The Association Sportive Amicale was a

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

based in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, which was founded in 1897 and dissolved in 1904 after being absorbed by Madrid FC. It was founded by students at the

Lycée Français de Madrid Lycée Français de Madrid (LFM, ) is a French international school in Madrid, Spain. It serves levels ''maternelle'' (preschool) until ''lycée'' (senior high school). It is directly operated by the Agency for French Education Abroad. It has two ...

under the name Association Sportive Française, and together with Sky Foot-Ball Club, it was the first pioneer of football in the Madrid region.

Beginnings

The club was born in 1897, in parallel to the creation of the Sky Football Club, possibly due to the relationship between the students of the French Lyceum and those from the

Institución Libre de Enseñanza The Institución Libre de Enseñanza (ILE, English: ''Free Teaching Institution'') was a pedagogical experience developed in Spain for more than half a century (1876–1939). It was inspired by the Krausism, Krausist philosophy introduced at the Co ...

. The name chosen was Association Sportive Française. Due to the limited extension of the said sport in the country, there were still no proper venues for its practice, so the enthusiastic players were distributed by different vacant lots and areas of the city in which the players themselves arrived early to paint the lines of the field and prepare the goals to be able to play their matches, but mainly they were held at the Lycée Français de Madrid. In 1902 it changed its name to the Association Sportive Amicale, becoming commonly known as the Amicale.

Decline and Collapse

Madrid FC's loss in the 1903 Copa del Rey Final caused a convulsive situation within the entity that led to the departure of several of its founding and most important members. The split was led by the Giralt brothers (

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

and

Armando Armando may refer to: * Armando (given name) * Armando (artist) (1929–2018), the name used by Dutch artist Herman Dirk van Dodeweerd * Armando (producer) Armando Gallop (sometimes written as Armando Gallup) (February 12, 1970 – December 17, ...

) and

Antonio Neyra Antonio Sánchez de Neyra Castro (16 March 1884 – Unknown) was a Spanish association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for Real Madrid CF, Madrid FC, Club Español de Madrid and RCD Espanyol. He was on ...

, who then refounded the

Club Español de Madrid Club Español de Madrid was a Football in Spain, Spanish football club based in Madrid. The club was originally formed in 1901 after a conflict between New Foot-Ball Club, Sky Football members caused some of them to leave and create a new club. Es ...

in late 1903. This put Madrid in a very difficult situation as they were suffering from a lack of players. AS Amicale was also struggling, so the directors of Madrid FC,

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

and

Carlos Padrós Carlos Padrós Rubió, also known as Carles Padrós Rubió (9 November 1870 – 30 December 1950) was a Spanish politician, businessman and football pioneer who was the 3rd President of Real Madrid. He was a member of the Spanish Liberal Party ...

proposed them, an agreement that could benefit everyone: a merger. Amicale accepted in order to survive, and so, on 30 January 1904, Madrid FC absorbed both the French team and Moderno Football Club, emerging as ''Madrid-Moderno Football Club'' (Moderno required to impose its name in the new name of the club), the name under which it competed in the 1903–04 Centro Championship, which they won. Thus, AS Amicale was another of the clubs that made it possible for Madrid FC to continue growing.

was elected president post-merger.

Notable players

Among the ranks of AS Amicale, the figure of Dagniere and

Pedro Parages Pedro Parages Diego-Madrazo (17 December 1883 – 15 February 1950) was a Franco-Spanish footballer, manager, and the 5th President of Real Madrid from July 1916 until 16 May 1926. During his mandate, Madrid FC received the Royal title (''Rea ...

stood out, especially the latter, who joined the discipline of Madrid FC and had a great influence on its future development and successes, even netting twice in the 1906 Copa del Rey Final to help his side to a 4–1 win over

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

. Parages even came to preside the club as its fifth historical president.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Association Sportive Amicale Defunct football clubs in Spain Defunct football clubs in the Community of Madrid 1902 establishments in Spain 1907 disestablishments in Spain Association football clubs established in 1902 Football clubs in Madrid