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Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), was a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based in
Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Formed in 1919, the club adopted the name Tours FC in 1951 after several other name changes. The club was dissolved on 26 February 2025 due to years of financial struggles. Home matches were played the Stade de la Vallée du Cher located within the city.


History

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 (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...
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 striker Delio Onnis from
Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
. 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 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
and
1983 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 of the ...
. The club was eliminated on both occasions by
Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...
. 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 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...
. During the club's current absence from Ligue 1, Tours fell to the
Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...
, 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 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...
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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, 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 Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system be ...
, 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. On 26 February 2025, Tours's liquidation due to financial struggles was confirmed by the
French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...
. The club's teams were removed from all leagues in France.


Colours and crests

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 common heraldic charge in the (stylized) shape of a lily (in French, and mean and respectively). Most notably, the ''fleur-de-lis'' ...
. It bears the club's motto "Turonorum civitas libera", which means in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
"Free city of Turones". Turones is the
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...
tribe, which gave its name to
Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...
. 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 ...
is a reference to King François I.


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 Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Giroud began his senior club career ...
* Sébastien Gondouin * Christophe Himmer * Laurent Koscielny * Frédéric Laurent * Guy Lacombe * Christophe Mandanne * Michel Rodriguez * Youssouf Touré *
Omar da Fonseca Omar da Fonseca (born 20 October 1959) is an Argentine association football, football Sports commentator, commentator and former Football player, player. Personal life Born in Argentina, da Fonseca is a Naturalization, naturalized citizen of F ...
* Delio Onnis * Gaëtan Englebert *
Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco (born 22 December 1963) is a Beninese former professional association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), defender. Bocco captained the Benin national football team, until he retired from ...
* Cédric Collet * David Fleurival * Peter Jehle *
Antoine Dossevi Pierre-Antoine Dossevi (born 17 January 1952) is a Togolese former professional Association football, footballer who played as a right winger (association football), right winger. Career Dossevi made appearances for Tours FC, Tours, Paris Saint ...


Managers


References


External links

* {{Tours FC Association football clubs established in 1951 Sport in Tours, France 1951 establishments in France Football clubs in France Football clubs in Centre-Val de Loire Ligue 1 clubs Association football clubs disestablished in 2025 2025 disestablishments in France