Toulouse

Full name	Toulouse Football Club
Nickname(s)	Le Téfécé Les Violets Le Tef Les Pitchouns[1]
Short name	TFC
Founded	1970; 54 years ago (1970)
Ground	Stadium de Toulouse
Capacity	33,150
Coordinates	43°34′59″N 1°26′3″E / 43.58306°N 1.43417°E / 43.58306; 1.43417
Owner	RedBird Capital Partners (85%)
President	Damien Comolli
Manager	Carles Martínez Novell
League	Ligue 1
2023–24	Ligue 1, 11th of 18
Website	toulousefc.com
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Toulouse Football Club (Occitan: Tolosa Fotbòl Club) is a French professional football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse located within the city.

Les Violets won the Coupe de France in 2023, and have won the second tier Ligue 2 on three occasions.^[2] Toulouse have participated in European competition six times, including in 2007 when they qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time.^[3]

The president of Toulouse FC is Damien Comolli, who succeeded the French businessman Olivier Sadran who took over the club following its bankruptcy in 2001 which resulted in it being relegated to the Championnat National. The club has served as a springboard for several players, most notably the World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, international strikers André-Pierre Gignac, Martin Braithwaite and Wissam Ben Yedder.

The city was left without a big side in 1967 when Toulouse FC sold its players and place in the French top flight to Paris outfit Red Star, but three years later a new club, Union Sportive Toulouse, rose from the ashes. Adopting red and yellow jerseys, the club started out in Ligue 2 and in 1979 reclaimed the name Toulouse FC. Now wearing purple and white, Les Pitchouns gained top-flight promotion in 1982. A side containing Jacques Santini and Swiss forward Daniel Jeandupeux earned a penalty shoot-out victory against Diego Maradona's Napoli in the 1986–87 UEFA Cup, Toulouse's maiden European campaign.

After goalkeeper Fabien Barthez made his breakthrough and moved on, Toulouse were relegated in 1994. They subsequently bounced back and forth between Ligues 1 and 2 before slipping to the third flight in 2001 after financial problems. Toulouse were back in the top flight two seasons later, and in 2007 they finished third to earn a place in the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. There, Liverpool overpowered them 5–0 on aggregate.^[3]

In 2008–09, Toulouse finished fourth in the Ligue 1 table with 64 points, and secured a spot in the new Europa League, while André-Pierre Gignac led all scorers in Ligue 1 with 24 goals and was awarded a call-up to the France national team.^[4]

In the 2015–16 Ligue 1 season, Toulouse avoided relegation to Ligue 2 in the last game of the season. With 12 minutes to go, Toulouse were behind to Angers 2–1 and needed a win to survive, and scored two late goals and won the match 3–2.^[5] Two years later, they finished 18th and won the promotion/relegation playoff 4–0 on aggregate against Ligue 2's AC Ajaccio.^[6]

On 6 January 2020, Toulouse dismissed manager Antoine Kombouaré following the club's 1–0 loss to Championnat National 2 side Saint-Pryvé Saint-Hilaire in the Coupe de France. Under Kombouaré the club had lost ten matches in a row, leading him to be dismissed and replaced by Denis Zanko.^[7] On 30 April that year, Toulouse were relegated to Ligue 2 after the LFP elected to end the season early due to the coronavirus pandemic.^[8]

On 21 July 2020, RedBird Capital Partners acquired an 85% stake in Toulouse FC.^[9] The club achieved promotion back to Ligue 1 by winning the second tier, Ligue 2, in 2022.^[10] On 29 April 2023, Toulouse won its first-ever Coupe de France title, defeating Kombouaré's Nantes in the final by a score of 5–1.^[11] It was the city's second title, however, as the former Toulouse FC had won it back in 1957.^[12][13]

• Union Sportive Toulouse (1970–79)
• Toulouse Football Club (1979–current)

Toulouse play their home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse. Built in 1937, the stadium presently has a capacity of 33,150. The stadium was used as a venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, 2007 Rugby Union World Cup and UEFA Euro 2016.

The violet is a reference to one of two Toulouse nicknames: la Cité des violettes (the City of Violets), the second one being la Ville rose (the Pink City), which explains the colour of former alternate jerseys.^[3] The team's logo displays the gold and blood-red Occitan cross, the symbol of Occitania, of which Toulouse is a historical capital.^[4]

The Derby de la Garonne is a derby match between Girondins de Bordeaux and Toulouse. The derby derives from the fact that Bordeaux and Toulouse are the two major cities in south-western France, both of which are situated on the Garonne River. The consistency and competitiveness of the rivalry developed following Toulouse's return to Ligue 1 after being administratively relegated to the Championnat National in 2001.^[14]

As of 31 August 2024^[15]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  DEN Rasmus Nicolaisen (vice-captain) 3 DF  USA Mark McKenzie 4 DF  ENG Charlie Cresswell 5 MF  AUS Denis Genreau 6 DF  ROU Ümit Akdağ (on loan from Alanyaspor) 7 FW  MAR Zakaria Aboukhlal 8 MF  SUI Vincent Sierro (captain) 9 FW  CMR Frank Magri 10 MF  FRA Yann Gboho 12 DF  NOR Warren Kamanzi 13 FW  NOR Joshua King

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 FW  NOR Aron Dønnum 17 DF  CHI Gabriel Suazo 19 DF  FRA Djibril Sidibé 20 MF  GER Niklas Schmidt 21 MF  SVN Miha Zajc (on loan from Fenerbahçe) 23 MF  VEN Cristian Cásseres Jr. 30 GK  ESP Álex Domínguez 40 GK  FRA Justin Lacombe 50 GK  FRA Guillaume Restes 80 FW  GAB Shavy Babicka

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 10 FW  NED Ibrahim Cissoko (on loan at Plymouth Argyle until 30 June 2025) 11 MF  ESP César Gelabert (on loan at Sporting Gijón until 30 June 2025) — GK  NOR Kjetil Haug (on loan at Odds BK until 31 December 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  BIH Said Hamulić (on loan at Widzew Łódź until 30 June 2025) — DF  SWE Oliver Zandén (on loan at Randers FC until 31 December 2024)

As of 11 May 2023.^[2]

• Coupe de France
  • Winners (1): 2022–23^[12]
• Ligue 2
  • Winners (3): 1981–82, 2002–03, 2021–22

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1986–87	UEFA Cup	First round	Napoli	1–0 (a.e.t.)	0–1	1–1 (4–3 p)
		Second round	Spartak Moscow	3–1	1–5	4–6
1987–88	UEFA Cup	First round	Panionios	5–1	1–0	6–1
		Second round	Bayer Leverkusen	1–1	0–1	1–2
2007–08	UEFA Champions League	Third qualifying round	Liverpool	0–1	0–4	0–5
2007–08	UEFA Cup	Play-off round	CSKA Sofia	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		Group E	Bayer Leverkusen	—	0–1	5th place
			Spartak Moscow	2–1	—
			Zürich	—	0–2
			Sparta Prague	2–3	—
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	Trabzonspor	0–1	3–1	3–2
		Group J	Shakhtar Donetsk	0–2	0–4	3rd place
			Club Brugge	2–2	0–1
			Partizan	1–0	3–2
2023–24	UEFA Europa League	Group E	Union Saint-Gilloise	0–0	1–1	2nd place
			LASK	1–0	2–1
			Liverpool	3–2	1–5
		Knockout round play-offs	Benfica	0–0	1–2	1–2

Source: LFP.fr

• Toulouse FC (women)

• Toulouse Football Club, de 1937 à nos jours, de Jean-Louis Berho et Didier Pitorre, avec la collaboration de Jean-Paul Cazeneuve et Jérôme Leclerc (Éditions Universelles)
• La Grande Histoire du TFC, de Nicolas Bernard (Éditions Universelles)
• TouFoulCan, la Bande-dessinée qui supporte le Toulouse Football Club.

• Official website (in French)
• Toulouse Football Club at Ligue 1 (in French)
• Toulouse FC at UEFA