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 3, the third 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 Ajaccio and contest the Derby Corse.
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.
History
Genesis of the team and beginning of professional football
Sporting Club de Bastia was founded in 1905 by a Swiss named Hans Ruesch. He taught German in high school in Bastia. The first president of Bastia was Emile Brandizi. The Corsican club celebrated its debut on the Place d'Armes of Bastia, in the light of a single gas burner.Thierry Berthou, Dictionnaire historique des clubs de football français, Tome 1 : Abbeville – Montpellier, Éditions Pages de Foot, 1999, p. 60
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.
UEFA Cup finalist in 1978 and Cup victory in France in 1981 In 1977, Bastia finished third in the Division 1 with the best offence in the league, and qualified for the UEFA Cup.
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, 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 Yugoslav 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.
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 St. 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.
Descent in Division 2, Furiani disaster, and takeover by the FLNC-Canal Historique
After 18 years in the elite, the club went down to the second division at the end of the 1985–86 season, and stayed for eight years.
SC Bastia, alongside rival club AC Ajaccio, played a central role in the early period of the "Years of Lead", a period of turbulent infighting in the 1990s during the Corsican conflict. AC Ajaccio had been taken over by members of the FLNC-Canal Habituel, and the rival FLNC-Canal Historique, the largest guerrilla group present in Corsica known for its militaristic platform, was looking to expand their influence and income in a similar fashion. Historiques had more influence than Habituels in Bastia and had also hoped to gain further grassroots support via the football team. Thus, they approached Jean-François Filippi, president of SC Bastia at the time, who hired Historiques as bodyguards and even placed Jean-Martin Verdi, a Historique militant and high-ranking member of the Historique's A Cuncolta Naziunalista party, in the position of treasurer and later general secretary.Le Parisien. Le foot à Bastia, une histoire de famille
This era is marked by the catastrophe of Furiani: In the 1991–92 season, the club reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. The match was played at Stade Armand Cesari, or "Furiani Stadium", against Olympique de Marseille which dominated the Championship of France. The enthusiasm was such that was decided to hastily construct a temporary stand of 10,000 seats. The upper part of the platform collapsed a few minutes before kick-off killing 18 and injuring 2,300.Huit saisons en D2, SC Bastia. Retrieved 29 July 2012 (in French). Filippi received a large amount of public scrutiny for the incident, and was largely held responsible for the disaster. However, Filippi was given defense and legal protection by the FLNC-Canal Historique. Robert Sozzi, a Historique, refused to protect Filippi, and this is cited as a possible reason for his assassination by other Historiques in 1993. Historiques are also implicated in the disappearance of Pierre Bianconi, known for his support for Alain Orsoni, leader of the FLNC-Canal Habituel, which was engaged in a harsh internal war with the Historiques at the time. Filippi was himself assassinated by Habituels in 1994.
Filippi was replaced as president of SC Bastia by François Nicolai, a member of the FLNC-Canal Historique, who worked alongside his brother Jean Nicolai and Jean-Martin Verdi, both of whom were also FLNC members. The Nicolai brothers were arrested and interrogated in 2005 by French police, where they claimed to be subject to torture at the hands of French authorities. The Nicolai brothers during their presidency were, according to police and their own testimonies, working under Charles Pieri, the leader of the FLNC-Canal Historique and SC Bastia's "de facto" president. He accompanied SC Bastia's executive on away games and even personally oversaw the transfer of Michael Essien to Lyon in 2003.
Return to Ligue 1 and in the European Cup The club returned to the elite for the 1994–95 season and that year reached the final of the League Cup. This era was marked by the work of Frédéric Antonetti, who coached the club between 1990 and 1994 and oversaw the development of new talents (Morlaye Soumah, Laurent Casanova, and Cyril Rool).
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 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.
The Descent Below In 2005, the club was relegated to Ligue 2. Five years later, Bastia was in serious danger of descent into the Championnat National. Bastia was officially relegated to the National on 7 May 2010, following a draw (0–0) with Tours at the 37th matchday of Ligue 2.Une page se tourne, SC Bastia, 8 May 2010 (in French).
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) as well as Pierre-Yves André who decided to end his career.
The rise in Ligue 2