AS Monaco news from every source, in real time: today's stories, matches, table and fixtures, the club's official content and its history, from eight French league titles and five Coupes de France to the 2004 UEFA Champions League final at the Stade Louis-II.
Ligue 1
Angers
Auxerre
Brestɛs mɔnako]), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, due to the small size of Monaco, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football.
Founded in 1918, the team play their home matches at the Stade Louis II. Their training center is situated in France, in La Turbie.
Despite not being a French club, Monaco are one of the most successful clubs in French football, having won eight league titles, five Coupe de France trophies and one Coupe de la Ligue. The club has also played in European football a number of times, and were runners-up in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League in 2004.
The club's traditional colours are red and white, and the club is known as Les Rouge et Blanc (lit. 'The Red and Whites'). Monaco is a member of the European Club Association. Since December 2011, the club has been majority-owned by the Russian oligarch and billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev.
International status
Unlike several other European microstates, Monaco has never organized a domestic league and has never sought separate membership in either UEFA or FIFA. Therefore, Monaco became a full member of the French league system, enabling it to represent France in European club competitions. There are several other expatriated football clubs in operation around Europe (such as FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein), but Monaco is unique in that it represents a nation that is not a member of any international organizations.
In 2013, the French Football Professional League (LFP) amended its rules to include the obligation for a club competing in French professional leagues to have its registered office in France. In 2015, the French Council of State ruled in favour of Monaco, allowing the club to keep its registered office in the principality. As a result, football players in Monaco continue to enjoy lower social security contributions (35-40% of an employee’s gross salary compared to the 55-60% of French clubs) and non-French players do not pay income tax in Monaco. This endows AS Monaco with an advantage in terms of signing world-class players.