Football in Monaco

Football in Monaco
Stade Louis IIis the home stadium of the clubAS Monaco.
Country	Monaco
Governing body	FMF
National team(s)	Monaco
First played	1919(1919)
Clubs	1
Club competitions
List Cups: Challenge Prince Rainier III Trophée Ville de Monaco Challenge Monégasque

Principality of Monaco

Monaco is one of the few sovereign states not to be members ofFIFA.

Footballis one of the leading sports in the smallPrincipality of Monaco,enjoying large popularity alongsidemotor racing,yachting,andtennis.It is governed by theMonegasque Football Federation.

International football

Main article:Monaco national football team

Monaco is one of two sovereign European states (along with theVatican City) that is not aUEFAmember and does not have a national team competing inUEFA Euroqualifiers orFIFA World Cupqualifiers. The cause of this may be the historically close ties to France, but this is also true ofAndorra,while they have their own separate team. It may be purely because Monaco have never applied to join UEFA, despite fulfilling all the required criteria. In recent years, there has reportedly been more interest in achieving this status.

TheMonaco national teaminstead tend to play small-scale matches against non-FIFA members, usually across the border inCap-d'Ail.

Domestic football

Club football

Main article:List of football clubs in Monaco

Domestic football within the principality is governed by theMonegasque Football Federation,founded in 2000.

AS Monaco

Football in Monaco is dominated byAS Monaco,who were founded in 1919 and play in the FrenchLigue 1,which they have won on eight occasions, also winning fiveFrench Cupsin the process. The club have traditionally been heavily backed by the monarchy, with large financial support which helps the club compete with teams from much larger cities. The club plays at the Stade Louis II, where average attendances have sometimes been as low as 5,000 demonstrating the need for financial aid to compete with teams who draw crowds several times that figure.

In 2004, they were runners-up in theUEFA Champions LeaguetoFC Porto,widely regarded as the most prestigious club tournament in world-wide football. Their success and the large financial subsidy they receive has caused occasional bad feelings; it has been proposed, often by rival clubs in the Ligue 1, that AS Monaco should not be allowed to qualify for European competition from the French League, thereby taking a place allocated for a French team, with some even suggesting they should be expelled from French football altogether.

One compromise that has been suggested is that AS Monaco continue to play in the French League system, but take part in a yearly qualifying tournament to earn the right to represent Monaco in European competition, as football teams inCanadado by theCanadian Championship.This solution would require the Principality to gain full or associate member status of UEFA first.

On 4 February 2022, AS Monaco passed the 20 million social media fan mark, which is the 16th largest in Europe.

Domestic cups

Despite the small size of the country, Monaco still has many teams (mostly works teams, set up by employers or employees of a company), and they compete yearly in different competitions, which are:

• Challenge Prince Rainier III- the most prestigious cup in Monaco.
• Trophée Ville de Monaco- the second level competition in the country.
• Challenge Monégasque- the third most important competition in Monaco.

Super Cup

Previously Monaco hosted theUEFA Super Cupbetween the winners of theUEFA Champions Leagueand theUEFA Cup.UEFAannounced that from2013onwards, various stadiums will be used for theSuper Cup.

Football stadiums in Monaco

Stadium	Capacity	City	Club	Image
Stade Louis II	18,523	Monaco	AS Monaco

See also

• AS Monaco
• List of football clubs in Monaco
• Monaco national football team
• Challenge Prince Rainier III
• Lists of stadiums
• Non-FIFA international football