Early history AS Saint-Étienne was founded in 1919 by employees of the
Saint-Étienne-based
grocery store chain
Groupe Casino under the name
Amicale des Employés de la Société des Magasins Casino (
ASC). The club adopted green as its primary color mainly due to it being the principal colour of Groupe Casino. In 1920, due to the
French Football Federation (FFF) prohibiting the use of trademarks in sports club, the club dropped "Casino" from its name and changed its name to simply
Amical Sporting Club to retain the ASC acronym. In 1927, Pierre Guichard took over as president of the club and, after merging with local club Stade Forézien Universitaire, changed its name to
Association sportive Stéphanoise. In July 1930, the National Council of the FFF voted 128–20 in support of professionalism in French football. In 1933, Stéphanoise turned professional and changed its name to its current version. The club was inserted into the second division and became
inaugural members of the league after finishing runner-up in the South Group. Saint-Étienne remained in Division 2 for four more seasons before earning promotion to Division 1 for the
1938–39 season under the leadership of the Englishman
Teddy Duckworth. However, the team's debut appearance in the first division was short-lived due to the onset of
World War II. Saint-Étienne returned to the first division after the war under the Austrian-born Frenchman Ignace Tax and surprised many by finishing runner-up to
Lille in the first season after the war. The club failed to improve upon that finish in following seasons under Tax and, ahead of the
1950–51 season, Tax was let go and replaced by former Saint-Étienne player
Jean Snella.
Ten league titles (1956–1981) won six league titles while playing for Saint-Étienne. Under Snella, Saint-Étienne achieved its first honour after winning the
Coupe Charles Drago in 1955.
Two seasons later, the club won its first domestic league title. Led by
goalkeeper Claude Abbes, defender
Robert Herbin, as well as midfielders
René Ferrier and
Kees Rijvers and
striker Georges Peyroche, Saint-Étienne won the league by four points over
Lens. In 1958, Saint-Étienne won the Coupe Drago for the second time. After the following season, in which the club finished sixth, Snella departed the club. He was replaced by René Vernier. In the team's first season under Vernier, Saint-Étienne finished 12th, the club's worst finish since finishing 11th eight seasons ago. In the following season, François Wicart joined the coaching staff. In 1961,
Roger Rocher became president of the club and quickly became one of the club's chief investors. After two seasons under Wicart, Saint-Étienne were relegated after finishing 17th in the
1961–62 season. However, Wicart did lead the club to its first
Coupe de France title in 1962, alongside co-manager
Henri Guérin with the team defeating
Nancy 1–0 in
the final. He also led the club back to Division 1 after one season in the second division, but after the season, Wicart was replaced by Snella, who returned as manager after a successful stint in Switzerland with
Servette. In Snella's
first season back, Saint-Étienne won its second league title and,
three seasons later, captured its third. Snella's third and final title with the club coincided with the arrival of
Georges Bereta,
Bernard Bosquier,
Gérard Farison and
Hervé Revelli to the team. After the season, Snella returned to Servette and former
Reims manager
Albert Batteux replaced him. In Batteux's first season in
1967–68, Saint-Étienne captured
the double after winning the league and the Coupe de France. In the next season, Batteux won the league and, in the ensuing season, won the double again. The club's fast rise into French football led to a high-level of confidence from the club's ownership and supporters and, following two seasons without a trophy, Batteux was let go and replaced by former Saint-Étienne player Robert Herbin. In Herbin's first season in charge, Saint-Étienne finished fourth in the league and reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. In the next two seasons, the club won the double, its seventh and eighth career league title and its third and fourth Coupe de France title. In 1976, Saint-Étienne became the first French club since Reims in 1959 to reach the final of the
European Cup. In the match, played at
Hampden Park in Scotland, Saint-Étienne faced German club
Bayern Munich, who were the reigning champions and arguably the world's best team at the time. The match was hotly contested with Saint-Étienne failing to score after numerous chances by
Jacques Santini,
Dominique Bathenay and
Osvaldo Piazza, among others. A single goal by
Franz Roth eventually decided the outcome and Saint-Étienne supporters departed Scotland in tears, however, not without nicknaming the goalposts "
les poteaux carrés" ("the square posts"). Saint-Étienne did earn a consolation prize by winning the league to cap off a successful season and, in the following season, the team won the Coupe de France. In 1981, Saint-Étienne, captained by
Michel Platini, won its final league title to date after winning the league for the tenth time. After two more seasons in charge, Herbin departed the club for archrivals
Lyon.
Decline and recent history spent his entire career at Saint-Étienne, his hometown club. In 1982, a financial scandal involving a controversial
slush fund led to the departure and eventual jailing of long-time president Roger Rocher. Saint-Étienne subsequently suffered a free-fall with the club suffering relegation in the
1983–84 season. The club returned to the first division in 1986 under the leadership of goalkeeper
Jean Castaneda who had remained with the club, despite its financial state. Saint-Étienne kept its place in the first division for nearly a decade with the club reaching the semi-finals of the Coupe de France in 1990 and 1993 during the stint. In 1996, Saint-Étienne was relegated to the second division and returned to Division 1 in 1999. In the
2000–01 season, the club was supervised by five different managers and had to deal with a 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. Saint-Étienne played three seasons in the second division and returned to the first division, now called Ligue 1, for the
2004–05 season. They came fifth in the
2007–08 season, which resulted in the club qualifying for the
UEFA Cup for the first time since 1982. Saint-Étienne was influenced by several youngsters within the team such as
Bafétimbi Gomis,
Loïc Perrin,
Blaise Matuidi and
Dimitri Payet. The club followed up its fifth-place finish by finishing 17th in the next two seasons. Having won the
Coupe de la Ligue in April 2013, their first major domestic trophy for more than 30 years, Saint-Étienne qualified for the third preliminary round of the
2013–14 UEFA Europa League campaign. Following crowd trouble towards the end of the 2012–13 season, Saint-Étienne were handed a one-match stadium ban which would have forced the team to open their campaign behind closed doors. However, on 23 July 2013, this ban was lifted. On 30 November 2014, Saint-Etienne defeated fierce rivals
Lyon 3–0 at the
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard for the first time since 1994. The 2017–18 Ligue 1 season started badly for Saint-Etienne and culminated in a 5–0 derby loss to
Lyon, after which
Óscar García Junyent was dismissed as manager and replaced by former player
Julien Sablé. Sable was replaced in December by
Jean-Louis Gasset because he did not hold the required qualifications to coach in Ligue 1, and the club were fined €25,000 for every game played with Sable in charge. Under Gasset, Saint-Etienne went 13 games unbeaten and finished 7th in the table at the end of the season. In the 2018–19 season, Saint-Etienne came fourth, the best finish since their promotion, after which Gasset elected to leave the club. The following year they were 17th when the season was ended by the
coronavirus pandemic. They also reached the
Coupe de France final in this season, which they lost 1–0 to
Paris Saint-Germain. In the 2020–21 season, Saint-Etienne started poorly and hovered above the relegation zone for most of the season before winning five of their last ten matches to finish 11th on the table. During that season, the club's board of directors announced, in a public letter on 14 April 2021, that the club was up for sale. During the beginning of the
2021–22, the team suffered a catastrophic record; the culmination of 12 consecutive games without a win in Ligue 1. On 5 December 2021, after a 5–0 defeat against
Rennes, manager
Claude Puel was relieved from his duties.
Julien Sablé, the assistant coach, took over as caretaker manager, before
Pascal Dupraz was appointed as the new manager on 15 December 2021. The team eventually finished 18th in the season, and were relegated to the
Ligue 2 after losing in a penalty shootout to
Auxerre in the relegation play-offs. Saint-Etienne was sanctioned with a deduction of three points and four matches behind closed doors after serious incidents that occurred on the field after the game. The incidents left over 30 people injured. With a total of 18 points at the half of the
2022–23 season, Saint-Étienne was in the relegation zone ranked 18th in the table; however, they managed to finish the campaign in 8th place. The 2022–23 season was also the first season of Saint-Etienne with their new logo. In the
2023–24 Ligue 2 season, Saint-Etienne finished inside the playoff places and would eventually reach the relegation/promotion playoff against
Metz. Saint-Etienne would win the two legged playoff 4-3 on aggregate to earn promotion back to Ligue 1, but were ultimately relegated in 2024-25. == Players ==