Early history AS Monaco FC was founded on 1 August 1920 through the unification of numerous local clubs based in France and the
principality. On 23 August 1924, the multiple sports club of the Association Sportive de Monaco was founded. AS Monaco FC was then absorbed by the latter and became the football section of the enlarged Monegasque sporting club. Monaco played its matches on a football pitch located in the
Fontvieille ward, on the site of the former Stade Louis II. Sometimes also played its home games in
Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France (which borders on Monaco) or on its opponent's pitch. The club's early years were spent in the amateur regional divisions of the
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, rising rapidly between the leagues in the 1920s. In 1929 moved to newly built Stade des Moneghetti, located in the
French commune of
Beausoleil and next to the border of the
Les Moneghetti ward. It became the team's first stadium and remained there until 1939. In 1933, Monaco were invited by the
French Football Federation to turn professional. The Monégasques'
first year of
second-division football ended in failure, however, as they were relegated to the amateur leagues the following year. In 1939 the club moved to the
Stade Louis II. By 1948, Monaco re-acquired its professional status and returned to the French second division; they subsequently consistently finished in its upper echelons, with this sustained effort resulting in promotion to the French
first division for the first time in
1953.
1960–1986: Domestic successes guided Monaco to three league titles and two domestic cups In 1960, Monaco coach
Lucien Leduc led the club to its first professional trophy, the
Coupe de France, beating
Saint-Étienne 4–2 in
extra time. This initial success was bettered in the following year with the club winning the
French Championship for the first time in its history, qualifying for the
European Cup. Leduc subsequently led the club to its first League and Cup Double in 1963. Upon Leduc's departure in 1963, Monaco endured a barren run, entrenched in the middle half of the league for the best part of the next decade and alternating between the first and second divisions after 1963. In 1975, Jean-Louis Campora, son of former president Charles Campora, became chairman of the club. In his second season, he brought back Leduc, who immediately won the club promotion to the first division and won them the championship the following year in 1978. Leduc subsequently left the club again in 1979, to be succeeded by
Lucien Muller and
Gérard Banide, both of whom were unable to halt the club's decline. The early 1980s saw a steady stream of successes in national competitions. Monaco won a title almost every other year; the
Coupe de France in
1980 and
1985, the
French Championship in
1982, was
Coupe de France finalist in
1984. In the 1985–86 season, Monaco hammered
Bordeaux 9–0, one of the biggest wins in club history. Disappointingly for Monaco fans, the club could not translate its domestic leadership into European success. Up to this point, Monaco had never passed the first round of any European competition. Monaco lost to
Dundee United (1981),
CSKA Sofia twice (1982 and 1984) and
Universitatea Craiova (1985).
1990s: Wenger and Tigana led Monaco to the 1987–88 league title. In 1986, former
Ajax manager
Ștefan Kovács, who succeeded
Rinus Michels and honed his
Total Football ideals with the Dutch champions, came out of a three-year "retirement" to manage Monaco, but even he could not bring them success. With the club facing a second barren spell, they signed
Arsène Wenger, who had hitherto been relatively unknown, managing
Nancy without much success. Wenger's reign saw the club enjoy one of its most successful periods, with several inspired signings, including
George Weah,
Glenn Hoddle,
Jürgen Klinsmann, and
Youri Djorkaeff. Youth team policies produced future World Cup winners
Emmanuel Petit,
Lilian Thuram and
Thierry Henry. Under Wenger, they won the league in his first season in charge (1988) and the Coupe de France in 1991, with the club consistently competing in the latter stages of the European Cup and regularly challenging for the league title. The club could have had even greater success in this period, as it emerged in 1993 that bitter rivals
Marseille had indulged in match-fixing and numerous improprieties, a view that Wenger had long held. After Wenger's departure, the club went on to record two further league championships; under
Jean Tigana in
1997 and under
Claude Puel in
2000. However, as the decade came to an end, rumours were surfacing that the club was facing numerous financial difficulties. In 2003, these financial problems came to a head. Despite finishing second in the league, the club was relegated to Ligue 2 by the French Professional League for amassing a €50 million ($68 million) debt. Whilst this was reduced on appeal to a ban on purchasing players, it was enough to force President Jean-Louis Campora, who had been in charge for 28 years, to step aside. He was replaced by Pierre Svara, an administrator considered to be close to the principality's princely family but with no footballing experience. The following season saw remarkable success on the field, given the club's financial strife. The team, coached by former France/ national team captain
Didier Deschamps and featuring stalwarts such as
Fernando Morientes,
Ludovic Giuly,
Jérôme Rothen and
Dado Pršo, finished third in Ligue 1 and enjoyed a remarkable run to the final of the
UEFA Champions League, beating
Real Madrid and
Chelsea along the way. However, despite the on-field success, the 2003–04 season was the club's worst financial year in its history. Within 12 months, Deschamps had left as coach and Svara had been replaced by Michel Pastor. In July 2009 Ricardo Gomes was replaced by former
Cannes and
Rennes coach
Guy Lacombe, inheriting a youthful squad featuring numerous highly lauded youth team prospects, including
Cédric Mongongu,
Serge Gakpé,
Vincent Muratori,
Frédéric Nimani,
Nicolas N'Koulou, Park Chu-young,
Yohan Mollo and
Yohann Thuram-Ulien. Lacombe led Monaco to eighth place in Ligue 1 in his first season in charge, but he was unable to replicate this performance in his second season and was sacked in January 2011, with Monaco in 17th place in Ligue 1. He was replaced by former coach Laurent Banide, who was unable to turn around the club's fortunes; Monaco finished the
2010–11 season in 18th, thus becoming relegated to
Ligue 2. In December 2011, 66.67% of the club was sold to the
Russian oligarch and billionaire
Dmitry Rybolovlev (via a trust under his daughter
Ekaterina's name) while the club were bottom of Ligue 2. Monaco finished in 2nd place in Ligue 1 in the
2013–14 season and Ranieri was replaced by
Leonardo Jardim. The following season, Monaco cut expenses, selling Rodriguez to
Real Madrid for €75m and loaning Falcao to
Manchester United. Despite the high-profile departures, Monaco finished in 3rd place in Ligue 1 and made it to the quarter-finals of the
Champions League, defeating
Arsenal in the Round of 16 before exiting at the hands of
Juventus. Top-scorer from the 2013–14 season was
Anthony Martial, who managed 12 goals in all competitions, departing for Manchester United in the summer for a fee of €60m, the highest fee paid for a teenager in football history. This, combined with the sales of
Geoffrey Kondogbia,
Layvin Kurzawa,
Yannick Carrasco,
Aymen Abdennour,
Lucas Ocampos and others, saw the Monegasque club earn over €180m in the transfer window.
Ligue 1 triumph and aftermath (2016–present) led Monaco to the Ligue 1 title in 2016–17 . Monaco won the
Ligue 1 title on 17 May 2017, defeating
AS Saint-Étienne 2–0.
Radamel Falcao and
Kylian Mbappé scored 30 and 26 goals respectively to ensure a first Ligue 1 title in 17 years. Monaco went undefeated for the last 20 games of the season, winning 18 of those 20 games. In the
2016–17 UEFA Champions League, Monaco staged a comeback in the Round of 16, losing the first leg 5–3 to
Manchester City before beating the English side 3–1 at home to win on away goals. Monaco then defeated
Borussia Dortmund 6–3 on aggregate before going down 4–1 over two legs to
Juventus. In the summer,
Kylian Mbappé went to rivals
PSG on loan, with the obligation to buy for a fee of €180m, making it the second-highest transfer fee in history after
Neymar. Teammates
Bernardo Silva and
Benjamin Mendy were sold to Manchester City for over €100m combined and
Tiémoué Bakayoko was sold to
Chelsea for €40 million. Monaco managed to finish 2nd in the
2017–18 Ligue 1, 13 points behind league winners PSG. In the summer of 2018,
Fabinho was sold to
Liverpool for €42 million. Jardim was replaced as coach by
Thierry Henry in October 2018 after a poor start to the season. Henry was suspended from his job in January, and Jardim returned days later. Monaco finished the season in 17th, avoiding relegation playoffs by 2 points. In December 2019 Jardim was fired for the second time in 14 months, and former Spain manager
Robert Moreno was appointed in his place. In 2019–20, the
COVID-19 pandemic suspended and then curtailed the football season. Monaco ended the season in 9th. Moreno was sacked in July, and replaced by former
Bayern Munich manager
Niko Kovač, who finished the following season in third position with 78 points and winning 24 matches from 38 (63%). Kovač left at the start of the year 2022, being replaced by
Philippe Clement. During Clement's tenure spanning two seasons, the club fell short of securing a spot in the Champions League group stages, instead they found themselves competing in the Europa League, where they participated in the initial knockout rounds. In addition, they were unable to secure European football in his last season with a 6th-placed finish. On 4 July 2023, Monaco appointed
Adi Hütter who signed a two-year deal with the club. In his first season at the helm, he guided the club to a runner-up finish in the
2023–24 season, and qualification to the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2018–19. Adi Huetter was replaced by
Sébastien Pocognoli on 11 October 2025. == Stadium ==