reims's win in 1959.

Square posts? No problem!


From that high, however, came a gradual descent heading into the 80s. Dominique Rocheteau shockingly left the club for RC Paris in 1980, and whike Saint-Étienne would boucne back and win the 1982 league title, a double was averted when they lost to Rocheteau and the Paris squad of Tomislav Ivic. That same year, a slush fund scandal forced president Roger Rocher out of the club. From then on, the club descended further and further into mediocrity, culminating in relegation to division two in 1995.

Promotion back in ligue 1 in 1999 would be tainted by a passport scandal that involved two players (Brazilian Alex Dias and Ukrainian goalkeeper Maksym Levytsky) who utilised fake Portuguese and Greek passports. Both players were suspended for four months and, at the end of a judicial inquiry, which linked some of the club's management staff to the passport forgeries, Saint-Étienne was docked seven league points and relegated. They would spend three seasons in the second division before winning promotion in 2004. Stabilisation followed before the club finished 5th in 2007-2008, thus qualifying for europe for the first time since 1982. The team was led by players like Jeremy Jeannot, Zoumane Camara, Loïc Perrin, Didier Zokora, Freddy Guarin, Dimitri Payet and Batéfimbi Gomis.

​

Dimitri Payet

The subsequent campaign, however, would see Saint-Étienne fall in the UEFA Cup round of 16 to Werder Bremen and they would finish above the relegation zone the following two seasons. Payet would leave for Lille for $9 million, Gomis to Newcastle for $10 million and Zokora to Sevilla for a whopping $30 million. That money would be reinvested into talents such as RC Paris midfielder Jérémy Clément, Monaco goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier and especially a young Gabonese striker who was rotting in the reserves in AC Milan: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

​

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang



Along with the signing of Caen's winger Romain Hamouma, homegrown talents like Kurt Zouma, Faouzi Ghoulam and Joshua Guilavogui as well as the inspired coaching of Cristophe Galtier, Saint-Etienne would finish just outside the european places in 2012-2013, but thanks to a breakout season by Aubameyang, the club would win the coupe de la ligue, its first title since 1982. Competing in european competition for the firdt time since 2008, Saint-Étienne would perform well, with Aubameyang confirming his status as the club's new franchise face with great performances against Stuttgart and Dnipro before sadly losing to eventual winners Atletico Madrid in the Quarter-Finals. However, the club would finish 3rd in 2013-2014, its highest finish in a long time.

The next year would see the greens win the coupe de france, and the following year, woth free agent Matthieu Debuchy from Lille completing the backline, they would reach the final of the cup winners cup, where they would be defeated by Marcelo Bielsa's mighty Athletic Bilbao squad.

With a talented and loaded squad, all that Saint-Étienne needed was a manager that could get them over the hump and win that league title. Out went Christophe Galtier, who joined Lille to replace Manuel Pellegrini, and in came the high-profile hire of former Juventus and Italy coach Antonio Conte, with the express purpose of winning the title in the middle of the golden period of the french league.

Antonio Conte

To complete this ambition, Conte got rid of Fredy Guarin, who left for the ASL for $11 million, Max Gradel to Bournemouth for $7 million, Renaud Cohade to Metz for $5 million and Fabien Lemoine to Lorient for $8 million. The signing of free agent from Milan David Luiz followed soon after and the club's most expensive transfer ever, bringing in N'Golo Kanté from Leicester City for $30 million.

Conte's 3-4-3 formation, with David Luiz as a modern day Libero flanked by the stoppers Zouma and Perrin, building from the back to pass it to the wingbacks Debuchy and Ghoulam or down the middle to Kanté and Guilavogui, two box-to-box midfielders who would support the front 3 of Hamouma, youth product Allan Saint-Maximin and Aubameyang as the target man, would terrorise opposing teams defense as they got in the thick of the crazy title race with Lyon, Marseille, Monaco, the Toulouse golden Generation, Olivier Giroud's Montpellier and Eden Hazard's Lille. In the end, on a dramatic last day, Aubameyang, who would score his 31st goal of the season agaisnt Lille, would give the title to Saint-Étienne, its first league title since 1982. As such, the club would play in the champions league for the first time in the 21st century.

​

Auba with his spider-man goal celebration


In that campaign, they would win against FC Basel and Guardiola's Schalke in the group stages before shockingly eliminating the reigning champions Ateltico Madrid of Simeone, Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero thanks to monstrous performances from Ruffier, Kanté and Aubameyang. In the first leg agaisnt Roma, Auba would score a hat trick as Saint-Étienne won 4-1 at home, but unfortunately, a massive collapse would follow as Roma unexpectedly competed an incredible comeback win at Stadio Olimpico.

2018-2019 would see Aubameyang still in great form and Saint-Étienne finished in 3rd, but the french clubs eventually figured out Conte's 3-4-3. The latter would leave for Inter Milan in 2019. Since then, Saint-Étienne have gone from manager to manager, seemingly incapable of finding one that lasts more than two seasons. Saint-Étienne is now starting the transition into a new generation heading into the 2020s, with a younger squad featuring star Saint-Maximin and veterans Kanté, Zouma, Ghoulam and Aubameyang surrounded by some promising younger players such as Aimen Mouffek, Jonathan Bamba, Mickaël Nadé, William Saliba and new goalkeeper Gauthier Larsonneur.

​

 

[HugoHistory1991]

​

Name: Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire
City: Saint-Étienne, France
Year of birth: 1919
Nicknames: Les Verts (the Greens), Les Stéphanois (the Stephanese)
Home grounds: Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
Capacity: 41,965
League: Ligue 1

HONORS

DOMESTIC

Ligue 1: 1943-1944, 1963-1964, 1966-1967, 1967-1968, 1969-1970, 1973-1974, 1974-1975, 1981-1982, 2016-2017

Coupe de France: 1961-1962, 1967-1968, 1969-1970, 1973-1974, 1974-1975, 2014-2015

Coupe de La Ligue: 2012-2013

EUROPEAN

European Cup/Champions League: 1975-1976

UEFA Cup: best finish quarter finals 1979-1980, 1980-1981

Cup Winners Cup: best finish runner-up 2015-2016


The origins of AS Saint-Étienne are quite muddied. While it is generally agreed that it was originally formed by businessman Geoffroy Guichard as the football team of his retail franchise Magasins Casino, the exact date of birth is still contentious. While the dictionary of french football clubs cite the founding year as 1919, the club was declared only in march 1920, the month where the club registered into the french football federation.

​

Geoffroy Guichard, founder of Casino stores and Saint-Étienne


As one would guess from a company team, the roster was mainly composed of employees of the Casino stores in the club's first years of existence. In 1927, the club changed its name to Association Sportive Stéphanoise, but it would be in 1931, whem French Football became professional, that the club would change to its current name.

Havign built their stadium, Saint-Étienne first appaeared in the professional leagues in 1933 in the newly-created second division, coming close to promotion in its first two seasons before the arrival of expensive stars and english coach Teddy Duckworth finally put Saint-Étienne over the hump and into the first division in 1938, where they would finish in a surprising 4th place in their first top flight campaign.

​

Saint-Étienne's 1943-1944 side, the first side to win the league title.


Under the coaching of Austrian Ignace Tax, Saint-Étienne would win their first top flight title in 1943-1944, before financial difficulties from the free-spending ways threatened the club's future. That is where the Guichard family, namely Geoffroy's son Pierre, took back control of the cluba nd started managing it like a business, with the focus now being on scouting the best youth talents across france so as to build a young and cheaper side.

Robert Herrin, the club's biggest icon and most successful person, both as player and manager.


This long rebuild and focus on youth development would prove extremely fruitful for Saint-Étienne once the 60s arrived. in 1962, with the youngest team in France, the club would win the coupe de france and, two years later, win its second ligue 1 title. This would be the start of the golden years of the club. Ligue 1 title would come in 1967, and not even Goalkeeper Goerges Carnus and Bernard Bosquier going to Marseille stopped the club, for they would win the 1968 title and compelte a double in 1970, 1974 and 1975.

The 70s team, coached by former player Robert Herbin and led by Yugoslav goalkeeper Ivan Kurkovic, argentine defender Osvaldo Piazza and homegrown stars like Christian Lopez, Gerard Jeanvion, the Revelli brothers, Jacques Santini, Dominique Rocheteau and cameroonian sensation Roger Milla, would achieve its greates ever triumph, when they defeated reigning European Champions Don Revie's Leeds United in 1976 to give France its second ever European cup after Stade de Reims's win in 1959.

Square posts? No problem!


From that high, however, came a gradual descent heading into the 80s. Dominique Rocheteau shockingly left the club for RC Paris in 1980, and whike Saint-Étienne would boucne back and win the 1982 league title, a double was averted when they lost to Rocheteau and the Paris squad of Tomislav Ivic. That same year, a slush fund scandal forced president Roger Rocher out of the club. From then on, the club descended further and further into mediocrity, culminating in relegation to division two in 1995.

Promotion back in ligue 1 in 1999 would be tainted by a passport scandal that involved two players (Brazilian Alex Dias and Ukrainian goalkeeper Maksym Levytsky) who utilised fake Portuguese and Greek passports. Both players were suspended for four months and, at the end of a judicial inquiry, which linked some of the club's management staff to the passport forgeries, Saint-Étienne was docked seven league points and relegated. They would spend three seasons in the second division before winning promotion in 2004. Stabilisation followed before the club finished 5th in 2007-2008, thus qualifying for europe for the first time since 1982. The team was led by players like Jeremy Jeannot, Zoumane Camara, Loïc Perrin, Didier Zokora, Freddy Guarin, Dimitri Payet and Batéfimbi Gomis.

​

Dimitri Payet

The subsequent campaign, however, would see Saint-Étienne fall in the UEFA Cup round of 16 to Werder Bremen and they would finish above the relegation zone the following two seasons. Payet would leave for Lille for $9 million, Gomis to Newcastle for $10 million and Zokora to Sevilla for a whopping $30 million. That money would be reinvested into talents such as RC Paris midfielder Jérémy Clément, Monaco goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier and especially a young Gabonese striker who was rotting in the reserves in AC Milan: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

​

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang



Along with the signing of Caen's winger Romain Hamouma, homegrown talents like Kurt Zouma, Faouzi Ghoulam and Joshua Guilavogui as well as the inspired coaching of Cristophe Galtier, Saint-Etienne would finish just outside the european places in 2012-2013, but thanks to a breakout season by Aubameyang, the club would win the coupe de la ligue, its first title since 1982. Competing in european competition for the firdt time since 2008, Saint-Étienne would perform well, with Aubameyang confirming his status as the club's new franchise face with great performances against Stuttgart and Dnipro before sadly losing to eventual winners Atletico Madrid in the Quarter-Finals. However, the club would finish 3rd, its highest finish in a long time.

The next year would see the greens win the coupe de france, and the following year, woth free agent Matthieu Debuchy from Lille completing the backline, they would reach the final of the cup winners cup, where they would be defeated by Marcelo Bielsa's mighty Athletic Bilbao squad.

With a talented and loaded squad, all that Saint-Étienne needed was a manager that could get them over the hump and win that league title. Out went Christophe Galtier, who joined Lille to replace Manuel Pellegrini, and in came the high-profile hire of former Juventus and Italy coach Antonio Conte, with the express purpose of winning the title in the middle of the golden period of the french league.

Antonio Conte

To complete this ambition, Conte got rid of Fredy Guarin, who left for the ASL for $11 million, Max Gradel to Bournemouth for $7 million, Renaud Cohade to Metz for $5 million and Fabien Lemoine to Lorient for $8 million. The signing of free agent from Milan David Luiz followed soon after and the club's most expensive transfer ever, bringing in N'Golo Kanté from Leicester City for $30 million.

Conte's 3-4-3 formation, with David Luiz as a modern day Libero flanked by the stoppers Zouma and Perrin, building from the back to pass it to the wingbacks Debuchy and Ghoulam or down the middle to Kanté and Guilavogui, two box-to-box midfielders who would support the front 3 of Hamouma, youth product Allan Saint-Maximin and Aubameyang as the target man, would terrorise opposing teams defense as they got in the thick of the crazy title race with Lyon, Marseille, Monaco, the Toulouse golden Generation, Olivier Giroud's Montpellier and Eden Hazard's Lille. In the end, on a dramatic last day, Aubameyang, who would score his 31st goal of the season agaisnt Lille, would give the title to Saint-Étienne, its first league title since 1982. As such, the club would play in the champions league for the first time in the 21st century.

​

Auba with his spider-man goal celebration


In that campaign, they would win against FC Basel and Guardiola's Schalke in the group stages before shockingly eliminating the reigning 3-time champions Ateltico Madrid of Simeone, Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero thanks to monstrous performances from Ruffier, Kanté and Aubameyang. In the first leg agaisnt Roma, Auba would score a hat trick as Saint-Étienne won 4-1 at home, but unfortunately, a massive collapse would follow as Roma unexpectedly competed an incredible comeback win at Stadio Olimpico.

2018-2019 would see Aubameyang still in great form and Saint-Étienne finished in 3rd, but the french clubs eventually figured out Conte's 3-4-3. The latter would leave for Inter Milan in 2019. Since then, Saint-Étienne have gone from manager to manager, seemingly incapable of finding one that lasts more than two seasons Saint-Étienne is now starting the transition into a new generation heading into the 2020s, with a younger squad featuring star Saint-Maximin and veterans Kanté, Zouma, Ghoulam and Aubameyang surrounded by some promising younger players such as Aimen Mouffek, Jonathan Bamba, Mickaël Nadé, William Saliba and new goalkeeper Gauthier Larsonneur.

​

well it could be so cool for you to make History of Abrantes and make them the 5th club in Portuguese Liga
Maybe make the history of Abrantes City from 2010 to 2023

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Name: Lille Olympique Sporting Club
Birth: 1902 (as Olympique Lillois)
City: Lille, France
Nicknames: Les Dogues (the Mastiffs), Les Nordistes (the northmen), La Machine de Guerre (the war machine, for the 1940s and 50s teams)
Home ground: Stade Pierre-Mauroy
Capacity: 50,186
League: Ligue 1


HONORS

DOMESTIC

Ligue 1: 1914, 1932-1933, 1939-1940, 1941-1942, 1944-1945, 1945-1946, 2010-2011, 2020-2021

Coupe de France: 1946, 1947, 1953, 1955, 2011

Coupe de La ligue: 2016

EUROPEAN

Champions League: best finish quarter-finals 2011-2012

UEFA Cup: best finish semi-finals 2001-2002, 2013-2014 and 2017-2018

Cup Winners Cup: best finish quarter-finals 2016-2017

Intertoto Cup: 2002-2003


LOSC Lille's origins traces back to the formation of its previous incarnation, Olympique Lillois, at the turn of the century in 1902 by rich industrials from the city of Lille, in northern France. Right from the getgo, the club reached many finals in different cup competitions, including one of the first ever continental club competitions in the Northern International Challenge, where they lost the 1907 final to Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise.

That same year, Olympique Lillois would merge with two other clubs from the city, Iris Club and Stade Lillois, and André Billy, co-founder of the club, took over as president before being succeeded by Henri Jooris, who presided over the club's first major honors, winning their first northern championship and their first national titke in 1914, just before the outbreak of the great war, led by english manager Charlie Williams and Belgian international Alphonse Six. Jooris also hosted many friendlies against other european clubs such as Czechia's Slavia Praha and Belgium's Club Brugges, and also founded the flandres lions, a representative side composed of the best players from northern france against the best players from the Paris region.

​

Henri Jooris, Lille's iconic president

Lille's first championship squad in 1914, right before the great war.

The post-war period would be tough years of rebuilding, as many important players, including Alphonse Six, died fighting for their countries, and Jooris would be outed following an illegal payments scandal, since french football was still amateur at that time. Not only that, the Iris club became independent again, followed soon after by the club's Hockey team, which becane the Lille Hockey Club, who still play nowadays in the Magnus League.

By the time football became professional in France with the founding of the national league system in 1932, Henri Jooris was reinstated as president, and with goalie Louis Vandeputte, englishman George Berry and André Cheuva, Lille became the first ever french league champions in 1932-1933. Underachievements followed in the rest of the decade, including a heavy loss in the 1939 coupe de france final agaisnt RC Paris, leading to Jooris resigning for the second time before dying from sickness in 1940, the year Lille won its second league title, dedicating the victory to him.

Lille's famed war machine of the 40s and 50s, the club's greatest era


The fabulous 40s would see Lille's most successful period, as the club, now having merged with rival club SC Fives to become LOSC Lille, would form the best squad in all of France, winning three more league titles and winning both its first coupe and first double in 1945-1946, followed by running it back in the Coupe in 1947 and, despite the aging squad, would conquer the coupe two more times in 1953 and 1955. Nicknamed "The War Machine", The squad's best players, under both George Berry and André Cheuva as coach, were the attacking quartet of Roger Vandooren, Jean Lechantre, Jean Baratte and René Bihel, the latter for three seasons before goign to Marseille in 1947.


However, the season where they won their 4th Coupe de France, in 1954-1955, was a surprise, for the club finished 16th and almost got relegated, mainly due to replacing the experienced defender Cor Van Der Hart with an impostor pretending to be Joszef Zakaras, Hungary's star defender. That incident not only tarnished Lille's reputation, but also led to the club being relegated the following year in 1955-1956. Aside from a quick promotion and surprising 6th palce finish in 1957, relegation followed quickly and Lille would spend most of the 60s in the second division. Promotion came in 1964 and a few yesrs of middling results before once again being relegated in 1968, and the financial crisis led to the club renouncimg their professional status and be forcefully relegated to division 3, which was amateur at the time.

In 1973, thanks to investments made by the city of Lille and influent local businessmen as well as receipts from friendlies agaisnt notable clubs, lille managed to regain professional status and get back to the second division, where promotion was quickly won back in 1978. In their first season back in the top flight, Lille came 4 points behind the european places in 6th.

In 1980, the city of Lille became majority shareholders of the club, assuring its stabilisation in the top flight. Despite surprise appearances in the 1983 and 1985 coupe de france semi-finals, Lille were a mid-table club throughout the 80s, albeit featuring Ghanaian star Abedi Ayew before his transfer to Marseille in 1990.

Jacques Santini, Lille's most successful coach in the early 90s.


Led by Jacques Santini and swedish internationals Klas Ingesson and Kennet Andersson, Lille snatched the 4th and final european spot from Cannes, competing in europe for the first time ever in 1991 1992, where they would be defeated in the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup agaimst Belgian club Gent. This would be the height of Lille's last few years of the 20th century, for Santini would leave at the end of that season and Lille would fall down to lower table finishers and be threatened with bankruptcy after acquiring $70 million in debt.

Relegation followed in 1996-1997, and the city of lille opened the process of privatising the club once again.

​

Vahid Halilhodzic, the man who brought Lille back to prominence.


2000-2001, under Vahid Halilodzic, would see Lille become the surprise team of the league, leading the table for over two months before finishing a brilliant 3rd place behind Wenger's Monaco and the winners FC Nantes.

The following season would be even bigger for lille, as they stunned the stacked Parma side of Hernan Crespo and Lillian Thuram 2-0 in the second round, Fiorentina of Mancini and Rui Costa in the round of 32 and Dortmund of Rosicky and Mattias Sammer in the round of 16 and Slovan Liberec in the quarter-finals before faltering to Ancelotti's AC Milan in the semi-finals. In the league, they finished 5th, continuing their european adventures in the Intertoto Cup, this time.

the famous win over Parma in the 2001-2002 UEFA Cup



2002-2003 would see Halilodzic leave for Stade Rennais and Claude Puel taje over as coach. While the new tactics were difficult to adapt to, with the club finishing in 14th, the club would win the intertoto cup, beating Villareal in the final. For the rest of the Puel era, the club would be known for beinga constant presence in the top 6 of Ligue 1 and always managing to reinvent its squads successfully, with the likes of the Cheyrou brothers, Stephan Lichsteiner, Michel Bastos, Jean Makoun, Dante, Peter Odemwingie and Abdul Kader Keita being the notable players who played for Lille during that era before thriving in other clubs, most notably Lichsteiner for Lazio and Juventus, Dante with Bayern Munich and Benoit Cheyrou for Marseille.


In 2008, Puel would leave for Lyon, to be replaced by Rudi Garcia, who revealed himself as a very promising manager after guiding Le Mans not only to the top flight for the first tiem in its history, but also to 6th place and europe after winning the coupe de la ligue the previous season.

Building on the club's excellent youth academy, Garcia would use the likes of Matthieu Bodmer, Matthieu Debuchy, Yohan Cabaye, Adil Rami and two talented belgians in Kevin mirallas and Eden hazard.

Hazard and Mirallas


Two 4th place finish would follow in 2009 and 2010 before some judicious transfers such as Mikaël Landreau, Franck Béria, Moussa Sow and Dimitri Payet. Garcia's Lille would take all of France by storm, winning their first league title agaisnt the traditional juggernauts Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux, and they would also beat RC Paris in the Coupe de France final to win their first double since 1946.

In the following years, Eden Hazard would emerge as the club's franchise player, averaging 20 goals a season. taking advantage of the sales of Sow and Chedjou to Turkey, Bodmer to Nice, Mirallas to Everton and Payet to Marseille and moving to the 50,000+ Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille managed to gob up the finances to resign Hazard to a multi-year deal, making him the highest paid player in France aside from Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva from Paris and Benzema from Lyon. This came at the expense of Rudi Garcia, who left the club to replace Didier Deschamps at Marseille, replaced by Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini.

Filling the gaps with judicious transfers such as Simon Kjaer from the cash-strapped Palermo, Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and Salomon Kalou as well as the rise of youth products Idrissa Gueye, Divock Origi and Lucas Digne, Lille would reach the semi-finals of the 2013-2014 UEFA Cup, losing to Real Madrid, and win the Coupe de La Ligue agaisnt Paris in 2016, qualifying for the 2016-2017 cup winners cup, where they were comsidered among the favorites to win.the competition, but got shockingly upset by the tournament's eventual winners Stoke City on a cold, rainy night.

Pellegrini left Lille to be replaced by Saint-Étienne's former manager Christophe Galtier. A surprise semi-final appearance in the 2017-2018 UEFA Cup, carried by an imperial Eden Hazard, was followed by defeat at the hands of their former coach Rudi Garcia and Marseille.

Galtier would retool his squad with younger players, chief among them Nicolas Pépé from Angers, Tanguy Ndombélé from Guingamp, Brazilian Defender Gabriel, unknown Québecois striker Jonathan David and, most notably, Ajax's Sven Botman (who couldn't dislodge Matthis de Ligt and Davinson Sanchez) and Bayern's Renato Sanches, who found it hard to dislodge Toni Kroos and Pierre-Émile Hojberg.

Combined with the team's veterans Rami, Digne, Gueye, Origi and Hazard as well as youth graduates Mike Maignan and Benjamin Pavard, Lille formed one of the deepest, most complete team in France, and they would take the fight to Lyon, Monaco and Paris in the 2020-2021 season, where one last masterpiece by Hazard and Jonathan David exploding into a profilific goalscorer allowed Lille to win its 8th Ligue 1 title at the dead.

Sadly for Lille, that would end up being the swansong for Eden Hazard. Concerned over his health following years of grueling play and carrying the club, he announced his retirement at age 31 in 2022. His jersey was retired by the club. Lille, now under Paulo Fonseca's managment, signed Jonathan Ikoné from Paris as his replacement.


LOSC LILLE 2023-2024 LINEUP

Manager: Paulo Fonseca


Maignan

Pavard Botman Gabriel Digne

Sanches Gueye Ndombélé

Pépé David Ikoné

​

 

[ArupinumMaivista]

Name: Unione Calcio Sampdoria
Nicknames: I Blucerchiati (The blue-circled), Il Doria, Il Samp
Founded: 27 July 1927 (As La Dominante)
City: Genova
Main Rival: Genoa CFC
Home Ground: Stadio Valerio Bacigalupo
Capacity: 18,000
League: Serie A

Honors:

Domestic
Serie A: 1990-91, 1993-94
Coppa Italia: 1984/85, 1988/89, 2008/09
Serie B: 1933-34, 1966-67
Supercoppa Italiana: 1991

International
European Cup: 1991-92
Cup Winners Cup: 1989/90
UEFA Cup/Europa League: 1988/89
European Super Cup: 1992

Merger (1927-1943)

The original crest of La Dominante

​

Sampdoria began its history as a football club in 1927, right after the end of the 1926/27 season where two clubs Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria merged into one entity thanks to the Fascist authorities’ push for Italian cities only having one or two football club each. The club gained its own stadium Via Stadio Littorio, with a 15 thousand capacity.

In its first season, the club was called “La Dominante”, but it didn't live up to its name as it only finished 3rd in its inaugural season in Serie B, and then got relegated the following season, this time named “FC Liguria”. However, consistency was soon reached, and Liguria managed to qualify for the Serie A in 1934, from where the club would begin its long stay in the top flight of Italian Football. In Serie A, Liguria managed to become a rather solid Mid table side, where their derbies against local rivals Genoa was seen as one of the most fierce in the country. However, the 40s saw Liguria begin to lose steam, and the war soon enough reached Italy, causing all football to be stopped.

The Littoral Stadium of Genova

​

Serie A and sporadic success (1946-1979)

Following the war, the name Liguria was abolished, and the club took its new name as Sampdoria, which it would hold for the rest of its history. The Stadio Littorio was destroyed due to the war, and for the next several years, Samp would play in Genoa’s Stadio Luigi Ferraris, while the Littoral stadium was being reconstructed. In 1950, the ground would gain its current name after goalkeeper Valerio Bacigalupo, and it would go on to host the club for the remainder of its history.

Sampdoria was among the founding teams of the new post-war National Championship of Italy, with the club's first coach being Giuseppe Galluzzi. The inaugural season of the post-war Serie A saw Samp finish 10th. For the first twenty years, Il Doria was a constant presence in Serie A, but with mixed success. The club's best finish in the league at that time was a 4th place in the 1960/61 season, but relegation in 1966 led to the club falling to Serie B for the second time in its history, but that brief spell in B only for a year. In 1962-63, Sampdoria would embark on its first ever European campaign after being invited for the Inter-cities Fairs Cup, where Samp reached the round of 16, before being dominated by Ferencvaros.

Sergio Brighenti - The 1960-61 top scorer

​

The Golden Years (1982-1992)

A whole decade would pass, in which Sampdoria remained a relatively mediocre club, fluctuating between the lower parts of the Serie A table and fighting for promotion in Serie B. Then, in 1979, an Oil Businessman Paolo Mantovani was elected president of the club, and he would kick-start a series of transfers that would build Sampdoria into a footballing powerhouse within Italy. After 5 years in B, Samp finally managed to finish 2nd in the 1981-82 with the emergence of a generation that included Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini, and led by Renzo Ulivieri.

By 1984, Samp entered its first ever Coppa Italia final, where they met against AC Milan for a two-legged final. Despite Milan winning the first leg, Sampdoria answered in the 2nd leg with goals by young Robert Mancini and Gianluca Vialli, whom helped I Blucerchiati lift their first national trophy. With the Cup success, Sampdoria qualified for the European Cup Winners’ Cup, where the Ligurians suffered a defeat against Benfica. In 1986, Serbian coach Vujadin Boškov entered Genoa, and he would go on to become the club's greatest manager. During the late 80s, Sampdoria would further strengthen itself with players like Pietro Verkhovod, Attilio Lombardo, Enrico Chiesa, Toninho Cerezo and national goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca.

Vujadin Boškov - Sampdoria's mastermind paired with Pagliuca, Vialli and Mancini

​

Nonetheless, Doria continued its healthy form throughout the late 80s, achieving top 5 finishes in the Serie A which would see I Blucerchiati qualify for the UEFA Cup. Another Cup final occurred in the 1987/88 season, but was lost against a resurgent Torino. But, thanks to a 4th place in the league, Samp qualified for the UEFA Cup. In an inspired run, Sampdoria vanquished Greek side PAOK, Title holders Espanyol, Bordeaux and then narrowly winning the penalty shootout against Athletic Bilbao to win the quarter-finals. Then, in the semis, Sampdoria ran into Bayern Munich. In what would go down in history as Sampdoria’s most memorable moment, Sampdoria won 2-0 in Genoa, and then pulled out a dramatic 2-2 draw in Munich to knock Bayern out of the Cup. In the subsequent final, Sampdoria encountered another German side in Stuttgart, which Doria managed to win 4-3 on aggregate thanks to the magic of Mancini, and a last minute brace by Vialli. With that, Sampdoria won its first European trophy.

This great success was paired up the very same year with Doria winning its second cup, thus scoring a unique double, and then going on to win the Cup Winners Cup in the following season after beating Anderlecht in the final. Only one year later, Sampdoria would win its first Scudetto, after being crowned as National Champions with a 5 point advantage over Internazionale. The following season, Sampdoria played an inspired campaign in the European Cup, achieving wins against Panathinaikos, champions Red Star Belgrade and Anderlecht, to then meet with Sparta Prague in the final of the European Cup. In a tense match, Sampdoria in the end gained the upper hand with an extra time goal by Vialli, and that goal in the end came out as worthy enough of the European Crown. Over the course of four years, Sampdoria had won every single European Competition.

Sampdoria's golden team of the late 80s

​

Decline and Resurgence (1992-present)

On 14 October 1993, Paolo Mantovani died suddenly and was replaced by his son Enrico. During his first season (1993–94), Sampdoria won one more Serie A title and now played in the European Champions’ League, where the original tournament format was replaced by a group stage Format. There, Sampdoria managed to reach the Quarter-finals after finishing 2nd in its respective group containing Ajax, Casino Salzburg and AEK Athens, but in the end lost to eventual semi-finalists Benfica.

Despite the death of Antovani, the entrance of Sven-Goran Eriksson brought plenty of stability to Samp for the next 5 years, with players like Juan Sebastián Verón and Ariel Ortega, Vincenzo Montella, and Christian Karembeu. However, the selling and retirements of players like Chiesa, Vialli, Mancini and Montella led to Sampdoria almost suffering relegation in the 1998/99 Season, but disaster was averted by only one point. The next four years would see some of the most dire seasons in Sampdoria’s history, as I Blucerchiati fought for relegation almost every year, and the club's highest finish would only occur in 2004, when they finished 8th. Francesco Flachi and Fabio Bazzani were the two most crucial players during this period. 2007/08 saw Sampdoria recover further with a 6th place thanks To Walter Mazzari, and the signings of Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini Helped Doria qualify for the UEFA Cup, but those performances were not even close to the old days of Vialli and Boškov.

Antonio Cassano

​

2008/09 also saw Sampdoria win its first piece of silverware since the mid 90s, when I Blucerchiati won the Coppa Italia against Edoardo Reja’s Lazio, and a 3rd place the very next season saw Samp record its best season in the 21st century. By the 2010s, a solid foundation was placed within the team, with Fabio Quagliarella and Eder becoming one of the club's greatest goalscorers during this period. A solid 4th place in the 2014/15 season saw Sampdoria qualify once again for the Euroleague. The rest of the decade saw the club once again degrade into a mid-table side, but the signing of Francesco Caputo and his uncanny ability to score goals once again revived Sampdoria into a solid team within Serie A, under the leadership of Claudio Renieri.

Samp's GOAT of the 2010s

​

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Name: Unione Calcio Sampdoria
Nicknames: I Blucerchiati (The blue-circled), Il Doria, Il Samp
Founded: 27 July 1927 (As La Dominante)
City: Genova
Main Rival: Genoa CFC
Home Ground: Stadio Valerio Bacigalupo
Capacity: 18,000
League: Serie A

Honors:

Domestic
Serie A: 1990-91, 1993-94
Coppa Italia: 1984/85, 1988/89, 2008/09
Serie B: 1933-34, 1966-67
Supercoppa Italiana: 1991

International
European Cup: 1991-92
Cup Winners Cup: 1989/90
UEFA Cup/Europa League: 1988/89
European Super Cup: 1992

Merger (1927-1943)

The original crest of La Dominante

​

Sampdoria began its history as a football club in 1927, right after the end of the 1926/27 season where two clubs Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria merged into one entity thanks to the Fascist authorities’ push for Italian cities only having one or two football club each. The club gained its own stadium Via Stadio Littorio, with a 15 thousand capacity.

In its first season, the club was called “La Dominante”, but it didn't live up to its name as it only finished 3rd in its inaugural season in Serie B, and then got relegated the following season, this time named “FC Liguria”. However, consistency was soon reached, and Liguria managed to qualify for the Serie A in 1934, from where the club would begin its long stay in the top flight of Italian Football. In Serie A, Liguria managed to become a rather solid Mid table side, where their derbies against local rivals Genoa was seen as one of the most fierce in the country. However, the 40s saw Liguria begin to lose steam, and the war soon enough reached Italy, causing all football to be stopped.

The Littoral Stadium of Genova

​

Serie A and sporadic success (1946-1979)

Following the war, the name Liguria was abolished, and the club took its new name as Sampdoria, which it would hold for the rest of its history. The Stadio Littorio was destroyed due to the war, and for the next several years, Samp would play in Genoa’s Stadio Luigi Ferraris, while the Littoral stadium was being reconstructed. In 1950, the ground would gain its current name after goalkeeper Valerio Bacigalupo, and it would go on to host the club for the remainder of its history.

Sampdoria was among the founding teams of the new post-war National Championship of Italy, with the club's first coach being Giuseppe Galluzzi. The inaugural season of the post-war Serie A saw Samp finish 10th. For the first twenty years, Il Doria was a constant presence in Serie A, but with mixed success. The club's best finish in the league at that time was a 4th place in the 1960/61 season, but relegation in 1966 led to the club falling to Serie B for the second time in its history, but that brief spell in B only for a year. In 1962-63, Sampdoria would embark on its first ever European campaign after being invited for the Inter-cities Fairs Cup, where Samp reached the round of 16, before being dominated by Ferencvaros.

Sergio Brighenti - The 1960-61 top scorer

​

The Golden Years (1982-1992)

A whole decade would pass, in which Sampdoria remained a relatively mediocre club, fluctuating between the lower parts of the Serie A table and fighting for promotion in Serie B. Then, in 1979, an Oil Businessman Paolo Mantovani was elected president of the club, and he would kick-start a series of transfers that would build Sampdoria into a footballing powerhouse within Italy. After 5 years in B, Samp finally managed to finish 2nd in the 1981-82 with the emergence of a generation that included Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini, and led by Renzo Ulivieri.

By 1984, Samp entered its first ever Coppa Italia final, where they met against AC Milan for a two-legged final. Despite Milan winning the first leg, Sampdoria answered in the 2nd leg with goals by young Robert Mancini and Gianluca Vialli, whom helped I Blucerchiati lift their first national trophy. With the Cup success, Sampdoria qualified for the European Cup Winners’ Cup, where the Ligurians suffered a defeat against Benfica. In 1986, Serbian coach Vujadin Boškov entered Genoa, and he would go on to become the club's greatest manager. During the late 80s, Sampdoria would further strengthen itself with players like Pietro Verkhovod, Attilio Lombardo, Enrico Chiesa, Toninho Cerezo and national goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca.

Vujadin Boškov - Sampdoria's mastermind paired with Pagliuca, Vialli and Mancini

​

Nonetheless, Doria continued its healthy form throughout the late 80s, achieving top 5 finishes in the Serie A which would see I Blucerchiati qualify for the UEFA Cup. Another Cup final occurred in the 1987/88 season, but was lost against a resurgent Torino. But, thanks to a 4th place in the league, Samp qualified for the UEFA Cup. In an inspired run, Sampdoria vanquished Greek side PAOK, Swiss Aarau, Bordeaux and then narrowly winning the penalty shootout against Athletic Bilbao to win the quarter-finals. Then, in the semis, Sampdoria ran into Bayern Munich. In what would go down in history as Sampdoria’s most memorable moment, Sampdoria won 2-0 in Genoa, and then pulled out a dramatic 2-2 draw in Munich to knock Bayern out of the Cup. In the subsequent final, Sampdoria encountered another German side in Stuttgart, which Doria managed to win 4-3 on aggregate thanks to the magic of Mancini, and a last minute brace by Vialli. With that, Sampdoria won its first European trophy.

This great success was paired up the very same year with Doria winning its second cup, thus scoring a unique double, and then going on to win the Cup Winners Cup in the following season after beating Anderlecht in the final. Only one year later, Sampdoria would win its first Scudetto, after being crowned as National Champions with a 5 point advantage over Internazionale. The following season, Sampdoria played an inspired campaign in the European Cup, achieving wins against Panathinaikos, champions Red Star Belgrade and Anderlecht, to then meet with Sparta Prague in the final of the European Cup. In a tense match, Sampdoria in the end gained the upper hand with an extra time goal by Vialli, and that goal in the end came out as worthy enough of the European Crown. Over the course of four years, Sampdoria had won every single European Competition.

Sampdoria's golden team of the late 80s

​

Decline and Resurgence (1992-present)

On 14 October 1993, Paolo Mantovani died suddenly and was replaced by his son Enrico. During his first season (1993–94), Sampdoria won one more Serie A title and now played in the European Champions’ League, where the original tournament format was replaced by a group stage Format. There, Sampdoria managed to reach the Quarter-finals after finishing 2nd in its respective group containing Ajax, Casino Salzburg and AEK Athens, but in the end lost to eventual semi-finalists Benfica.

Despite the death of Antovani, the entrance of Even-Goran Eriksson brought plenty of stability to Samp for the next 5 years, with players like Juan Sebastián Verón and Ariel Ortega, Vincenzo Montella, and Christian Karembeu. However, the selling and retirements of players like Chiesa, Vialli, Mancini and Montella led to Sampdoria almost suffering relegation in the 1998/99 Season, but disaster was averted by only one point. The next four years would see some of the most dire seasons in Sampdoria’s history, as I Blucerchiati fought for relegation almost every year, and the club's highest finish would only occur in 2004, when they finished 8th. Francesco Flachi and Fabio Bazzani were the two most crucial players during this period. 2007/08 saw Sampdoria recover further with a 6th place thanks To Walter Mazzari, and the signings of Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini Helped Doria qualify for the UEFA Cup, thus getting to play in Europe for the first time in over a decade. The subsequent campaign did see Sampdoria reach the round of 16, where they were soundly beaten by Metalist Kharkiv.

Antonio Cassano

​

2008/09 also saw Sampdoria win its first piece of silverware since the mid 90s, when I Blucerchiati won the Coppa Italia against Edoardo Reja’s Lazio. By the 2010s, a solid foundation was placed within the team, with Fabio Quagliarella and Eder becoming one of the club's greatest goalscorers during this period. A solid 4th place in the 2014/15 season saw Sampdoria qualify once again for the Euroleague. The rest of the decade saw the club once again degrade into a mid-table side, but the signing of Francesco Caputo and his uncanny ability to score goals once again revived Sampdoria into a solid team within Serie A, under the leadership of Claudio Renieri.

Samp's GOAT of the 2010s

​

Well, fuck, there goes my Sampdoria article, cause that is literally what i wrote down (apart from a few details) lol

 

[ArupinumMaivista]

Well, fuck, there goes my Sampdoria article, cause that is literally what i wrote down (apart from a few details) lol

Hahaha well you can't win 'em all

 

[ArupinumMaivista]

​

Full name: Lwowski Klub Sportowy Pogoń Lwów
Location: Lwow, Poland
Founded: 1904
Ground: Arena Lwowianka
Capacity: 21,163
League: Polish Ekstraklasa

Honours

Domestic (20):
Ekstraklasa (11): 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1954, 1962, 1966/67, 1967/68, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1986/87

Polish Cup (8): 1954-55, 1961-62, 1963-64, 1968-69, 1980-81, 1992-93, 1998-99, 2009-10

Polish League Cup (1): 1977

International (2)

European Cup: Quarter-finals (1967-68, 1970/71)
Cup Winners’ Cup: 1969/70
UEFA Cup/Euroleague: Quarter-finals (1984-85)
Intertoto Cup: 1963-64

History

Founding to 1914

Pogon’s foundation dates back to spring of 1904, when it was named the Gymnastics and sport club of Lemberg by a bunch of high-school students, with the club earning the name “Pogon” in 1907, when two gymnastics clubs merged. As one wore blue-red jerseys, while the other wore white-red, thus players of the new team wore white – red jerseys and blue shorts. The change accelerated the club's growth, as soon afterwards it found a rich sponsor, Ludwik Kuchar, who was the owner of several cinemas located in Lwów and Kraków. Pogon quickly began to rise as a local power in the Austro-Hungarian regions of Poland while playing in the Galician championship, which was a regional competition within the Monarchy for Polish clubs. In 1912, Pogon achieved its first great victory, when it won 8-3 and 4-1 against Debrecen.

Pogon's squad in 1910

​

The Great War and Polish-Soviet war

However, the Great War soon brought an end to the first epoch of Pogon, as the Russian forces occupied the city of Lwow. By then, the club was split into the “Civilians” and “Army” sections, which toured around Austria-Hungary during the war. In 1918 though, fighting finally seized, and the treaty of Versailles brought the Second Polish Republic, with Pogon being one of the founders of the Polish FA. However, football still wouldn’t see the light of day, as the Polish-Soviet war started, meaning that many of the players either fled out of Lwow, or joined the Polish Army to fight for Poland.

Golden years - the 1920s

1922 saw the beginning of Pogon’s golden period, as it won its first Polish Championhip. The club played an offensive and modern football that was similar to the rest of the Central- European clubs during that era. Wins against Ruch Chorzow (12-0, 6-0), WKS Lublin (11-0, 4-0) and Warta Poznan (4-3) contributed to the Leopolitans winning the national title. The next year saw similar success, with Pogon playing several friendlies with other sides, most notably winning 4-2 against HAŠK Zagreb and SK Yugoslavia. 1927 saw the establishment of the Polish Football League, after the first seasons only had tournaments containing regional champions. However, Pogon’s first years in the league were relatively weak, even if the Leopolitans consistently finished in the top 5.

Lwow's golden generation of the 1920s

​

1930s and Soviet invasion

Despite the club not being as dominant as before, Pogon began to build a young and formidable squad with players like Michal Matyas, Karol Kossok, Adam Wolanin, Jan Masiewicz and Edmund Majowski, and in 1934 - the Leopolitans pulled off a 5-3 win against AC Milan in a friendly. However, 1937 saw a disaster as Pogon came close to being relegated, but they avoided disaster and finished 6th. On September 17th 1939, the Red Army of the Soviet Union suddenly and deliberately crossed the border to invade Poland, thus once again putting football on hold as Poland began to fight its most important battle for survival. As the invaders reached Lwow, the city was annexed by the Soviet Union, where many of the club’s players were killed in the ensuing Katyn massacre, while others suffered during the purges carried out by the invaders, or during the Lwow uprisings. Whoever remained alive escaped, like Adam Wolanin, while others remained to fight. By January 1940, the war had finally ended, and from the ruins was established the Polish People's Republic. While Lwow was now devastated, its club was practically forced to start from scratch.

Tadeusz Kowalski, along with many of Pogon's players perished during the war, both by the hands of the Soviets

​

The post-war struggle (1940-1954)

Early seasons under the new Polish Championship saw the Leopolitans struggle, as Pogon lost 11-2 to Warta Poznan in the 1946 season, followed by a lowkey 3rd place in the regional championship the next year, and only narrowly escaping relegation in 1948. However, 1949 saw the inevitable happen, and Pogon finished 11th in the newly-formed Ekstraklasa, thus falling to the 2nd league, in which Pogon would stay for a single year. 1951 saw Pogon return to the Ekstraklasa, and the club began to slowly build up with a young but talented squad consisting of Olympics player Jan Wisniewski, national player Henryk Kempny, Waclaw Sasiadek and Kazimierz Trampisz. In 1954, led by eventual national coach Ryszard Koncewicz, Pogon finally won the league with 9 wins and 6 draws, paired with 36 goals in what was a five-horse fight for the championship. This surprise triumph was then followed by another period of struggle, as Pogon constantly jumped from the top to bottom of the table from year to year, With Engelbert Jarek remaining as the club's greatest goalscorer during this period, having scored 94 goals.

Engelbert Jarek - one of Pogon's greatest players

Slow rise and the Golden Generation (1954-1971)

In 1958 and '59, Pogon came close to Winning the title, but each time, they narrowly finished behind champions LKS Lodz and Gornik Zabrze. Slowly and surely, Pogon was beginning to enroll players like Jan Liberda, Norbert Gajda, combined with the experience of Engelbert Jarek and national goalkeeper Edward Szymkowiak. Led by former player Michal Matyas, Pogon Lwow entered its second golden generation in 1962, when they won the double and subsequently won the Intertoto Cup in 1964. From then on, Pogon became a nearly constant participant in the European Cup, reaching the Quarter-finals in 1968 where they lost to eventual champions Manchester United only by goal difference, in what was a titanic battle with the British team. Further successes came in the 1969/70 Cup Winners' Cup, where after knocking out Greek Cup runners-up Ethnikos, they dominated Rangers. In the semi-finals, Pogon met with AS Roma. In the two matches, the aggregate score ended in 3-3, with both matches ending in draws. Since penalties still weren't implemented back then, a rematch was then held in Strasbourg where remarkably, Pogon won 1-0 thanks to local Ukrainian Ihor Kulchytskyi. With that, Pogon qualified for the final of the Cup Winners' Cup, where the club played against English side Manchester City. Following a dull 1-1 draw during full time, Pogon now had to play against the Sky Blues in extra time, and it just so happened that Zbigniew Gut scored a phenomenal free kick to send the Leopolitans into ecstacy, as Pogon became the first and thus far, only Polish club to win a European competition. Along with winning the Cup Winners Cup, Pogon also achieved a memorable double by lifting the Polish Ekstraklasa title of 1969/70. Players like Marian Kielec, Jan Banas, Roman Jakobczak, Ihor Kulchytskyi, Josef Fales, Zbigniew Gut and Josef Klose formed this squad, and the club became the country's first Honored club after winning its 10th title in the 1970/71 season. Pogon’s stature as a powerhouse in Poland further rose when in 1963 - the Arena Lwowianka was finally constructed, with a capacity of 41 thousand, and soon enough the fans established their firm during the 60s called the “Desperados”, becoming Poland’s first organised fan group.

Pogon's second golden generation of the 60s

The shaky 70s and memorable 80s

By 1972, Pogon’s golden generation dispersed, with many of the players heading for likes of AZ Alkmaar, Saint Etienne or RC Paris. Nonetheless, Pogon, led by eventual national manager Antoni Piechniczek, managed to remain a relatively consistent side in the Ekstraklasa, with players like Wojciech Tyc, Roman Wojcicki and Jozef Młynarczyk. The Leopolitans won the Polish League Cup in 1978, and they only narrowly lost out to German side Magdeburg in the first round of the UEFA Cup by one goal. The 1978-79 season saw Pogon play phenomenal football, but a championship collapse only meant that Lwow finished 3rd. Following the failure to win the league, Piechniczek resigned, and the club began to slowly deteriorate as it entered the 80s. A cup win in 1981 saw Pogon once again play in Europe, where it reached the quarter-finals, and the 80s saw players like Mariusz Kuras, Marek Ostrowski and Marek Leśniak, who were led by Leszek “Napoleon”Jezierski. In the 1984-85 season of the UEFA Cup, Pogon knocked out Cologne in the first round and managed to reach the dizzying heights of the Quarter-finals, where they were dominated by a Slaviša Žungul-inspired Internazionale, who subsequently won the competition. The zenith of Pogon’s 80s came in 1987, when the Leopolitans won the Polish Ekstraklasa after an agonizing 16 year wait. A round of 16 appearance in the European Cup saw Pogon lose out to Scottish side Dundee United.

Scenes from Pogon's match with Cologne

​

Decline and final appearance in Europe (1989-2011)

The following season (1988-89) saw Pogon for the first time in its history finish in the relegation zone, having only scored 19 points. With that, the unthinkable happened, and Pogon were relegated for the first time in 40 years. However, the club managed to recover to the 1st league by 1992, where the Leopolitans won the Polish Cup once more, this time against GKS Katowice. The 90s would see Bogdan Strontsitskyi, Robert Dymkowski, Piotr Mandrysz and Andrzej Puchladok playing for the squad, where the team’s best finish was a 2nd place in the 1994-95 season. Despite not achieving a title during the 90s, that era is looked back rather fondly by Pogon supporters, as the club consistently played attractive football. With another cup win in 1999, Pogon entered the new millennium as a rather consistent side that looked well ambitious. By 1998, Josef Klose's son, Mislav, would begin to play for the Carpthian club, becoming a club icon in the process before his move to Kaiserslautern in 2001

Mislav Klose

However, Pogon soon enough began to run into financial difficulties, with the club falling further and further down the order until almost risking relegation once again in 2005. From then on, the pride of Carpathia had settled into a mid-table side, where simply finishing in the top 5 was seen as an achievement. Still, a light did emerge in the 2009-10 season. Led by Oleg Kononov, the blue-and-reds managed to reach the final, where they played against Jagiellonia Białystok. In the end, thanks to Andrzej Tlumak, Pogon retained a minimal victory of 1-0, and thus became Polish Cup champions for the first time in 12 years. The subsequent performance in the Euroleague saw some of the most memorable victories, featuring a phenomenal win against Borussia Dortmund (4-3) in the group stage, along with a win against RC Paris (2-1), which saw Pogon only narrowly miss out on the second spot, which would have sent the Leopolitans to the Round of 32. However, domestically, the club once again began to struggle, with the 2011-12 season seeing one of the worst performances in the club’s history. Only one point separated Pogon from relegation, and on top of the already terrible financial situation within the club, that relegation could have utterly ruined the club.

Present day

Following the 2011-12 season, Pogon has throughout the 2010s managed to recover both financially and in terms of results. The Leopolitans have managed to finish in the top 3 three times since 2014, with Luka Zahovič coming over to help the club with its scoring issues. Although they haven't played in Europe just yet, Pogon does look to be on the steady rise, and will likely challenge for the league title in the near future.

The Arena Lwowianka

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Name: Ballspielveiren Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund
City: Dortmund, Westphalia, Germany
Foundation: 19 december 1909
Home ground: WestFalenStadion
Capacity: 81,135
League: Bundesliga


HONORS

DOMESTIC

German Championships/Bundesliga: 1949, 1956, 1957, 1962-1963, 1995-1996, 2002-2003, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2018-2019, 2021-2022

DFB Pokal: 1965, 1988-1989, 2011-2012, 2015-2016, 2020-2021


EUROPEAN

Champions League: 1996-1997, 2012-2013, 2019-2020


UEFA Cup: best finish runner-up 2015-2016

Cup Winners Cup: 2021-2022

Intertoto Cup: 2009-2010


Borussia Dortmund was founded on 19 December 1909 by a group of young men unhappy with the Catholic church-sponsored Trinity Youth, where they played football under the stern and unsympathetic eye of the local parish priest. The priest, Father Dewald, was blocked at the door when he tried to break up the organising meeting being held in a room of the local pub, Zum Wildschütz. The founders were Franz and Paul Braun, Henry Cleve, Hans Debest, Paul Dziendzielle, Franz, Julius and Wilhelm Jacobi, Hans Kahn, Gustav Müller, Franz Risse, Fritz Schulte, Hans Siebold, August Tönnesmann, Heinrich and Robert Unger, Fritz Weber and Franz Wendt.

The team began playing in blue and white striped shirts with a red sash, and black shorts. In 1913, they donned the black and yellow stripes so familiar today.

​

The first dortmund teams, with the original kit colors.



Success was hard to come by for the yellow club, though, as Dortmund struggled to make an impact in the local leagues, almost going bankrupt during the crash of 1929 after attempting to form a team full of professional players if not for fans and locals paying their debts out of their own pockets.

The 30s and 40s would see Borussia Dortmund's fortunes improve, however, as they climbed up the Oberliga West ladder to join the top flight, starting their fierce rivalry with their crosstown enemies, the dominant FC Schalke 04.

the meisterschale celebrations of 1956​

This rise culminated in the first league title wonin 1949, defeating Mannheim in the national final. The 60s and 60s would be a glorious period for the club, for they would win back-to-back national titles in 1956 and 1957, win.the first ever Bundesliga in 1962-1963 and win their first ever DFB Pokal in 1965, along with reaching the final of the 1966 Cup Winners Cup, where they would fall to Chelsea.

The rocket crash landed hard once the 70s arrived, though, as Dortmund found themselves in a precarious financial situation throughout the 70s and 80s, in part due to the costly opening of their current home, Westfallenstadion, in 1974, as well as the rise of Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach in the 70s and Hamburg and Werder Bremen in the 80s. Success wouldn't come until a surprise Pokal win against Werder Bremen in the final thanks to the young magician Andreas Moller, who would sadly return to his former club Eintracht Frankfurt in 1990 due to the club's financial difficulties.

​

1991 would mark the appointment of swiss Ottmar Hitzfeld as manager and a swift turnaround for the black and yellow, as they would finish as runner-up in 1991-1992 to Jurgen Klinsmann and Matthias Sammer's Stuttgart, and they would reach the semi-finals of the 1992-1993 UEFA Cup, where they would lose to Baggio and Batistuta's Fiorentina. However, the influx of cash from the UEFA Cup run and the new TV deal reached by the Bundesliga with RTL allowed Dortmund to bring in many talented players, such as Lazio's Karl-Heinz Riedle, Benfica's Paulo Souza as well as Juventus's center back duo of Julio Cesar and Jurgen Kohler to join Matthias Sammer, Stefan Klos, Stefan Reuter, Michael Zorc and the returned Andreas Moller.

​

the two superstars of Dortmund and Germany's 90s golden age: Andreas Moller and Matthais Sammer


1994-1995 would see Dortmund take part in the wild 5-horse race for the bundesliga title, where they would barely lose it to the surprising SC Freiburg, before signing Freiburg's left wingback Jorg Heinrich and reigning back-to-back Scottish Champions Motherwell's Midfielder Paul Lambert.

Dortmund would absolutely dominate the 1995-1996 Bundesliga and achieve their greatest triumph yet in the 1996-1997 Champions League, the last before the expansion in 1997. Finishing 2nd in their group behind spanish champions Atletico Madrid, Dortmund would easily defeat french champiosn Auxerre in the quarter-finals and Fenerbahce in the semi-finals before facing Baggio, Batistuta and Rui Costa's Fiorentina in the final in Munich, revenge time for 1993.

And Hitzfeld's men would utterly dominate the BBC's star-studded squad, with Riedle scoring a brace, and while Baggio would bring one back to la Viola, late sub Lars Ricken would make himself famous with an audacious lob over Francesco Toldo to make it 3-1 as Dortmund wins its first ever European cup! Matthias Sammer, for his herculean efforts at both Dortmund and Germany's runner-up finish at Euro 96, was awarded the Ballon D'or in 1996 and Hitzfeld coach of the year in 1997.

Sadly, the second golden age of Dortmund would come to its end the following season. Hitzfeld would join Bayern Munich, while Sammer would suddenly retire, and the likes of Paulo Souza, Lambert, Klos, Riedle and Moller would all leave one by one, with Moller's departure to Schalke proving hoghly controversial, especially after winning the domestic double with Gelsenkirchen in 2000-2001. Managers succeeded one another, with a short stint by legendary Udo Lattek proving to be a farce and a half at the turn of the millenium.


Having fallen down hard, a humbled Dortmund, who just became public on the stock market, desperately hired Matthias Sammer, just 33 years old, as manager. What they didn't expect, however, was that Sammer, thanks to his squad containing veteran teammates from the 1997 champions league triumph as well as his old national teammate Jens Lehmann, sucessfully implemented his new tactics to the squad, which contained many new faces such as young prospects Sebastian Kehl and Christoph Metzelder, defender Christian Worns, young brazilians Dede and Ewerthon, Udinese striker Marcio Amoroso and two standouts of the Czech national team in striker Jan Koller and young maestro Tomas Rosicky.

Sammer and his ragtag bunch of veterans and youngsters would storm to a close runner-up finish in 2001-2002 in the bundesliga behind Michael Ballack's Bayer Leverkusen and a shick exit to Vahid Halilhodzic's Lille in the UEFA Cup. With Torsten Frings coming in from Werder Bremen for a german record fee, Dortmund would double their efforts in 2002, and they would end up comfortably winning their first Bundesliga title in 7 years.

​

Borussia Dortmund 2002-2003 squad

Lehmann

Reuter Metzelder Worns Heinrich

Frings Kehl

Ewerthon Rosicky Dede

Koller/Amoroso

Unfortunately, Dortmund ended up overspending a lot to get that Bundesliga title, and the dotcom bubble bursting hit the club's finances hard. the veterans Lehmann, Heinrich, Kohler and Reuter would all either leave or retire, while the younger talent on the team all left one by one, with Matthais Sammer leaving the club in 2005, Ewerthon and Amoroso going to Spain, Frings going back to Werder Bremen and become a key part of Bremen's 2000s dynasty, Koller leaving for France and Tomas Rosicky going to Arsenal in 2006.

Failed expenditures such as Ebi Smolarek, Alexander Frei, Nelson Valdez and Mladen Petric, brought Dortmund's finances even further into the gutter, and the club would restructure completely, with Hanz-Joachim Watzke, a sewer of safety clothing, becoming club president, club legend Michael Zorc becoming sporting director and his first order of business was hiring a new manager from the second division: one Jurgen Klopp from Mainz.

Knowing he needed to build a strong side out of almost no money, Klopp brought in Neven Subotic from his former club and Bayern reject Mats Hummels, along with Paraguayan striker Lucas Barrios and Polish winger Jakub Blaczczykowski, with club veterans like goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller, Christoph Metzelder and Sebastian Kehl as well as youth products Marcel Schmelzer, Nuri Sahin and Marco Reus completing his team.


Already, resutls drastically improved, from constant mid-table finishes to an excellent 6th place, just barely outside the final UEFA Cup spot, but qualifying for the Intertoto Cup in 2009-2010. Already, Klopp's attractive counter-pressing, which he dubs Heavy Metal Football, won the hearts of the yellow wall and football fans across europe, and Dortmund were singled out as a team to watch in the 2010s.

Bolstered by the arrivals of Sven Bender as long term replacement for Kehl and youth product Mario Gotze, Dortmund would finish in 5th place and win the Intertoto Cup by defeating the likes of Concordia Zagreb, Charleroi, Sevilla and Palermo in the final to win their first european title in 14 years and compete in the champions league for the first time since 1996.

​

2010-2011 would finally see the brealthrough of Klopp's Dortmund. Boosted by the arrivals of Shinji Kagawa, Lukas Piczczek, Ilkay Gundogan and Robert Lewandowski, Dortmund would explode and defeat Jupp.Heynckes's Bayern Munich two years in a row, winning the league in 2011 and almost achieving the treble in 2011-2012, winning the league and the Pokal, but faltering against the legendary Barcelona in the champions League final in 2012.

Jurgen Klopp​

While Heynckes and Bayern Munich fought back in 2012-2013 by adopting Dortmund's tactics and becoming unstoppable themselves, Dortmund would have a run to remember in the champions League in 2012-2013. Being stuck in the group pf death with Mourinho's Real Madrid, Frank de Boer's Ajax and the english champions Manchester City, Dortmund managed to monetheless top the group thanks to Lewandowski, Reus and Gotze's efforts. They would then defeat Shaktar Donestk 5-2 on aggregate, Bielsa's Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals and, in a magistral performance, they would utterly thrash Real Madrid 4-1 at the home leg before lewandowski added a safety goal to win the tie 5-2 to reach the final, where Bayern Munich put up a big fight, but Dortmund and Klopp would triumph and win the club's second european cup.

Klopp's Dortmund at the peak of their powers​

Alas, 2013-2014 would not be the year of the treble, for Bayern Munich thrashed them in both the league and the cup, and in a rematch of last year's final, the game was deadlocked 1-1 until late in the game, where Arjen Robben delivered the game-winning goal on the rebound to give Bayern and Heynckes his much coveted european cup.


Another whammy was hit in the 2014 off-season, where Ribert Lewandowski, to the shock of everyone, joins dreaded rivals Schalke 04, managed by Pep Guardiola, as a free agent. Riots in Dortmund soon followed, and the failure of replacing lewandowski, first with Adrian Ramos, then Edin Dzeko and finally Mario Gotze and Marco Reus in false 9 roles, would haunt Dortmund for the next few years.

And finally, in 2015, Jurgen Klopp did not renew his contract with the club, joining the ambitious rebuilding plan of Liverpool in England, with a other young manager from Mainz, Thomas Tuchel, replacing him.

Tuchel 's first year in charge, 2015-2016, would see Dortmund win the pokal, defeating Bayern on penalties. Keeping ghe core of Reus, Gotze, Gundogan, Hummels and Schmelzer together, Tuchel brought in the likes of Roman Burki, Felix Passlack, Erik Durm, Manuel Akanji and young american Christian Pulisic to the club. However, the inability to find a striker to replace Lewandowski would haunt Dortmund, as Schalke, led by Lewa, Pep Guardiola and the royal blues's golden generation, would become the dominant force in the Bundesliga, and the Rhein derby became the best and most intense derby in european football as both clubs fought each other for the title year after year. The 2018-2019 season would see Dortmund finally defeat Schalke on the last matchday of the season, with Christian Pulisic scoring the title-winning goal.

The following season would see Dortmund relinquish the league to Borussia Monchengladbach and lose the Pokal to Bayer Leverkusen. However, a signing in January proved to be the difference maker in the champions league, as young Norwegian Erling Haaland, playing for Austria Salzburg, would explode on the continental scene, pummeling RC Paris singelhandedly, then scoring the winning goal against italian champions Sassuolo, then defeating Eintracht Frankfurt in the semis before facing Erik Ten Haag's Ajax, last year's surprise champions, in the final, where Haaland and Reus gave Dortmund its third ever champions league crown.

Erling Haaland, the long-awaited successor to Lewandowski​

Dortmund would end up losing to Schalke in both the 2020-2021 bundesliga title race and the champions league semi-final, with Schalke losing to former Dortmund manager Klopp and Liverpool in the final. However, Dortmund, again carried by Haaland, would win the DFB Pokal in 2021, defeating Stuttgart in the final, and they would win the 2021-2022 Bundesliga on the back of Haaland scoring his 50th goal for the club in his 50th game and also conquer the 2022 Cup Winners Cup, defeating Brendan Rodgers's Leicester City in the final.


While they would lose the crazy 2022-2023 Bundesliga Title race to the underdog champions Union Berlin and the champions League final to AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund has firmly established themselves as one of the top clubs in Europe, with Haaland, Gundogan, Akanji and Pulisic being joined by talented youngsters such as Giovanni Reyna, Nico Schlotterbeck, Gregor Kobel and Karim Adeyemi. Dortmund looks poised to challenge for both domestic and european honors in the coming decades.

​

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Name: Olympique Gymnaste Club de Nice Côte D'Azur
Birth: 1904 (the club), 1908 (the football team)
Nicknames: Le Gym (The Gym), Les Aiglons (The Baby Eagles)
Stadium: Allianz Rivera
Capacity: 35,524
League: Ligue 1

HONORS

DOMESTIC

Ligue 1: 1950-1951, 1951-1952, 1958-1959, 1975-1976

Ligue 2: 1948, 1965, 1970, 1994

Coupe de France: 1951-1952, 1996-1997

Coupe De La Ligue: 2020-2021, 2021-2022

EUROPEAN

European cup/Champions League: best finish Semi-finals 1959-1960

UEFA Cup: best finish Round of 16 1973-1974

Cup Winners Cup: best finish semi finals 2022-2023 vs Nantes

Latin Cup: 1952

OGC Nice, fierce local rivals of Olympique de Marseille and the pride of the touristic beach town of the same name, was born in 1904 as the Gymnaste Club de Nice, a gymnastics club that was the brainchild of the marquis de Massemgy D'Auzac, president of the alpes-maritimes sports federation, as well as Hector Gal and Alphonse Martin, the latter becoming the club's first president.

However, almost immediately, disputes between the owners over the club's direction ensued, which led to thr club splitting into two: the GCN, which stays affiliated with the Alpes-Maritimes association, and Gal and Martin's new club, the Gymnaste Amateurs Club de Nice, in 1908, which affiliated with the USFSA, The biggest national organisation in France at the time, with its football section opening in that same year by a group of youngsters who joined the club following their exclusion from La Semeuse, the city's education association, for unruly conduct.


This affiliation with the USFSA allowed Nice to participate in the Côte D'Azur championship, the premier amateur championship in southern france alongside the Provence championship. After merging with the Gallia, a local rival, in 1919, Nice changed its name to OGC Nice in 1924, the year where the Olympics was held in Paris.

1927 would see the club play in the Division honneur Sud-est, part of the fourth tier of the french oyramid of the time, before goign to the division d'honneur, the third division of the time, in 1929, and they would reach the semi finals of the coupe de france two years in a row in 1931 and 1932.

In that latter year, Nice won promotion to the second division's southern conference and subsequently becoming professional, eanring promotion to the first division in 1934, but quickly getting relegated back to the second division in the following season. What would follow would be a decade-long stay in the second tier of french football, where they would make the semi-finals of the coupe again in 1945 and finally win promotion in 1948 on the back of spanish goalscorer Joaquin Valle Benitez.

​

The golden years of the club soon followed, under longtime coach Numa Andoire. Nice would form a formidable team renowned for its international approach, a rare sight for a club outside of the richer Italian and Spanish Leagues at the time. Led by argentine captain Pancho Gonzalez, French-Luxemburger Victor Nurenburg, brazilian Yeso Amalfi and the other Argentine Ruben Bravo along with the french core of Joseph Ujlaki, Jean Luciano, Antoine Bonifaci, Jacques Foix and goalscorer extraordinaire Just Fontaine, Nice would win back to back French division 1 titles and accomplish an unprecedented feat in european football in 1951-1952: winning their second consecutive Ligue 1 title, defeating Bordeaux to win their first ever Coupe de France title and, in perhaps the club's most famous victory ever, they defeated Laszlo Kubala and Barcelona 1-0 in the final of the Latin Cup, the ancestor to the European Cup, to become the first club to win a treble.

Nice in the 1951-1952 season, with Gonzalez shaking hands with Lazslo Kubala in the latin cup final.
​

The Stade Du Ray became one of the most boiling hotspots in all of french football during that oeriod, and the rivalry against Marseille took a whole new level as the two clubs, each with their international stars, Pacho Gonzalez, Nurenberg and Fontaine for Nice and Gunnar Andersen, Larbi Ben Barek and Roger Scotti for Marseille, waging war for the league title and the coupe de france, which culminated in the incredibly dramatic and heated 1954 Coupe de France final between the two clubs, where Nurenberg and Luis Carniglia scoring first for nice in the first ten minutss of the game, but Gunnar Andersen would tie it up with a second half brace before Ben Barek scored the cup winning goal in extra time to win it for Marseille. The rivalry heated up again in 1955-1956, where Nice and Marseille took part in a huge title race that Marseille won thanks to Andersen's golascoring peak.

Numa Andoire retooled his team following the expensive transfer of Just Fontaine to Stade de Reims to replace the Real Madrid-biund Raymond Kopa. With that money, Andoire kept the core of the team (Nurenburg, Gonzalez, Bonifaci, Ujlaki and Foix) together while replacing his old foreigners with new ones such as Senegalese Keita Oumar Barrou and Argentine Hector de Bourgoing, with Jean Luciano, who spent his entire career with the club, becoming Andoire's assistant coach.

Hector de Bourgoing​

With this slightly retooled squad, Nice would win their third league title in 1958-1959. This allowed the club to participate in the european cup for the first time ever, and they did not disappoint, heading to the quarter-finals, where they received the reigning european champions Stade de Reims and their former star Just Fontaine, who was the subject of the Nice fans's ire and insults during the home leg at Stade du Ray, where Nice pulled off the upset and won the home leg 3-2, and a goal by Nurenburg and a splendid defensive performance at Reims int he away leg sent Nice to the semi-finals, where they would lose to the formidable Barcelona of Helenio Herrera and Alfredo Di Stefano.

The 1960s would mark Nice being knocked down a peg, as the squad aged out results gradually went down until the club was relegated in 1964, prompting Numa Andoire to retire in shame. However, Jean Luciano was promoted to head coach and immediately brought them back to the first division on the first try, mainly thanks to new signing Roger Piantoni.

Nice would end up as runner-up to the young Saint-Étienne double winners in 1967-1968, kickstarting a 4-way rivalry between them, Marseille and Nantes that would mark French football in the 1970s, right after the club won back promotion in 1970.

Roger Loeuillet, the emblematic Nice president of the 1970s​

Under the president Roger Loeuillet, who kept Luciano as manager, Nice would follow suit in rivals Marseille's transfer policy and bring in many renowned footballers in its ranks, such as France captain Claude Quillet, Marc Molitor and Jean-Noël Huck of Strasbourg, Jean-Pierre Adams of Nimes Olympique, Double european champion Dick Van Dijk from Ajax, Swedish international Leif Eriksson, Ajaccio keeper Dominique Baratelli and Saint-Étienne's Francis Camerini alongside homegrown talents like Charly Houbet and Roger Jouve.

Nice became Saint-Étienne's main rivals in the league in the 70s, but the beach club couldn't regain its previous form in europe, for despite beating Fenerbahce in the secodn roudn of the 1973-1974 UEFA cup in front of a record 25,000+ crowd at Stade du Ray, they woukd be thrashed by FC Koln in the third round. In the league, meanwhile, Saint-Etienne's stronghold over france looked unsahkeable, until the 1975-1976 season sees Saint-Étienne, perhaps too focused on their successful european cuo campaign, Falter a bit in the late stages of the league, which Luciano's Nice finally capitalised on by going unbeaten in the final two momths of the seaosn to finally win their fourth league title.

Nice's 1975-1976 championship squad.​

The good times continued in the 1976-1977 european cup, where they easily dispatched Koge of Denmark and Banik Ostrava of Czechoslovakia in the first two rounds, they were stunned by the space age football of the great Dynamo Kiev of Oleg Blohkin, the eventual winners of the competition.

The glory days definitely ended in the 1978 coupe de france final, where Michel Platini of Nancy-Lorraine made himself famous with a turning shot that went past Baratelli to win it for Nancy and mark the beginningof the end of Loeuillet and Luciano's tenures at Nice. From then on followed three woeful seasons of drastic decline, despite the exploits of serbian striker Nenad Bjekovic, culminating in the inevitable relegation in 1982, the firdt year under new president Mario Innocenti. A three year stay in the second division followed, with Jorge Dominguez and his 41 goals in two seasons leading Nice back to the top flight, where they spent their first three years back fighting against relegation until former star Bjekovic coached the team to a surprise 6th place in 1988-1989.

Sadly, this would be the highest point of Nice in the 80s, as Innocenti sold the club in 1991 and coaches and owners came and went, With another relegation and another second division title in 1994 followed by a season very similar to Middlebsbrough's season in 1996-1997, where the club unexpectedly won the coupe de france against Guingamp on penalties, but finishing last in the Ligue 1.

the unexpected 1997 Coupe de France triumph.​

Instability continued in the second division, with FC Roma president Franco Sensi even taking over the club, but to no avail, selling the club to Maurice Cohen, who started the long term rebuild of the club. Coming in with a squad made up of loan players, many expected Nice to be dropped back to the second division from the get go. But, under the coaching of former Bordeaux star Gernot Rohr, Nice would finish in 10th place, followed by two more mid-table finoshes, the highlight of those forst three years of the rebuild being ending the invincile Monaco of Arsene Wneger's unbeaten streak wotha massive 4-3 comeback in 2004-2005 thamks to a hat trick by Victor Agali and the game winning goal by Marama Vahirua.

In 2005, Frédéric Antonetti becomes manager, and Nice would have the best season in yesrs, finishing a surprising 3rd place behind Marseille and Lyon, witha young team composed of Vahirua, Matt Moussilou, Ederson, Rod Fanni, Jacques Abardonado, Anthar Yahia, Florent Balmon, Cédric Varreault, Bakari Koné and Hugo Lloris. That same year, they lost the 2005-2006 Coupe de La Ligue to their old foes Nancy-Lorrain, this time composed of a ragtag bunch of misfits led by the striker duo of Mustapha Hadji and Mamadou Niang.

Hugo Lloris in his early days.

​

Over the next few years and into the 2010s, Nice would establish themselves as a comfortable mid-table side, with the likes of Loic Rémy and David Ospina, a colombian keeper signed to replace the lyon-bound Lloris, being the main stars of the club, with other youngsters like Timothée Kolodziezczak and Anthony Mounier also shining during that period. The youth teams woudl also win the Gambardella cup, the premier youth tournament in France, chief among them Neil Maupay, Jordan Amavi and Alexy Bossetti.

In 2012, Claude Puel became manager, and thanks to the signings of Valentin Eysseric and Dario Cvitanich, as well as Matthieu Bodmer and Nampalys Mendy, Nice finished in 4th, qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

Nice's current home, the Allianz Rivera​

The 2013-2014 season would be the first inside Nice's current home, the Allianz Rivera stadium. However, it is an unmitigated disaster, with the club finishing in 17th, one palce short of relegation, and they would lose in the playoff round of the UEFA Cup to Cyprus club Apollon Limassol. Two years later, with new youth products Vincent Koziello and Yoan Cardinale joining Bossetti, Maupay, Kolodziezczak and Amavi, and new signings Jean-Michael Seri and Hatem Ben Arfa, Nice and Puel would end in third place behind Lyon and Monaco, and in the ensuing off-season, boosted by the arrival of manager Lucien Favre and some new talents such as Wylan Cyprien, Dante and the gamble Mario Balotelli, Nice finished 3rd in the crazy 7-horse title race of the 2016-2017 Ligue 1 season, behind Monaco and Saint-Étienne.

The biggest surprises of those years were Mario Balotelli, the controversial Italy star who had ups and downs with both Inter and AC Milan, would finally find a place to call home in Nice, finally fulfilling his potential, with Alassane Pléa supporting him in attack and the midfield of Séri, Mendy, Koziello and Cyprien the engine of the team, while the veteran Ospina and the young Cardinale formed a really good goalie tandem and the likes of Malang Sarr and Youcef Atal would join the defense.

Mario Balotelli, finally fulfilling his potential in France with Nice.​

Favre and Nice would finally win the club's first silverware since the 1997 Coupe de France, winning back to back coupe de la ligue in 2021 and 2022 and reaching the semi-finals of the 2022-2023 Cup Winners Cup, losing to Patrick Viera's FC Nantes. With Favre as manager and a young and exciting team, Nice looks set to compete in the top 4 of Ligue 1 again in the coming years.

 

[kinnikuniverse]

A merry christmas and a happy new year to everyone here. At least, we have no bull in our universes, compared to footy IRL...

 

[mattep74]

Since i do not like wall of texts that the wikipedia articles are i just go for the right hand info that usually is on the wikipedia

Big POD is them getting a ton of money for qualifying or the 2008 CL
Small POD is them winning the European championship in 1986

IFK Göteborg
Swedish champions: 1908, 1910, 1918, 1935, 1942, 1958, 1969, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021 2022, 2023
Swedish cup: 1979, 1982, 1983, 1991, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2020, 2022, 2023
Supercup: 2008, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2023
UEFA cup: 1982, 1987
Europa champions cup: 1986
Champions league: 1995
1986: IFK Göteborg manages a upset when they get an away goal aginst Barcelona in the semifinal and then goes on to defeat Steua Bucarest in the final with 3-2 were Torbjörn Nilsson score a hattrick and the day after announces his retirement

1995: IFK score a late goal against Bayern in the second leg in the QF. They then get Ajax who they defeat after penalties. In the final they face AC Milan that they played in the first CL. Milan score the first goal, Mila score the second goal just before half time. In the second half the tide shifts. After 48 minutes Stefan Pettersson makes it 2-1, after 68 minutes young Jesper Blomqvist equalize. In the 91st minute Stefan Pettersson makes a breakaway and score 3-2 to IFK Göteborg.

2008: Refere dont give Basel a penalty for a suspected foul and IFK manage to win over Basel. They then defeat Vitória Guimarães with 3-2 on aggregate. IFK is then in the same group as Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Sjactar Donetsk. Although they are crushed by Barcelona they win both games against Donetsk and then tie Lisbon in one of the game. They end the group as third. They then play in the UEFA cup where they face Spurs in the 1/16-final. After 1-1 in the first leg in Göteborg Spurs win easy in London with 4-0. The money for the adventure is used on the youth academy and to improve the team

2008 and 2009 IFK play just as OTL until the last game against AIK in 2009. They have a stronger team and manage to win the final game and beome champions.

2010: IFK reaches the group stages of the champions league again after beating Jeunesse Esch, FC Rosenborg and FC Köpenhamn. They end up yet again in a group with Barcelona, Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos. IFK Göteborg surprises everyone by beeing second behind Barcelona in that group. They then play Chelsa who they park the bus against and the first game end 0-0, the second game is 0-0 until the 90th minute were IFK manage to get one of the few attacks during the two games and score the winning goal. Unfortunally IFK then faces Manchester United and are utterly crushed by 6-0 in the first game and just 4-0 in the second. Fergusson asked his player at half time in the scond game with 3-0 up that they do not embarass their opponents to much.

2011: IFK now with even more money is called real iFK Göteborg as they can pick anyone they want. They go the season undefeated in the Allsvenska, lose the Swedish cup final but misses the champions league.

2023: IFK Göteborg dominates the Allsvenska and combined with the fact that they have been able to reach Champions league group stage three years running and one of the time got to the semi final in the European league after beeing knocked out in the champions league they have almost as much money on hand as the rest of the Allsvenska and Superettan combined. Their academy is top class in Sweden and in the allsvenska there is at least one player in every squad from the academy.

 

[ArupinumMaivista]

Since i do not like wall of texts that the wikipedia articles are i just go for the right hand info that usually is on the wikipedia

Big POD is them getting a ton of money for qualifying or the 2008 CL
Small POD is them winning the European championship in 1986

IFK Göteborg
Swedish champions: 1908, 1910, 1918, 1935, 1942, 1958, 1969, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021 2022, 2023
Swedish cup: 1979, 1982, 1983, 1991, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2020, 2022, 2023
Supercup: 2008, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2023
UEFA cup: 1982, 1987
Europa champions cup: 1986
Champions league: 1995
1986: IFK Göteborg manages a upset when they get an away goal aginst Barcelona in the semifinal and then goes on to defeat Steua Bucarest in the final with 3-2 were Torbjörn Nilsson score a hattrick and the day after announces his retirement

1995: IFK score a late goal against Bayern in the second leg in the QF. They then get Ajax who they defeat after penalties. In the final they face AC Milan that they played in the first CL. Milan score the first goal, Mila score the second goal just before half time. In the second half the tide shifts. After 48 minutes Stefan Pettersson makes it 2-1, after 68 minutes young Jesper Blomqvist equalize. In the 91st minute Stefan Pettersson makes a breakaway and score 3-2 to IFK Göteborg.

2008: Refere dont give Basel a penalty for a suspected foul and IFK manage to win over Basel. They then defeat Vitória Guimarães with 3-2 on aggregate. IFK is then in the same group as Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Sjactar Donetsk. Although they are crushed by Barcelona they win both games against Donetsk and then tie Lisbon in one of the game. They end the group as third. They then play in the UEFA cup where they face Spurs in the 1/16-final. After 1-1 in the first leg in Göteborg Spurs win easy in London with 4-0. The money for the adventure is used on the youth academy and to improve the team

2008 and 2009 IFK play just as OTL until the last game against AIK in 2009. They have a stronger team and manage to win the final game and beome champions.

2010: IFK reaches the group stages of the champions league again after beating Jeunesse Esch, FC Rosenborg and FC Köpenhamn. They end up yet again in a group with Barcelona, Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos. IFK Göteborg surprises everyone by beeing second behind Barcelona in that group. They then play Chelsa who they park the bus against and the first game end 0-0, the second game is 0-0 until the 90th minute were IFK manage to get one of the few attacks during the two games and score the winning goal. Unfortunally IFK then faces Manchester United and are utterly crushed by 6-0 in the first game and just 4-0 in the second. Fergusson asked his player at half time in the scond game with 3-0 up that they do not embarass their opponents to much.

2011: IFK now with even more money is called real iFK Göteborg as they can pick anyone they want. They go the season undefeated in the Allsvenska, lose the Swedish cup final but misses the champions league.

2023: IFK Göteborg dominates the Allsvenska and combined with the fact that they have been able to reach Champions league group stage three years running and one of the time got to the semi final in the European league after beeing knocked out in the champions league they have almost as much money on hand as the rest of the Allsvenska and Superettan combined. Their academy is top class in Sweden and in the allsvenska there is at least one player in every squad from the academy.

Nice to see a Swedish club for once, especially one as respectable as Goteborg

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Since i do not like wall of texts that the wikipedia articles are i just go for the right hand info that usually is on the wikipedia

Big POD is them getting a ton of money for qualifying or the 2008 CL
Small POD is them winning the European championship in 1986

IFK Göteborg
Swedish champions: 1908, 1910, 1918, 1935, 1942, 1958, 1969, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021 2022, 2023
Swedish cup: 1979, 1982, 1983, 1991, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2020, 2022, 2023
Supercup: 2008, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2023
UEFA cup: 1982, 1987
Europa champions cup: 1986
Champions league: 1995
1986: IFK Göteborg manages a upset when they get an away goal aginst Barcelona in the semifinal and then goes on to defeat Steua Bucarest in the final with 3-2 were Torbjörn Nilsson score a hattrick and the day after announces his retirement

1995: IFK score a late goal against Bayern in the second leg in the QF. They then get Ajax who they defeat after penalties. In the final they face AC Milan that they played in the first CL. Milan score the first goal, Mila score the second goal just before half time. In the second half the tide shifts. After 48 minutes Stefan Pettersson makes it 2-1, after 68 minutes young Jesper Blomqvist equalize. In the 91st minute Stefan Pettersson makes a breakaway and score 3-2 to IFK Göteborg.

2008: Refere dont give Basel a penalty for a suspected foul and IFK manage to win over Basel. They then defeat Vitória Guimarães with 3-2 on aggregate. IFK is then in the same group as Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Sjactar Donetsk. Although they are crushed by Barcelona they win both games against Donetsk and then tie Lisbon in one of the game. They end the group as third. They then play in the UEFA cup where they face Spurs in the 1/16-final. After 1-1 in the first leg in Göteborg Spurs win easy in London with 4-0. The money for the adventure is used on the youth academy and to improve the team

2008 and 2009 IFK play just as OTL until the last game against AIK in 2009. They have a stronger team and manage to win the final game and beome champions.

2010: IFK reaches the group stages of the champions league again after beating Jeunesse Esch, FC Rosenborg and FC Köpenhamn. They end up yet again in a group with Barcelona, Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos. IFK Göteborg surprises everyone by beeing second behind Barcelona in that group. They then play Chelsa who they park the bus against and the first game end 0-0, the second game is 0-0 until the 90th minute were IFK manage to get one of the few attacks during the two games and score the winning goal. Unfortunally IFK then faces Manchester United and are utterly crushed by 6-0 in the first game and just 4-0 in the second. Fergusson asked his player at half time in the scond game with 3-0 up that they do not embarass their opponents to much.

2011: IFK now with even more money is called real iFK Göteborg as they can pick anyone they want. They go the season undefeated in the Allsvenska, lose the Swedish cup final but misses the champions league.

2023: IFK Göteborg dominates the Allsvenska and combined with the fact that they have been able to reach Champions league group stage three years running and one of the time got to the semi final in the European league after beeing knocked out in the champions league they have almost as much money on hand as the rest of the Allsvenska and Superettan combined. Their academy is top class in Sweden and in the allsvenska there is at least one player in every squad from the academy.

Nice article, man. Sorry if i don't really cover more obscure clubs more often, everyone. Then again, the likes of Saint-Étienne, Lille and Nice are more obscure in the grander scheme of things, but yeah.

I'm still wondering who i wanna do next. I got Udinese, PSV and Athletic Bilbao in mind, but i'm not sure if i want to...

 

[mattep74]

To continue the IFK Göteborg timeline, but from another angle

Swedens mens national football team
World cup apperances: 14
Best result: Winner(2018)

European Championship apperances 7(first in 1992)
Best result: Winner 2021

As the IFK Göteborg academy started producing good quality players with lots of players getting to play champion league football regulary in IFK Göteborg and then going to bigger clubs in Europe and making a differnce the nationa team was affected. After the retirement of Zlatan Ibrahimovich after the lackluster effort in the Euro 2016 the new head coach Janne Andersson brought new life into the national team. He brought in several players that had went through the academy, added Manchester uniteds Victor Nilsson Lindelöv and some old veterans for the qualifier to 2018 world cup. Mr Andersson stated that the main goal was the world cup in 2022.

Already in the qualifyers people noticed that Sweden were up to something. Sweden was in the same group as France, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Luxemborg and Bellorussia. Sweden was expected to come in third place, but the tactics used by Janne and the new players made for a big upset. Sweden outplayed both France and the Netherlands at home and tied France away. Sweden won the group one point ahead of the Netherlands. Sweden was then put in a group in the world cup against Mexico, South Korea and Germany. They were expected to compete with Mexico and maybe South Korea for the second spot behind Germany. But Sweden yet again created a upset when they went through the group undefeated.

In the round of 16 they blew away Switzerland with 4-0.

In the quarter final they faced England, an England that historically had trouble beating Sweden and it was to be the same old story. A mixture of exellent defence and razor sharp offensive led by the much critizized Marcus Berg that scored two goals on the only two chances Sweden had while the defence held England to one goal ment that Sweden was in the semi final for the first time since 1994. The world cup of 1994 had become legendary in Sweden, but 2018 was something else.

Croatia vs Sweden in the semi final is by many seen as the best world cup game in that tournament and many saw it as the best world cup game ever. Both teams were offensivly and while the score made it look like the defence was full of holes it was not the whole story as they also stoped quite a bit. Sweden won the game with 5-4 with Marcus Berg scoring the final goal in the 94th minute.

The final between France and Sweden in Moscow on July 15 and everyone expected to Swedens run to end since they had a few players injured like the veteran defender Andreas Grankvist, but in the end Swedens defence held firm and on July 15 2018 Sweden became the victors in the battle of Moscow with 3-1.


Euro 2020
Played in 2021 due to covid Sweden was not expected to win. They were in a group with Spain, Slovakia and Poland. They got 9 points and 9-0 in goal diffence. In the round of 16 they crushed Ukraine with 5-0, then defeated England on penalties only to meet the rivals of Denmark in the semi final. Denmark was crushed with 5-1 and Sweden now had to face Italy in the final. Italy had grown during the tournament, but the Swedish spirit ended that. The forgotten game as it is called since the mood changed at half time when the announcer told the crowd that Queen Elizabeth had passed away. The game was tied in the 91st minute when Sweden got a corner and Victor Nilsson Lindelöv scored.

Sweden was a favorite to reach the world cup in Qatar, but it was like the air had left the team as nothing worked. They missed the world cup of Qatar and later also the Euro 2024. But in 2021 something else happended. The Swedish U-23 team reached the olympics and in that tournament they got the players they wanted and won the tournament. It was history as it also was the first time the same national team had won both the mens and womens olympic tournament. The IFK Göteborgs women academy starting in 2014 had begun to affect also the woman national team.

 

[ArupinumMaivista]

This is a spin-off from NTF aka Seb's timeline where World War II doesn't happen, and it deals with the Croatian Football League. Seb, I hope you will enjoy this!

Hrvatska Nogometna Liga - Croatian Football League

​

The Croatian Football League was founded in 1982, during the secession of Croatia from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Despite the ongoing conflict that ensued, the first season of the league was launched on March of 1982 and carried on until July of the same year, with a system of 10 teams in the tournament. Due to the war situation, teams like NK Slavija Osijek, Cibalia Vinkovci, Šibenik, Jug Dubrovnik and Zrinjski Mostar were forced to play outside of their towns. During the 80s, Hajduk Split was the dominant side, carrying on from its golden generation in the 70s and stellar performances in the European Competitions, but the 90s saw the emergence of Građanski Zagreb after a rotten decade, with the Blues from Zagreb becoming the dominant team of the 2010s. Behind the teams from Zagreb and Split, Zrinjski Mostar became the third most successful club in the country, producing players like Luka Modrić and Dejan Lovren. Along with the "Big 3", Slavija Osijek has consistently remained as the fourth strongest side, with HAŠK Zagreb and Concordia Zagreb being the other two champion teams. With the 2020s underway, Hajduk Split and Zrinjski Mostar have emerged as the two strongest sides while Građanski Zagreb fell into an internal crisis of ownership, as the team is facing financial insolvency.

Derbies:
Eternal Derby (Hajduk Split vs Građanski Zagreb)
Slavonian Derby (Slavija Osijek v Cibalia Vinkovci)
Derby of Saint Domnius (Hajduk Split v RNK Split)
Littoral Derby (Hajduk Split v Zrinjski Mostar)
Derby of Zagreb (Građanski vs HAŠK vs Concordia)
Dalmatian Derby (Hajduk Split v Šibenik v NK Zadar v Jug Dubrovnik)

Champion Teams:
HNK Hajduk Split: 16
HŠK Građanski Zagreb: 15
HAŠK Zrinjski Mostar: 5
Varteks Varaždin: 2
RNK Split: 1
HAŠK Zagreb: 1
Concordia Zagreb: 1

*Yeah... Second image was apparently "Too big"

 

[kinnikuniverse]

Name: 1860 Munich
City: Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Nicknames: Die Lowen (the lions), Die Seczger (the sixties), Weiss und Blau (white and blue), Die Blauen (the blues)
Founded: 17th may, 1860
Homegrounds: Allianz Arena
Capacity: 75,000
League: Bundesliga

HONORS

German championship/Bundesliga: 1931, 1965-1966, 1966-1967, 1971-1972, 1982-1983, 2017-2018

DFB Pokal: 1942, 1963-1964, 1997-1998, 2003-2004, 2016-2017

European Cup/Champions League: 1972-1973

Cup winners cup: runner-up 1964-1965

UEFA Cup: best finish runner-up 2020-2021



The roots of the TSV's founding as a physical fitness and gymnastics association go back to a meeting held 15 July 1848 in a local pub, Buttlesche Brauerei zum Bayerischen Löwen. It was a time of revolutionary foment due to the 1848 Revolutions, and the club was banned in 1849 by the Bavarian monarchy for "republican activities". The club was formally reestablished on 17 May 1860 and after mergers with a number of other local associations in 1862 was known as Turnverein München. A football department was created on 6 March 1872 and played its first matches against other squads three years later.

the DFB Pokal final of 1942, where 1860 would defeat Schalke​

Early emergence (1900-1945)

In its first four decades of existence, 1860 established itself as one of the premier clubs in the Bavarian Gauliga, winning a German national championship in 1931, while consistently staying competitive through the 30s and 40s, where they won their first DFB Pokal in 1942. The top players of the club in that period were forward Ludwig Lachner and defender Max Schafer.

Period of struggles and build-up to promotion (1946-1963)

The 50s, however would see 1860 struggle in the top flight Oberliga sud, becoming a yo-yo club going from the Bayernliga to the Oberliga sud for three years. Durign that time, however, the club would put in the pieces of a young and dynamic squad, with players like Rudolf Brunnenheimer, Hans Reich, Hans Kuppers, Otto Luttrop, Wilfired Kohlars and Peter Grosser. Results would improve gradually, with the club playing an attractive kind of football. The missing oiece was acquired in 1962, when BSK Belgrade goalkeeper Petar Radenkovic was signed to a club record fee, and 1860 would win the Oberliga sud in 1962-1963, earning promotion to the first ever Bundesliga.

Age of Der Kaiser (1963-1974)

For their first season in the new top flight of German Football, 1860 finished in a respectable 7th place, but would win their second Pokal that saem year, qualifying for europe for the first time ever. They competed in the 1964-1965 Cup Winners Cup, the year where a young man by the name of Franz Beckenbauer made his debut for the club.

Already, Beckenbauer showed his talents and commanding presence, and the club would fight for the title and head to the cup winners cup final, where they would lose both the bundesliga to Werder Bremen and the CWC final to West Ham United. Those losses only made the squad stronger, and Beckenbauer would then switch up to Libero, a position where he would pose the basics as 1860 won back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 1966 and 1967, with the most notable achievement being eliminating Atletico Madrid to reach the quarter-finals of the 1967 European Cup, where they would fall prey to Helenio Herrera's Grande Inter 3-0.

1860's 1960s core would age out or leave, however, and the end of the decade would seee the rise of their fiercest rivals Bayern Munich with two consecutive bundesligas in 1969 and 1970, led by a brilliant generation of talent such as defender Hans-George Schwarzenbech, midfielder Franz Rost, goalkeeper Sepp Maier and Germany's deadly bomber Gerd Muller.

1860, however, would quickly take the fight to their derby rivals. First, they appointed Germany's assistant coach Udo Lattek as manager, a controversial choice, as Lattek had no managerial experience. Using his knowledge of the National youth teams, he rebuilt the squad by promoting young striker Klaus Fischer as the new starting center forward and signing Germany youth team stars Paul Breitner, Jupp Kappelman and Uli Hoeness to join the veterans Beckenbauer, Hans Reich, Peter Grosser, Otto Luutrop and bernd patzke, with Breitner acting as left back, initially, but then transfering to midfield when Willi Bierofka was promoted to the first team. Finally, the team was completed in 1971 by the signings of Uruguay's goalkeeper Ladislao Maziurkiewicz, Olympique de Marseille's Zoltan Varga in 1972 and the 1973 signing of Austrian left winger Kurt Jara to replace an aging Luttrop.

Udo Lattek​

The war for Munich heated up in 1971-1972, where the two clubs were neck-in-neck in the bundesliga title race, with the new young talent brought by Lattek proving the difference as 1860 won their 4th German championship in a deciding game on the penultimate day, where Beckenbauer covered Gerd Muller magnificently and Varga scored the winning goal from a great action by Breitner on the left flank. The following season, they would concede the title to Bayern, but they would make a massive exploit in the european cup quarter finals, where Beckenbauer shut down Johan Cruyff and Klaus Fischer scored the most important goal of his career when he scored the tieing goal that send the away fixture into extra time and later penalties, where 1860 triumphed, going on to defeat Riva and Boninsegna's Cagliari in the final to win Germany's first ever European cup title.

The peak of the rivalry was reached in the 1973-1974 season. Both clubs, now playing at the Munich Olympiastadion, were neck-in-neck in the bundesliga, with Bayern barely edging it out by 2 points, while both teams would meet in the legendary all-Munich european cup final in Brussels.


1860 Munich

Manager: Udo Lattek

Mazurkiewicz

Patzke beckenbauer Reich

Kappellman Breitner Varga Bierofka

Hoeness Fischer Jara


Bayern Munich

Manager: Branko Zebec

Maier

Hansen Schwarzenbeck Koppenhoffer Jensen

Zobel

Durnberger Rost

Torstenssen Muller Hoffmann


The match saw both teams with clear cut chances, but their goalies standing firm against the various assault, forcing extra time. Hoeness rued a missed chance from a pass by Varga, while Schwarzenbeck scores the winning header from a Torstenssen corner kick, ending the historic Munich derby final for die Bayern to complete their double.

Uli Hoeness and Paul Breitner​

A glimmer of hope (1974-1983)
Things would go from bad to worse for 1860 after that final. Paul Breitner, known for his outspoken left wing beliefs and disillusioned with Germany, left for Torino FC, becoming a key figure in that club's back-to-back Scudettos in 1976 and 1977, while coach Udo Lattek had a pay dispute with the board and left for Borussia Monchengladbach, and finally, in 1977, tired of the pressure and staining his relationship with the German FA, Franz Beckenbauer would leave for the ASL, leaving only Hoeness, Kappelman, Fischer, Jara and Bierofka as the only remaining members of the early 70s team.


Upon retiring in 1979, Uli Hoeness became general manager, and was tasked to keep up with Bayern, who had brought Breitner back to Germany to play with their phenom Karl-Heinz Rummenige and former coach Lattek, as well as the Ernst Happel, Kevin Keegan and Felix Magath-led Hamburg, who became a powerhouse in recent years and just signed Beckenbauer from the US to form a superteam.

Hoeness, with his first tricks as 1860 GM, proceeded with four major transfers in two years, financed by the sales of Fischer to Koln and Jara to Duisburg, that brought the lions back to prominence: first, in 1979, amidst interest from Bayern, he convinced his brother Dieter to join the club instead, along with acquiring Belgium's goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff. Finally, in 1980, Hoeness pulled off a major coup, bringing Greek wizard Vasilis Hatzipanagis by giving Iraklis a world record transfer fee at the time for the number 10's services, while also completing the much more under-the-radar signing of a young man who was lighting up the second division: Rudi Voller.

Rudi Voller in his 1860 days​

Finally, with former Bayern coach Branko Zebec onboard, 1860 went back to the top half of the table, with the trio of Hatzi-Voller-Hoeness becoming the most feared trio in the Bundesliga, leading 1860 to its 5th german championship on the back of Voller's 23 goals in 1982-1983.


Mid-Table purgatory and relegation(1983-1990)

Alas, the club's less than ideal financial situation meant that they always had to sell their best players to keep it afloat, while Hoeness used his flair to scout good players on the cheap to replace them. Hatzipanagis would leave for Lazio in 1983, replaced by Danish Midfielder Soren Lerby, who himself would be sold in 1986 to Monaco, and Rudi Voller would be sold to Werder Bremen in 1984. The club would then gradually fall down the ladder, while Bayern would win two Buli titles in 1985 and 1987. Finally, relegation followed in 1990, putting an end to the club's golden age for good.

Ressurgence in the mid-90s and stability in the 2000s (1992-2008)

Franz Beckenbauer came back as president after his long stay as Germany coach in 1990-1991, keeping Hoeness as general manager and hiring young manager Werner Lorant, who rebuilt the squad with shrewd signings like Olaf Bodden, Harald Cerny and goalkeeper Rainer Berg. Promotion was achieved after 4 long years, and with it came lots of money from the Bundesliga's new TV Deal.

Davor Suker

Jens Jeremies, club icon of the 90s and 00s, with the most late 90s-early 00s look ever​

Foreign stars like Abedi Pele, Daniel Borimirov, Miroslav Stevic and Davor Suker, along with germans Thomas Hassler, Manfred Schwabl, Manfred Bender and Jens Jeremies, filled up the roster in the team's first two seasons back in the Bundesliga, and 1860 would take part in the crazy 6-horse title race of the 1994-1995 season, won by SC Freiburg, while they would finish in 5th, their highest finish since the early 80s, the following year, allowing them to compete in europe after a long absence. 1996-1997 would see the club falter in the UEFA Cup round of 16 against Arsene Wenger's Monaco, while they would finish in 6th and qualify again for the UEFA Cup after 3rd placed Stuttgart won the Pokal and 2nd placed Borussia Dortmund won the champions League.

1997-1998 would see 1860 go out in the second round against Rapid Vienna, while in the league, they would finish 8th, but finally win their first piece of silverware since the 1983 bundesliga title by winning the 1998 DFB Pokal, overcoming a 2-1 deficit to Hannover in the second round, defeating Carl-Zeiss Jena on penalties, then defeating Duisburg and Eintracht Trier before defeating their eternal rivals Bayern in a memorable Munich derby on penalties.

1998-1999 sees 1860 participate in the cup winners cup and even lead the table in the first months of the season, but alas, things would go wrong quickly, for they would be stunned by a young Samuel Eto'o and Mallorca in the second round of the CWC and falter to 9th position, thus not participating in europe.

Since then, the club focused more on stabilising themselves financially and in the bundesliga as the new millenium arrived, with constant top 8 finishes and a Pokal win in 2004 beign the most notable results. Stars of the team during that period of stability included Jeremies, Cerny, Borimirov, Alexander Zickler, Benjamin Lauth, Martin Max, Andreas Gorlitz, Marcel Schafer, Martin Demichelis, Roque Santa Cruz and Daniel Bierofka.

the Bender twins, Lars and Sven, who were key parts of 1860 youth teams's dominance in the mid-00s​

Modern era: Die Jung Lowen and return to glory (2008-present)

During that period, the 1860 youth teams proved very successful, winning the german U-19 cup in 2000 and then winning both the U-17 cup in 2006 and another U-19 cup in 2007. Four members of that squad, namely the brothers Sven and Lars Bender, american full back Fabian Johnson and Julian Baumgartlinger, made their debut in 2007-2008, promoted by the new coach, former Schalke and Hannover coach Ralf Ragnick, along with a youth movement coming in, with the likes of Vedad Ibisevic, Luiz Gustavo, Chinedu Obasi and Demba Ba all joining the club in 2007-2008.

​

Now boasting the youngest squad in the Bundesliga in 2008-2009, with the exception being Demichelis, Bierofka and new goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt, the young Lions took the bundesliga by storm by topping the table for much of the season before a late collapse saw the club finishing in 3rd behind Wolfsburg and champions Berlin. Over the coming years, 1860 further established themselves as a future powerhouse, with the money gained from the sales of Ba to Stoke City, Obasi to Schalke, Ibisevic to Stuttgart and Gustavo to Wolfsburg for big money allowed the club to stock up their finances and reinvest in the youth facilities and also on some under-the-radar signings that helped the club stay competitive and qualify for european competitions, such as swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer, Yugoslav veteran striker Ivica Olic, midfielder Sebastian Rudy from Stuttgart, Senegalese winger Sadio Mané and Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino.

The emergence of youth products Julian Weigl, Marius Wolf and Kevin Volland made 1860 even deadlier, and they would finish third 4 years in a row from 2014-2017, the trio of Mané-Firmino-Volland becoming one of the deadliest in Europe, carried by Ragnick's gegenpressing, which influenced modern german coaches like Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and, ironically enough, Ragnick's assistant coach Julian Nagelsmann, who replaced Ragnick after he joined Stuttgart.

​

Nagelsmann was a coach in the image of this 1860 squad: young, energetic, and fearless. A DFB Pokal win in 2017, featuring highlights such as an epic 3-2 win over the enemy Bayern and a close final won 2-1 against Frankfurt, was followed by an intense 2017-2018 title race in one of the most competitive Bundesliga seasons ever, where 1860, at long last, finally lifted the Meisterschalle.

​

1860 is finally back where it belongs, among the top clubs in the Bundesliga. While european success continues to elude them in the modern era, bar a close call in the 2021 UEFA Cup final against Unai Emery's Villareal, the club is in very good hands, with Nagelsmann as manager, the deadly trio up front, Weigl now joined by Florian Neuhaus and Konrad Laimer and the defense being revamped with Marius Wolf, his fellow youth product Josip Stanisic, captain Willi Orban and recent signings David Raum and Kim Min-Jae, 1860 are set to contend for the next few years.

1860 Munich Lineup 2023-2024

Sommer

Wolf Stanisic Orban Raum

Weigl

Neuhaus Laimer

Volland Firmino Mané

In memory of Der Kaiser, Franz Beckenbauer
1945-2024


Ruhe in Frieden​

 

[kinnikuniverse]

History of the French Football Top Flight

The early days (1894-1932)

French Football before ttheadvent of the Ligue 1 started in 1894, the year the first USFSA championship was held, featuring exclusively clubs from the Paris region. Soon after, football spread with the foundings of regional leagues across France, with the most notable being the northern league, featuring the all-dominant Le Havre AC, who dominated the league and constantly wanted to challenge the Paris clubs for the right to be called national champions, to no avail out of fear. Finally, as the 20th century arrived, the much awaited match between Le Havre and Paris champions Club Français arrived, and the former club uttelry battered the Paris club, announcing the arrival of provincial clubs and leagues on the scene.


There were many tentatives to unify all the regional leagues together, most notably the Trophée de France in 1907, but all those attempts were cut short by the great war. Once it was over, the leagues lost a lot of its prestige and reputation, and the newly created Coupe de France became the de facto national championship. Another factor in the decline of the regional leagues was that French Football was still amateur, with the federation clinging on to the idealistic beliefs of amateurism, which led to many scandals surrounding under-the-table payments of players, which led to the suspensions of Olympique Lillois president Henri Jooris and the departure of french internationals to professional foreign clubs, mainly Italy and England, as exemplified by France and Red Star Paris goalkeeper Pierre Chayriguès leaving for Tottenham.


Birth of professionalism and the National League system (1932-1946)


French Football finally became professional with the founding of the Union of Professional Clubs, which would be followed soon after by the creation of the national league system, with 2 professional divisions and 1 amateur division before dwindling down into the regional leagues. The first ever top flight champions in France were Olympique Lillois, Olympique de Marseille, Sochaux and RC Paris. Marseille would become the first prominent club in the new era of french football, with its stars like Brazilian goalkeeper Jaguare, French-Italian-Algerian striker Mario Zatelli and the black pearl of Morroco, Larbi Ben Barek. The club would win three in a row from 1937 to 1939, before making way for another dynasty in the famed war machine of Olympique Lillois, which would win 3 league titles in 5 years.

First period of success (1946-1959)

those period of dominance would be followed by 5 different winners in the next 5 years. Roubaix-Tourcoing would win its second title in 1947, then Larbi Ben Barek would lead Marseille to the 1948 championship, before thre young clubs would win their first of many titles: the exciting and revolutionary Stade de Reims in 1949, the Girondins of Bordeaux in 1950 and the internationally-flavoured Nice going back to back in 1951 and 1952 amd win athird title in 1959. The 1951-1952 season would be a historic one for the beach club, for they would become the first club to achieve a treble by winning the league, the coupe and the Latin Cup final against Kubala's Barcelona.

Stade de Reims, with its squad full of France national team players like Kopa, Fontaine and Hidalgo, would becoem the team of the decade, however, wimning a three-peat from 1953 to 1955, then win two more titles in 1958 and 1960. Reims would also take part in the final of the first ever European cup, where they would almost score the upset ina 4-3 loss to Di Stefano and Herrera's Barcelona, but they would bounce back by winning the 4th ever European cup in 1959 against Atletico Madrid.

Other notable league winners were Marseille in the crazy 7-horse title race of the 1955-1956 season, led by Swede Gunnar Andersson and local hero Roger Scotti, and thr stunning RC Lens in 1956-1957, whiel the French National team would reach the semifinals of the 1958 world cup on the back of a legendary performance by Just Fontaine.

Six different champions in six year sand the national team in the downdrums (1960-1966)

the 60s, however, would see the end of both Stade de Reim's dominance and the national team's competence, with les bleus not even qualifying for a world cup in that time period. Meanwhile, on the national scene, we saw an unprecedented 6 different league champions in 6 years. Pierre Pibarot's spectacular RC Paris side won a close 1960-1961 title race against Monaco, while Nimes Olympique would make history in the 1961-1962 season as the first european league champion led by an Arab coach in Abdelkader Firoud.

Underdogs Sedan would win the 1963 title, while newly promoted Saint-Étienne, fielding the youngest squad in the first division, would stun France by winning the 1963-1964 first division title. Finally, Valenciennes would win its only league title in 1965 and FC Nantes, with its young team and jeu a la nantaise, would win the league in 1966.

Rise and dominance of Saint-Étienne and the second european cup (1966-1976)

In the middle of the 60s, young, ambitious presidents such as Marcel Leclerc in Marseille, Roger Loeillet in Nice, Louis Fonteneau in Nantes and Roger Rocher in Saint-Étienne would bring french football to new heights. Those four clubs would become the main title cojtenders in the 70s, with Marseille and Nice fielding star-studded lineups qith the like sof Josip Skoblar, Roger Magnusson, Jairzinho, Dik van Dijk, Mario Kempes and Salif Keita, while Nantes and Saint-Étienne prioritised their youth development programs.

Saint-Étienne would strike first, winning three league titles in 4 years from 1967 to 1970, with Bordeaux winning in 1969. Marseille would go back to back in 71 and 72, while Nantes snatched the 73 title before les verts would dominate in their back-to-back doubles in 74 and 75 before embarking on a journey to winning France's second european cup in 1976 against Leeds United, while Nice would win the league title that same year.

Endless Scandals and the big three era (1976-1988)

while the french national team, with a new generation led by Michel Platini, would finally bring France back among the top national teams in the world in the late 70s and early 80s, the club scene would be hit with an endless wave of financial scandals and momey laundering schemes that brought an end to the big clubs's dominance, and the country's best players were starting to leave for Italy and other foreign countries, as exemplified by Platini levaing for Inter Milan in 1978 and Didier Six going to Aston Villa in 1979. A few clubs took advantage of the chaos to win the leagye, sucha s AS Monaco, led by Jean-Luc Ettori and Delio Onnis, in 1977, the back-to-back by Strasbourg and Carlos Bianchi in 78 and 79 and the Sochaux golden generation led by goalie Joel Bats in 1980.

the 80s would ve marked by both the french national team winning their first silverware and the rise of three clubs who stood out above the rest: FC Nantes, the only survivors of the 70s financial scandals, Claude Bez's Bordeaux fielding the likes of Marius Trésor, Gernot Rohr, Alain Giresse, Jean Tigana and Dieter Muller, and finally, RC Paris, with former european cup winning coach Tomislav Ivic and the trio of Rabah Madjer, Safet Susic and former Saint-étienne star Dominique Rocheteau.

Nantes would win 81 and 83, with Saint-Étienne winning their last title in a long while in 82 before Bordeaux went back to back in 84 and 85. Ivic's Paris would dominate 1986 before the surrpising Toulouse led by Argentine Tarantini and france striker Yannick Stoppyra would snatch the title in 87 from Bordeaux, while Monaco, led by Glen Hoddle, a young african striker named George Weah and a promising young manager in Arsene Wenger, would win 1988.

Canal + arrives: the golden age of french football (1988-1998)

French Football was changed forever with the arrival of TV newcomers Canal + with a very lucrative deal to gain the exclusice rights to the top flight. The huge ampunt of momey was spread around the league in a revenue sharing system so that the clubs would not only prevent the exodus of talent to Italy or Spain, but also compete with those leagues for top foreign names.

As such, The 90s would see French football graudally rising to become the second best league in europe after the Italian league. Established Clubs like Marseille, RC Paris, Monaco, Bordeaux and Nantes, along with newcomers Lyon, Mpntpellier, Auxerre and Strasbourg, would all boast strong squads full of players coming from the massive investments by the french govenrment into the various youth facilities and academies across the country, along with excellent foreign players. This would culminate int.he banner year 1993, where France would complete the clean sweep of the main three european competitions. First, Wenger's Moanco would win the Cup Winners Cup agaisnt Antwerp, while RC Paris would eliminate Real Madrid and Juventus on the way to winning the UEFA Cup against Baggio and Batistuta's Fiorentina, while the crowning achievement came when Marseille, who won an unprecedented 5 league titles in a row, a record that still stands, won the champions league against the mighty Milan to become the third french club to win the CL.

After Marseille's 5th consecutive league title in 1993, Paris, Nantes, Auxerre, and Monaco were the next league winners, while France almost did the complete sweep of europe in 1995-1996, with Auxerre winning the Intertoto cup (now conference league), Paris winning the cup winners cup, Zidane's Bordeaux winning the UEFA Cup against Slavia Praha, but Nantes would falter in the Champions League final agaisnt reigning champions Ajax. Finally, France won its first world cup at home in 1998.

Wenger's invincibles and the new millenium (1998-2007)

The increased foreign player limit to 5, as well as the arrival of free agency, meant that the top stars once again left for foreign clubs. Bordeaux won a close race against Marseille in 98-99, while Wenger's Monaco would become the dominant team of the turn of the millenium, winning three league titles in 5 years from 2000 to the invincibles season in 2003-2004, where Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Patrick Viera and cohorts went almost the entire season unbeaten, with their only defeat being in the champions league final against Mourinho's FC Porto.

In the mid-00s, three contenders emerged to challenge Wenger's dominance: Ronaldinho's Paris, Didier Drogba's Marseille and Juninho's Lyon. Ronaldinho and Paris would win 2005, while Lyon would go back to back in 2006 and 2007.


Five different champiosn in 6 years (2008-2013)

Ligue 1 showed its competitiveness once again in the late 00s and early 10s, for the league would have no less than 5 different winners in 6 years. It all started in 2007-2008, where Bordeaux, led by Laurent Blanc and number 10 Yoann Gourcuff, won the league against Lyon, Marseille and the surprising Nancy-Lorraine. Then, Drogba and Marseille went back to back in 09 and 10 amidst tense duels with Bordeaux, while Lille, carried by a young belgian named Eden Hazard, would surprise france in 2011, followed by Montpellier's cinderella run to the title in 2012.

Finally, a ressurgent Paris, led by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and paul pogba, clinched the next two league titles.

Modern era: the most competitive league in europe (2014-present)

today, Ligue 1 is considered the most competitive league in the world alongside Spain and Germany. With most of the top french stars competing in the league along with quality foreigners and an excellent TV deal, new stadiums and increased viewership across the french-speaking world, Ligue 1 boasts not only institutions like Marseille, Monaco, Paris, Saint-Étienne and Lyon, but also newcomers like 2020 league champions Stade Rennais, 2021 champions Lille and 2023 champions Lens, along with cult favorite darkhorses like Toulouse, Nice and Nantes.

In europe, Lyon, led by league all-time top scorer Karim Benzema, became the standard bearer of France, winning the UEFA Cup in an all-french 2018 final against Marseille, the 2021 cup winners cups and, finally, becoming the fourth french club to win the champions league in 2022.


LIST OF CHAMPIONS

1933: lille (1)
1934: Marseille (1)
1935: sochaux (1)
1936: RC Paris (1)
1937: marseille (2)
1938: marseille (3)
1939: marseille (4)
1940: lille (2)
1941: RC Paris (2)
1942: Lille (3)
1943: Roubaix-Tourcoing (1)
1944: saint-etienne (1)
1945: Lille (4)
1946: Lille (5)
1947: roubaix-tourcoing (2)
1948: marseille (5)
1949: stade de reims (1)
1950: bordeaux (1)
1951: Nice (1)
1952: OGC nice (2)
1953: stade de reims (2)
1954: Stade de Reims (3)
1955: stade de reims (4)
1956: marseille (6)
1957: RC lens (1)
1958: stade de reims (5)
1959: nice (3)
1960: stade de reims (5)
1961: RC Paris (3)
1962: Nimes (1)
1963: sedan (1)
1964: saint-etienne (2)
1965: valenciennes (1)
1966: FC Nantes (1)
1967: saint-etienne (3)
1968: saint-etienne (4)
1969: bordeaux (2)
1970: saint-etienne (5)
1971: marseille (7)
1972: marseille (8)
1973: FC Nantes (2)
1974: saint-etienne (6)
1975: saint-etienne (7)
1976: OGC Nice (4)
1977: Monaco (1)
1978: Strasbourg (1)
1979: strasbourg (2)
1980: Sochaux (2)
1981: FC Nantes (3)
1982: Saint-Étienne (8)
1983: FC Nantes (4)
1984: bordeaux (3)
1985: Bordeaux (4)
1986: Paris (4)
1987: Toulouse (2)
1988: Monaco (2)
1989: marseille (9)
1990: marseille (10)
1991: marseille (11)
1992: marseille (12)
1993: marseille (13)
1994: Paris (5)
1995: FC Nantes (5)
1996: AJ Auxerre (1)
1997: Monaco (3)
1998: Monaco (4)
1999: Bordeaux (5)
2000: Monaco (4)
2001: FC Nantes (6)
2002: Lens (2)
2003: Monaco (5)
2004: Monaco (6)
2005: Paris (6)
2006: Lyon (1)
2007: lyon (2)
2008: Bordeaux (6)
2009: marseille (14)
2010: marseille (15)
2011: lille (6)
2012: montpellier (2)
2013: Paris (7)
2014: Paris (8)
2015: Marseille (16)
2016: Lyon (3)
2017: Saint-Étienne (9)
2018: Monaco (7)
2019: Paris (9)
2020: stade rennais (1)
2021: Lille (7)
2022: Lyon (4)
2023: Lens (3)

 

[Mildtryth]

So, a example of the Savoyard Serie A on the universe of the TL i'm writing:

 

[ArupinumMaivista]

So, a example of the Savoyard Serie A on the universe of the TL i'm writing:

View attachment 887107

Aye, Torino finally wins something 😍