SC Bastia

 ( Official Website ) 

Sporting Club Bastia (, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia; ) is a French professional football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football, having won the 2020–21 Championnat National. Bastia 2–1 Châteauroux : la revue de presse, SC Bastia, 23 April 2012 (in French). The club plays its home matches at the Stade Armand Cesari located within the city. SC Bastia is known for its strong association with Corsican nationalism.

Bastia's main historical success include reaching the final of the 1977–78 edition of the UEFA Cup. The team was defeated by Dutch club PSV Eindhoven (0–0 at home, 0–3 away). Domestically, Bastia won the second division of French football in 1968 and 2012, and the Coupe de France in 1981. During the club's infancy, it was league champions of the "Corsican League" 17 times. They are the local rivals of AC Ajaccio and contest the Corsica derby.

The club has signed several famous players in its history, notably including Dragan Džajić, Claude Papi, Johnny Rep, Roger Milla, Michael Essien, Alex Song, Sébastien Squillaci, Jérôme Rothen, Antar Yahia and Florian Thauvin.

In 2017 the club was relegated to the Championnat National 3 due to financial irregularities and lost its professional licence. I Turchini regained professional status in 2021 following promotion to Ligue 2.

The club began its professional journey in 1965, in Division 2. After three successful seasons, it was crowned Champion of France's Second Division in 1968, joining the elite. The first season was difficult, but the club still maintained its place. Thus began a decade widely considered the finest in club history. In 1972, the club reached, for the first time, the final of the Coupe de France against Olympique de Marseille (losing 2–1), getting it its first qualification in the European Cup Winners' Cup, which led to elimination against the excellent team of Atlético Madrid.

This is the beginning of the team built around playmaker Claude Papi, which was composed of many talented players such as Johnny Rep of the Netherlands; Jean-François Larios, a midfielder and French international; and Charles Orlanducci, the solid libero nicknamed the "Lion of Vescovato". The team eliminated successively Sporting Lisbon, Newcastle United, Torino FC, Carl Zeiss Jena and Grasshoppers Zurich before a final defeat to PSV Eindhoven (0–0, 0–3). Of all the victories, the 3–2 win in Turin made the most lasting impression, the "Toro" being undefeated for two seasons on their home pitch. It is also during this match that Bastia marks the best goal of that time, a volley from 22 meters by Jean-François Larios.

The final would, however, end with misfortune. First, with a first leg played at Furiani on an unplayable pitch,Following this, the leaders of this blessed time decide to renew the following year in July and August 1979 the lawn of this legendary stadium, also with the study and installation of new drains that will remove this "swamp" which prevented the team to get a decent result in the decisive match. heavy rain having fallen on Corsica on 26 April 1978. Unfortunately, the Yugoslavia referee postponed the meeting because of the proximity to World Cup in Argentina that was scheduled a few weeks later. Despite Bastia's dominance, the meeting ended with a goalless draw, 0–0. The final return, 9 May, lasted only 24 minutes. This is the time it took PSV Eindhoven to score the first goal, followed by two more late in the game (3–0). The townsfolk will attribute the defeat of Bastia to fatigue accumulated in the league (3 games in 6 days in the days before the final return) and also the rain-soaked pitch in the first leg at Furiani.

Bastia then realised the greatest moment in Corsican sport (see the movie Forza Bastia of Jacques Tati). The ECBC club, from a town of only 40,000 souls, had done more than challenge the major capitals of UEFA: it had allowed the whole of Corsica to meet, at a time when the nationalist movement was born, three years after the episode of Bastia, in 1975.

Three years after that final, the Bastia won its first trophy with the Coupe de France 1980–81. This was a prestigious victory for the Corsican club facing AS Saint-Etienne of Michel Platini. The final was played at Parc des Princes in front of more than 46,000 spectators, including the newly elected President of the Republic, François Mitterrand.

Antonetti coached the first team from 1994 to 2001 (with an interlude in 1998–99) and was involved in the recruitment of players such as Lubomir Moravcik, Pierre-Yves André, Frédéric Née, Franck Jurietti, and Anto Drobnjak, the latter of whom was the club's top scorer in his third season. At the end of the 1995–96 season, Drobnjak was also second in the Championship scoring charts with 20 goals, one goal behind top scorer Sonny Anderson. D1 1995–1996 buteurs, France Football.

In the 1996–97 season the club finished in 7th place in Ligue 1, just 3 points off bronze position, thus qualifying for the Intertoto Cup. The club won the Intertoto Cup, and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the 1997–98 season. Bastia eliminated Benfica in the round of 32 before falling to Steaua Bucharest in the next round. This defeat left a bitter taste due to the domination Bastia had in both matches. Intertoto et UEFA 1997, SC Bastia. Retrieved 29 July 2012 (in French). The performance of Bastia in the league in the following years allowed it to qualify two more times for the Intertoto Cup, in 1998 and 2001, but failed to re-qualify for the UEFA Cup.

After the departure of Antonetti in 2001, the club would not finish in the top ten again. They did reach the final of the Coupe de France in 2001–02; in their midfield was Michael Essien, who would go on to play for Lyon and Chelsea. Another player groomed by Bastia was defender Alex Song, who later played for Arsenal and FC Barcelona.

Between 2002 and 2005, Bastia was managed by Robert Nouzaret, Gerard Gili, François Ciccolini, and lastly the duo of Michel Padovani and Eric Durand. Each failed to take the team to the top ten, the final league placing actually falling each year (see Section championship history), despite the first team featuring the likes of Tony Vairelles, Florian Maurice, Franck Silvestre, Lilian Laslandes (all internationals) and Cyril Jeunechamp.

In the winter break of the 2004–05 season, the club fell into the relegation zone. Bastia recruited Christian Karembeu, member of the 1998 World Cup-winning France team, but Bastia would still be relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of the season after 11 consecutive years in Ligue 1.

On 6 July 2010, the club was administratively relegated to Championnat de France amateur by the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG). The club actually had a deficit of €1.2 million, which was filled by grants from local governments (Territorial Community of Corsica, the General Council of Haute-Corse). 1 million € pour Bastia, Le Figaro, 13 July 2010 (in French). On 23 July 2010, the Federal Council of the French Football Federation authorised Bastia to play in the 2010–11 season, as requested by the National Olympic Committee and French sports (CNOSF) after the DNCG had refused. Bastia maintenu, Le Figaro, 23 July 2010 (in French).

Despite this disrupted pre-season, Bastia performed well in the transfer window, with no fewer than six rookies. As for departures, there is mainly the transfer of Florent Ghisolfi (Reims) and Christophe Gaffory (Vannes OC) as well as Pierre-Yves André who decided to end his career.

Bastia won all the trophies UNFP for Ligue 2: Jérôme Rothen, best player; Macedo Novaes, best goalkeeper; and Frédéric Hantz, best coach, who placed five players in the team line-up (Macedo Novaes, Féthi Harek, Wahbi Khazri, Sadio Diallo and Jérôme Rothen).

In the 2016–17 Ligue 1 season, after four seasons in the top division, Bastia finished bottom of the Ligue 1 table and were relegated to Ligue 2.

• Founders (Ferrandi and Luiggi families) - 38% voting rights and 4 board seats
• Economic actors (businesses and organizations) - 22% voting rights and 2 board seats
• Supporters - 20% voting rights and 2 board seats
• Employees and prior employees (players, staff and administrative personnel) - 10% voting rights and 1 board seat
• Public entities (Regional and municipal authorities) - 10% voting rights
• SC Bastia Association - 1 board seat

This structure allows the club to involve any type of supporter into the clubs decision-making, in a transparent structure.

The following season, the club would go on to an up-and-down first half of season, before an extremely strong second half that would see Regis Brouard guide the club to a 4th-place finish, having for a long time looked towards promotion in a three-way fight with Bordeaux and Metz. During the summer break, expectations were high and the fans wanted to see the club fight for promotion. The club would go on to have a difficult first half of the season, being 15th at the halfway point. In a repeat of the previous sacking, coach Regis Brouard would be sacked following a 3–1 defeat away to Valenciennes and just before the derby against Ajaccio on January 29. Reserve team coach Michel Moretti and assistant coach Lilian Laslandes were brought on as caretaker coaches until the end of the season, guiding the team to a 13th-place finish.

The club announced the arrival and return of Frédéric Antonetti as Technical Director on March 26, 2024, with the responsibility of overseeing the sporting policy of the first team as well as the youth and reserve teams. Benoit Tavenot would then be named first team coach on June 5, also returning to SC Bastia for the 2024–25 Ligue 2 season.

[[Stephane Viale