Toulouse FC - History

History

The predecessor side to the club was founded in 1937 as Toulouse Football Club, but sold its players and its place in French Division 1 professional football to Red Star Paris in 1967.

The association was re-founded as Union Sportive Toulouse on 25 May 1970 and took on the juniors of Gascogne and ACE Mermoz-Bonnefoy in order to establish a solid player base. They began competition in Division 2 in the 1970–71 season, playing in red and white. In 1977 the club re-claimed the historical name of its predecessor and adopted new colours of purple and white. The team quickly improved and earned promotion to Division 1 in 1982, followed by qualification for participation in the UEFA Cup in 1984. Their best result to date came in the 1986–87 season with a third place finish and another turn in the UEFA Cup competition, including a well-remembered win on penalty kicks over Maradona's mighty Napoli.

A decline followed that saw the club relegated to play in D2 by 1994. Throughout the 90s they yo-yoed between D1 and D2 with the club in frequent financial difficulty. Their financial problems led to their being sent down in 2001 by the French federation and nearly losing their professional status. Exceeding all hopes Toulouse FC quickly returned to Ligue 1 play in the course of just two seasons. After some disappointing results in their first seasons back in Ligue 1, they managed to scrape a place in the preliminary round of the UEFA Champions League, finishing with a 3rd place.

Toulouse's route to the Champions League seemed to be fraught with obstacles, and at one point they were mathematically out of contention. However, in the stalemate with Nantes, they were awarded a win after the Breton crowd invaded the pitch in despair at les Canaris' poor display, which resulted in their renewed belief in the possibility of European football. In a good final day Téfécé beat Girondins de Bordeaux 3–1 (a hat-trick from Johan Elmander), which, when coupled with the losses of the other contenders and Lille's 93rd-minute equalizer against Rennes, saw Toulouse scrape through.

For the second match of the 2007–2008 season, Toulouse beat the Olympique Lyonnais 1–0 at the Stadium Municipal with a goal from Johan Elmander. After the victory against Olympique Lyonnais Toulouse struggled all season to avoid relegation. Their Ligue 1 was finally secured on the last day of the season with a 2–1 home win against Valenciennes.

The 2008–2009 season marked unexpected success for Toulouse. The club finished fourth in the Ligue 1 table with 64 points, and secured a spot in the new Europa League. After a difficult season the previous year in which the club struggled to avoid relegation, not much was expected of Toulouse. The 2008–2009 season also marked the emergence of striker André-Pierre Gignac, who led all scorers in Ligue 1 with 24 goals and was awarded a call-up to the French national team.