Bordeaux
Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux, (commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux or simply Bordeaux) are based in the city of Bordeaux. The club currently play in Ligue 1, the first division of French football, and won its last Ligue 1 title in the 2008–09 season.
Bordeaux was founded in 1881 as a multi-sports club and is one of the most successful football clubs in France.
The club has won six Ligue 1 titles, which places it tied for 4th in titles won.
Bordeaux have also won three Coupe de France titles, three Coupe de la Ligue titles, and three Trophée des champions.
The club has the honor of having appeared in the most finals in the Coupe de la Ligue having appeared in six of the 16 finals contested.
Bordeaux plays its home games at the Stade Chaban Delmas, named after the former mayor of Bordeaux, Jacques Chaban-Delmas.
The facility was previously known as the Parc Lescure and seats 34,362.
The club is currently in negotiations to build a new stadium, which will seat 42,000.
The city of Bordeaux is listed as a site for UEFA Euro 2016 in the France's bid to host.
Bordeaux is one of the most popular football clubs in France. About 10% of the country's population support the club.
Bordeaux trail only Marseille (20% of the population), Lyon (11%), and Paris Saint-Germain (11%).
The club has been wholly owned by the French television group M6 since 2001.
History
FC Girondins des Bordeaux was founded on 1 October 1881 initially as a gymnastics and shooting club. The club, chaired by André Chavois, later added sports such as rowing, equestrian, and swimming, among others. It was not until 1910 when football was officially introduced to the club following strong urging from several members within the club, most notably club president Raymond Brard, though it was only available on a trial basis. The experiment with football lasted only a year before returning almost a decade later in 1919. The club contested its first official match in 1920 defeating Section Burdigalienne 12–0.
Bordeaux achieved professional status in football on 2 July 1936, partly due to the club's merger with fellow Bordelais outfit Girondins Guyenne Sport, which resulted in the club that exists today. Bordeaux's rise to professionalism came about alongside the French Football Federation's plea to increase professionalism in French football, which prior to 1932, had been non-existent. The club was inserted into the second division of French football and made its debut appearance during the 1937–38 season. The club's first manager was Spaniard Benito Diaz. Diaz brought fellow Spanish players Santiago Urtizberea and Jaime Mancisidor to the team with the latter serving as captain. The club's most prominent Frenchmen on the team were homegrown attacker Henri Arnaudeau and goalkeeper André Gérard. Bordeaux played its first official match on 23 May 1937 defeating Rhône-Alpes-based FC Scionzier 2–1 at the Stade de Colombes. The club's first ever league match was contested on 22 August losing away to Toulouse 3–2. Bordeaux recorded its first league win against Nîmes Olympique. Unfortunately for the club, the team finished 6th in the Southern region of the division. Bordeaux's disappointing finish inserted the club into the relegation playoff portion of the league where the team finished a respectable 3rd. A year later, Bordeaux moved into its current home, the Stade Chaban-Delmas, which had previously been known as, simply Parc Lescure. The facility was built specifically for the 1938 FIFA World Cup and, following the competition's completion, was designated to Bordeaux. The club had formerly played its home matches at the Stade Galin, which today is used as a training ground.
Success
Trophy of the centenary tournament of Girondins de BordeauxOn 15 October 1940, Bordeaux merged with local club AS Port and took on one of the club's most prestigious traditions, the scapular. Bordeaux ASP, which the club was now known, adorned the scapular during its run to the 1941 edition of the Coupe de France final. The match, played in occupied France at the Stade Municipal[disambiguation needed] in Saint-Ouen[disambiguation needed], saw Bordeaux defeat SC Fives 2–0 with Urtizberea netting both goals. The Coupe de France triumph was the club's first major honour. Following the liberation of France, Bordeaux returned to league play and earned promotion to the first division following its 2nd place finish during the 1948–49 season. After the season, André Gérard, now manager of the club, signed Dutchman Bertus de Harder. Led by the three-headed monster of de Harder, Édouard Kargu, and Camille Libar, Bordeaux captured its first-ever league championship, in just the club's first season in the first division, winning by six points over second place Lille. The league success led to Bordeaux being selected to participate in the second edition of the Latin Cup. In the competition, Bordeaux reached the final drawing 3–3 with Portuguese outfit Benfica. The draw forced a second match with Benfica claiming victory following an extra time goal after over two hours and 25 minutes of play.
Bordeaux maintained its title-winning aspirations finishing runner-ups to Nice two seasons after winning its first title. The club also performed well in cup competitions reaching the Coupe de France final in 1952 and 1955. In 1952, Bordeaux suffered defeat to the team it finished runner-up to the same year, Nice, following a thrilling match in which eight goals were scored with five of them coming in the first 40 minutes. Bordeaux drew the match at 3–3 following a 55th minute goal from Henri Baillot, but Nice countered minutes later with two goals in a span of four minutes to go up 5–3, which was the final result. In 1955, Bordeaux were trounced 5–2 by Lille who went up 4–0 within 35 minutes. The resulting struggles in the cup competitions led to struggles domestically with the club suffering relegation in the 1955–56 season. The club returned to the first division for the 1959–60 season, but failed to make an impact falling back to Ligue 2 after finishing dead last in the standings with 21 points.
Bordeaux returned to its former selves in the 1960s under new manager and former player Salvador Artigas. Under the helm of Artigas, Bordeaux returned to the first division and finished in a respectable 4th place for the 1962–63 season. The following season, Bordeaux returned to the Coupe de France final where the club faced off against Olympique Lyonnais. Bordeaux, once again, were defeated 2–0 courtesy of two goals from the Argentine Nestor Combin. The club's runner-up finish resulted in the team qualifying for the 1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The appearance was brief with the club losing 4–3 on aggregate to German club Borussia Dortmund. Four seasons later, Bordeaux again reached the final of the Coupe de France; the club's seventh appearance overall. The team faced Saint-Étienne and, again failed to match the achievement reached in 1941 losing 2–1. The following season, Bordeaux earned another appearance in the final, but again, failed to win the trophy losing 2–0 to Marseille. The team suffered an extreme decline during the 1970s, despite to arrival of Alain Giresse. The club played under seven different managers during the decade and consistently finished at the bottom half of the table. In 1979, the club was sold to the influential and ambitious real estate mogul Claude Bez, who positioned himself as president of the club.
In the summer of 1983 Girondins de Bordeaux organized a centenary tournament. Bordeaux won a 2–0 victory over FC Barcelona in the semi-finals of this tournament. In the centenary tournament final the club was defeated by VfB Stuttgart.
Return to prominence
Alain Giresse, influential Bordeaux player in the '70s and '80s.Under the helm of Claude Bez, who injected millions into the club, Bordeaux flourished winning three league championships, two Coupe de France titles, and also performed well in European competitions. During Bez's run presiding over the team, he recruited several French internationals such as Bernard Lacombe, Jean Tigana, René Girard, Jean-Christophe Thouvenel, and Thierry Tusseau. Bez also brought in established manager Aimé Jacquet. Led by 1970s mainstays Giresse and Gernot Rohr, Bordeaux captured its first league championship since 1950 in the 1983–84 season finishing equal on points with Monaco, however, due to having a better head-to-head record, Bordeaux were declared champions. The next season, Bordeaux again won the league claiming the title by four points over second place Nantes. In Europe, Bordeaux played in the 1984–85 European Cup and reached the semi-finals, defeating Spanish club Athletic Bilbao, Romanian club Dinamo Bucureşti, and Soviet outfit Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk before losing to Italian club Juventus. In the Coupe de France, Bordeaux finally achieved cup glory defeating Marseille 2–1 in the 1986 edition of the final with Tigana and Giresse recording both goals. The Coupe de France trophy was the club's first after over eight agonizing tries and its first since 1941. The following season, the club responded by winning the cup again. In a re-match with Marseille, Bordeaux won its second consecutive cup courtesy of goals from Philippe Fargeon and Zlatko Vujović. Bordeaux capped off the decade during the 1986–87 season by winning its fourth league title.
Honours
DomesticLigue 1
Champions (6): 1949–50, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1998–99, 2008–09
Ligue 2
Champions (1): 1991–92
Championnat National
Champions (3): 1937, 1944, 1953
Coupe de France
Champions (3): 1941, 1986, 1987
Runners-Up (6): 1943, 1952, 1955, 1964, 1968, 1959
Coupe de la Ligue
Champions (3): 2002, 2007, 2009
Runners-Up (3): 1997, 1998, 2010
Trophée des champions
Champions (3): 1986, 2008, 2009
Runners-Up (3): 1968, 1985, 1999
Coupe Charles Drago
Runners-Up (1): 1965
Europe
Latin Cup Runners-Up (1): 1950
Coppa delle Alpi Champions (1): 1980
Runners-Up (1): 1972
UEFA Cup Runners-Up (1): 1995–96
UEFA Intertoto Cup Winners (1): 1995