Бastia: Корсикалық футбол клубының тарихы

Association football club in Furiani, France
the football club from Bastia, Corsica, founded in 1905

Sporting Club Bastia (, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a French association football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football, having won the 2020–21 Championnat National. The club plays its home matches at the Stade Armand Cesari located within the city. SC Bastia is known for its strong association with Corsican nationalism. Bastia's main historical success include reaching the final of the 1977–78 edition of the UEFA Cup. The team was defeated by Dutch club PSV Eindhoven (0–0 at home, 0–3 away). Domestically, Bastia won the second division of French football in 1968 and 2012, and the Coupe de France in 1981. During the club's infancy, it was league champions of the "Corsican League" 17 times. They are the local rivals of Ajaccio and contest the Derby Corse. The club has signed several famous players in its history, notably including Dragan Džajić, Claude Papi, Johnny Rep, Roger Milla, Michael Essien, Alex Song, Sébastien Squillaci, Jérôme Rothen, Antar Yahia and Florian Thauvin. In 2017 the club was relegated to the Championnat National 3 due to financial irregularities and lost its professional licence. I Turchini regained professional status in 2021 following promotion to Ligue 2.

Sporting Club de Bastia was founded in 1905 by a Swiss named Hans Ruesch. He taught German in high school in Bastia. The first president of Bastia was Emile Brandizi. The Corsican club celebrated its debut on the Place d'Armes of Bastia, in the light of a single gas burner. The club began its professional journey in 1965, in Division 2. After three successful seasons, it was crowned Champion of France's Second Division in 1968, joining the elite. The first season was difficult, but the club still maintained its place. Thus began a decade widely considered the finest in club history. In 1972, the club reached, for the first time, the final of the Coupe de France against Olympique de Marseille (losing 2–1), getting it its first qualification in the European Cup Winners' Cup, which led to elimination against the excellent team of Atlético Madrid.

After 18 years in the elite, the club went down to the second division at the end of the 1985–86 season, and stayed for eight years. This era is marked by the catastrophe of Furiani: In the 1991–92 season, the club reached the semi finals of the Coupe de France. The match was played at Stade Armand Cesari, or "Furiani Stadium", against Olympique de Marseille which dominated the Championship of France. The enthusiasm was such that was decided to hastily construct a temporary stand of 10,000 seats. The upper part of the platform collapsed a few minutes before kick off killing 18 and injuring 2,300.

The club returned to the elite for the 1994–95 season and that year reached the final of the League Cup. This era was marked by the work of Frédéric Antonetti, who coached the club between 1990 and 1994 and oversaw the development of new talents (Morlaye Soumah, Laurent Casanova, and Cyril Rool). Antonetti coached the first team from 1994 to 2001 (with an interlude in 1998–99) and was involved in the recruitment of players such as Lubomir Moravcik, Pierre Yves André, Frédéric Née, Franck Jurietti, and Anto Drobnjak, the latter of whom was the club's top scorer in his third season. At the end of the 1995–96 season, Drobnjak was also second in the Championship scoring charts with 20 goals, one goal behind top scorer Sonny Anderson. In the 1996–97 season the club finished in 7th place in Ligue 1, just 3 points off the top, thus qualifying for the Intertoto Cup. The club won the Intertoto Cup, and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the 1997–98 season. Bastia eliminated Benfica in the round of 32 before falling to Steaua Bucharest in the next round. This defeat left a bitter taste due to the domination Bastia had in both matches. The performance of Bastia in the league in the following years allowed it to qualify two more times for the Intertoto Cup, in 1998 and 2001, but failed to re qualify for the UEFA Cup. After the departure of Antonetti in 2001, the club would not finish in the top ten again. They did reach the final of the Coupe de France in 2001–02; in their midfield was Michael Essien, who would go on to play for Lyon and Chelsea. Another player groomed by Bastia was defender Alex Song, who later played for Arsenal and Barcelona. Between 2002 and 2005, Bastia was managed by Robert Nouzaret, Gerard Gili, François Ciccolini, and lastly the duo of Michel Padovani and Eric Durand. Each failed to take the team to the top ten, the final league placing actually falling each year (see Section championship history), despite the first team featuring the likes of Tony Vairelles, Florian Maurice, Franck Silvestre, Lilian Laslandes (all internationals) and Cyril Jeunechamp. In the winter break of the 2004–05 season, the club fell into the relegation zone. Bastia recruited Christian Karembeu, member of the 1998 World Cup winning France team, but Bastia would still be relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of the season after 11 consecutive years in Ligue 1.

In 2005, the club was relegated to Ligue 2. Five years later, Bastia was in serious danger of descent into the Championnat National. Bastia was officially relegated to the National on 7 May 2010, following a draw (0–0) with Tours at the 37th matchday of Ligue 2. On 6 July 2010, the club was administratively relegated to Championnat de France amateur by the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG). The club actually had a deficit of €1.2 million, which was filled by grants from local governments (Territorial Community of Corsica, the General Council of Haute Corse). On 23 July 2010, the Federal Council of the French Football Federation authorised Bastia to play in the 2010–11 season, as requested by the National Olympic Committee and French sports (CNOSF) after the DNCG had refused. Despite this disrupted pre season, Bastia performed well in the transfer window, with no fewer than six rookies. As for departures, there is mainly the transfer of Florent Ghisolfi (Reims) and Christophe Gaffory (Vannes) as well as Pierre Yves André who decided to end his career.

Faruk Hadžibegić was fired from the managers' post after poor results, and the job then passed to Frédéric Hantz. On 22 April 2011, Bastia officially earned its place in Ligue 2 after a game against Frejus Saint Raphael. No fewer than 500 townsfolk had made the trip. On 7 May 2011, Bastia become the National champion, following a victory over Créteil by 2 goals to one, with Bastia finishing with a record tally of 91 points and unbeaten at home throughout the campaign. Sporting was leading at the half, but equalised by David Suarez, then Idrissa Sylla allowed Bastia to take the lead in the 92nd minute in a crazy atmosphere. At the end of the match, the pitch at Armand Cesari was invaded by Bastia fans, happy to celebrate with their players and their coach, Frédéric Hantz, this new title.

Bastia, newly promoted from the National, welcomed Jérôme Rothen, Toifilou Maoulida, François Marque, Ludovic Genest and Florian Thauvin into the club. Bastia started off on a good note, falling off slightly in the autumn. From early February until the beginning of April, Bastia did not lose a single match. On 23 April 2012, in a full Stadium Armand Cesari, Bastia virtually secured their place amongst the elite by winning against Châteauroux (2–1). On 1 May 2012, Bastia became champion of Ligue 2, 44 years after its first and only league title, with their victory over Metz at Armand Cesari. On 11 May 2012, Bastia won its last game of the season at home 2–1 against Nantes thanks to goals from Jérôme Rothen and David Suarez. The club was also on a 2 year run of being undefeated at home. Bastia became part of the very exclusive club of teams undefeated at home in Europe. Several players played their last game against Nantes in the colours of Bastia, including David Suarez and Jacques Désiré Périatambée. Bastia won all the trophies UNFP for Ligue 2: Jérôme Rothen, best player; Macedo Novaes, best goalkeeper; and Frédéric Hantz, best coach, who placed five players in the team line up (Macedo Novaes, Féthi Harek, Wahbi Khazri, Sadio Diallo and Jérôme Rothen). In the 2016–17 Ligue 1 season, after four seasons in the top division, Bastia finished bottom of the Ligue 1 table and were relegated to Ligue 2.

On 22 June 2017, Bastia were relegated again to Championnat National after the DNCG had recommended a further demotion for the club. Bastia were the subject of an audit on their books which resulted in yet another demotion for failing to guarantee they had the finances to compete in Ligue 2. The DNCG released a statement on the same day stating “Following its audit today before the DNCG, Sporting Club Bastia has been given notice of a provisional relegation". In August 2017, Bastia were demoted again to the Championnat National 3 following further financial irregularities. The club gained promotion to the Championnat National 2 in the 2018–19 season, and completed a back to back promotion in the 2019–20 season, by being top of the National 2 Group A table when the season was curtailed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Bastia achieved their third successive promotion after being assured of a top two finish in the 2020–21 Championnat National.

Stade Armand Cesari, also known as Stade Furiani, is the main football stadium in Corsica. It is located in Furiani, and is used by SC Bastia. In 1992, the stadium hosted the semi finals of the Coupe de France during which a temporary grandstand collapsed, killing 18 people and injuring nearly 3,000. Behind it the following record was set in 1978, when 15,000 people saw Bastia draw against PSV Eindhoven (0–0, 1978) in the UEFA Cup final matches.

Bastia has a large number of supporters among Corsicans, and their supporters frequently display elements of Corsican nationalism, such as the frequent use of the local language and symbols, and support for the island's independence. The fans are known as the Turchini, meaning "Blues" in Corsican. The fans have a rivalry with most mainland supporters, however, their most fierce rivals are Nice with whom they contest the Derby de la Mediterranée, although the derby can also refer to rivalries with Marseille and Monaco. They also have a rivalry with Parisian club PSG due to political tensions between the capital and Corsica. The other large rivalry is the Corsican derby with fellow islanders AC Ajaccio, and to a lesser extent Gazélec Ajaccio, with whom they compete over the dominance of the island.

Pos. Name Total matches Total matchesin D1/L1 1. Charles Orlanducci 507 410 2. Claude Papi 479 382 3. Paul Marchioni 332 227 4. Pierre Yves André 330 134 5. Jean Louis Cazes 329 276 6. Yannick Cahuzac 324 121 7. Morlaye Soumah 276 211 8. Georges Franceschetti 276 236 9. Simei Ihily 255 219 10. André Burkhard 250 217
Last update: 7 March 2017. Note: Bold represents current players.

Pos. Name Total goals Total goalsin D1/L1 1. Claude Papi 134 110 2. Pierre Yves André 102 84 3. François Félix 78 63 4. Marc Kanyan Case 59 53 5. Jacques Zimako 57 53 6. Anto Drobnjak 56 50 7. Frédéric Née 54 45 8. Louis Marcialis 48 39 9. Jean Pierre Serra 45 37 10. Thierry Meyer 40 17

Pos. Name Total caps Year 1. Claude Papi 3 1973–1978 2. Jacques Zimako 2 1977 3. Charles Orlanducci 1 1975 = Pierrick Hiard 1 1981 = Frédéric Née 1 2001