Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), is a French association football club based in
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
, the capital city of the
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.department. The club was formed in 1919 and currently play at the fifth level of
French football
Association football is the most popular sport in France. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the cou ...
Tours Football Club was founded in 1919 as under the name ''AS Docks-du-Centre''. After two years of playing under the moniker, the club changed its name to ''AS du Centre''. The club spent 30 years under the name as French football entered professionalism in the 1930s. In 1951, the club changed its name again to the current Tours FC. Under the Tours emblem, the club achieved success in its infancy reaching the Round of 64 in the
Coupe de France
The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...
thanks to player-coach Alfred Aston that same year.
Tours was promoted to the first division in 1980. Prior to the start of the season, the club signed prolific strikerDelio Onnis from
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
. Onnis improved the club's attack significantly over the next three years and departing the club in 1983 after Tours suffered relegation. During Onnis' stint between 1980 and 1983, Tours twice reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France in 1982 and
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
. The club was eliminated on both occasions by
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...
. In 1984, Tours quickly returned to the first division after winning Division 2 title. However, after one season, the club returned to the lower league. Tours have yet to manage a return to Ligue 1.
During the club's current absence from Ligue 1, Tours fell to the Championnat National, the third division of French football, after finishing dead last in the 2006–07 season. During the season, Albert Falette, the club manager for eight years was removed from his position. At the end of the season, the club released or sold almost all its players, including captain David Fleurival. The club only kept long-time goalkeeper Armand Raimbault and young prospect Rudy Wendling. The long-term outlook strategy paid off with the club finishing second in the 2007–08 National season, thus returning to Ligue 2, where the club remained for ten years until relegated to Championnat National following a last place finish in the 2017-2018 campaign.
The club were relegated again at the end of the 2018–19 Championnat National season, and were further relegated administratively by the ''DNCG'', confirmed by appeal on 11 July 2019, forcing them to play at the fifth level Championnat National 3 in the 2019–20 season.
In April 2020, after the truncation of the season due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, Tours expected to be promoted back to
Championnat National 2
The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligu ...
, due to being placed top of their group at the time the season was stopped. However, on 15 June 2020, The DNCG committee of the FFF denied their promotion. The decision was ratified by the appeal committee on 10 July 2020.
In March 2021, after a season voided by COVID-19, the club announced the opening of a ''Société coopérative d’intérêt collectif (SCIC)'' (cooperative shareholding society) with the hope of involving more of the community in the governance of the club. In July 2021, the DNCG committee of the FFF relegated the club to the sixth tier for financial reasons. The result was confirmed on appeal later in the month. They finished top of their division at the end of the 2021–22 season, but the league ruled they were to be denied promotion for financial reasons. The decision was overturned on appeal, and Tours climbed back to National 3.
Colours and logos
Tours' crest is inspired by the city's coats of arms with three towers and a
Fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol.
The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
. It bears the club's motto "Turonorum civitas libera", which means in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
"Free city of Turones". Turones is the Celtic tribe, which gave its name to
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
. The motto was found engraved on a rock, which is now in the undergrounds of the Beaux Arts Museum located in the city. The
salamander
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...
Tours has been playing at the Stade de la Vallée du Cher since 1978. In 1979, the stadium's capacity was 22,000, but now only incorporates on 13,500. The stadium was built thanks to former mayor Jean Royer, as he wanted a decent venue for the club. Before the construction of the Vallée du Cher, Tours played its home matches at the Stade de Grammont.
Supporters
In France, Tours is not a town fond of football because of the lack of football tradition. Moreover, supporters were disappointed of the club's poor results in the past. However, the accession to Ligue 2 in 2006 where they remained for 10 seasons created some interest in the city and audiences in the stadium are gradually increasing. There are currently three groups of supporters:
* Amicale des supporters
* Turons 1951
* Les Diables Bleus
Players
Current squad
Reserve team
Notable former players
Below are the notable former players who have represented Tours in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1919. To appear in the section below, a player must have played in at least 80 official matches for the club.
''For a complete list of Tours FC players, see :Tours FC players.''
* Alfred Aston
* Fatih Atık
* Patrice Augustin
* Yves Bertucci
* Julien Cétout
*
Olivier Giroud
Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work-rate, strength, acrobatic strikes, shot power, consistent goal-s ...
Laurent Koscielny
Laurent Koscielny (born 10 September 1985) is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre back.
Born in Tulle, Koscielny began his football career playing for a host of youth clubs before moving to Guingamp in 2003, where he q ...
Guy Lacombe
Guy Hubert Georges Lacombe (born 12 June 1955) is a French manager (association football), football manager and former professional football player, player.
Playing career
Lacombe was a member of the French squad that won the gold medal at the ...
Gaëtan Englebert
Gaëtan Englebert (born 11 June 1976) is a Belgian former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and the current director of football of RFC Liège.
Club career
Born in Liège, Englebert started playing professionally with local club R ...
*
Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco
Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco (born 22 December 1963) is a Beninese former professional footballer who played as a defender. Bocco captained the Benin national football team
The Benin national football team (French: Équipe nationale de Football d ...