Racing Santander

Founded in 1906 by a group of youngsters, Racing Strasbourg commonly known as RC Strasbourg is a French football team playing in Strassbourg. Nicknamed Racing, they are playing in league 1, being promoted from league 2 at the end of 2006-07 seasons. They were the champions of France for the first and only time in their history.   Interesting facts:   Official name: Racing Club de Strasbourg Founded: 1906 Colors: Blue and White Nickname: Le Racing    Chairman: Phillipe Ginestet Coach: Jean-Marc Furlan Ground: Stade de la Meinau Strasbourg, France (capacity 29,230)   History of the Club   It all began at the beginning of the century. Some youngsters from the Neudorf neighborhood loved kicking a football that was nothing but a ball of cloth at the time. Thanks to their savings and the support of their primary school teacher, they made the acquisition of a true leather football. Not much later, they formed a team and created an association that they christened Fußball Club Neudorf in 1906.   On 12 December, 1908 the club was renamed FC Neudorf. In 1914, FC Neudorf rented le jardin Haemmerle for 300 deutschmarks a year, a green rectangle that will later take the name, Stade de la Meinau. In the aftermath of World War I, the club adopted the name Racing-Club Strasbourg-Neudorf until becoming simply Racing Club Strasbourg later in the year. The first spectators’ gallery, built out of wood, began to fill up to applaud Racing from 1921 and one had to wait for five years to see Racing bring back its first title in glory, that of the Champion of Alsace. On June 10th 1933, at the “restaurant de la Bourse”, Racing made the big jump to the professional ranks, thanks to an extraordinary General Assembly that confirmed the addition of Racing. Several months later, they attended the first climb in Division 1 after four matches of blocking against Mulhouse (0-0 and 3-1) and against Saint-Etienne (2-0 and 4-4). Everything started well for Racing that immediately placed itself at the top of the table. After World War II, the Alsatian club was always in the first division but at the end of the 48/49 season, it was condemned to relegation. The liquidation of the professional team by SR Colmar was nothing but a miracle. This sale brought about the continuation of Racing among the elite. However, the reprieve was only temporary. In 1951-52, the club witnessed a worst season, Racing was sent down to division 2. Some months later, RC Strasbourg battled US Valenciennes 3-0, which was the first victory in the French Cup after the two lost finals in ’37 and ’47. In 1959, artificial lighting was unveiled and one had to wait until the mid-60’s to find a champion Racing side, in the Villes de Foire Cup. The French Cup came back to Strasbourg in 1966, fifteen years later. The club spent the early 70s moving up and down between the first and second division. Moreover, on 15 October 1976 they assumed their old identity as Racing Club Strasbourg. The end of the 1976-77 seasons saw Racing promoted to league 1 once again. They advanced the quarterfinals of European Champions Cup the next season, where they were eliminated by Ajax Amsterdam . Strasbourg returned to the top flight in 1992. In 95, a place in the final of the French Cup (defeated 1-0) permitted it to get a taste for big matches and for the European Cup; Racing reached the final 16, but got eliminated by the great AC Milan . Two years later, it played at the top of the table the whole year but only finished 9th in an exemplary season. That same year, the IMG group was chosen by the municipality to change the fate of the club and the players trained by the captain of the French champions in ’79, Jacky Duguépéroux, wrote a new page in the history of Racing by taking the League Cup against Bordeaux . After a season in “purgatory” in 2001/2002, Racing immediately retook its place among the football elite in the Hexagon by finishing as vice-champion of League 2. The 2002/2003 season, in which Racing finished in an encouraging 13th place, was marked by the withdrawal of the IMG group and the arrival of a new and ambitious group led by Egon Gindorf, who succeeded Patrick Proisy as president, and by Marc Keller, named General Director. Placed under the title “recapture”, the 2003/2004 season needed to allow Racing to stabilize the club amongst the national elite and to win the favor of the Alsatian public once again. In 2005, Racing won their second domestic trophy, a feat that provided them with a passport to 2005\06 UEFA Cup. Following the 2006-06 season, Racing was relegated into division 2. Jean-Pierre Papin took over from Jacky Dugueperoux, signing a two-year contract to coach the club as they took return to the top flight. Despite their success, Papin resigned as manager. His successor is Jean-Marc Furlan. Honors Cups ·          Coupe de France winners (3): 1951, 1966,2001 ·          Coupe de la League winners (2): 1997, 2005 ·          UEFA Intertoto Cup winners (1): 1995 Records ·          Largest victory 8-1 (vs. RC Paris 1946\47) and 7-0 (vs. OGC Nice 1962\64) ·          Largest defeat 0-8 (v. Limoges,1959\60) The current league ranking of the team is 10 of 20.