Last year we published a piece entitled ‘Le Classique’ - The Rise & Fall of French Football’s greatest rivalry, suggesting that the clash between the premier clubs in France’s two largest cities would almost inevitably constitute the country’s most prestigious rivalry.

As outlined in this piece, the success of Olympique de Marseille & Paris Saint-Germain is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the success of both clubs largely a result of wealthy owners transforming the fortunes of previously middling clubs. The French subscription service Canal+ also cynically exploited the South vs North dynamic of ‘Le Classique’ in order to generate artificial hype that they hoped would, in turn, sell more subscriptions.

However, long before the wealthy owners & Canal+ inflated the prestige of OM & PSG, two clubs based of the France’s Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region,  Olympique Lyonnais & AS Saint-Étienne were rightly considered to be two of the largest clubs in the country. To this day some French football fans are still adamant that the ‘Derby Rhone-Alpes’ represents the biggest match in the French footballing calendar.

Although you are probably increasingly less likely to scan for AS Saint-Étienne when looking at the Ligue 1 table, most casual football fans will not know that the club from relatively non-distinct French city still holds the record for the most Ligue 1 title wins. They amassed 10 titles between the years of 1957 & 1981.

To what extent this represents a statistical anomaly by European football standards cannot really be overstated. The city of Saint-Étienne is home to the 13th largest population in France, meaning that it is far from a major French city. To put this into further perspective, this would be the equivalent of a club from Messina in Italy or Cordoba in Spain being the most decorated club in their respective countries.

Not only is Saint-Étienne a relatively unknown French city, it is not even a particularly wealthy city, making the historic successes of the club even more extraordinary. Saint-Étienne, as a city that was largely borne out of a migration of blue collar workers into the region to work in the nearby mines, as well as the factories that sprung up in the city as the city developed as an industrial hub.

Geographically speaking, Saint-Etienne lies just 50km from Lyon, the region’s most populous & well-known city. However, culturally speaking, the two cities could hardly be more different, with Lyon famous for its culture, food & architecture, as a result of its reputation for being one of the wealthiest cities in the country.

This distinct cultural difference is something that the supporters of both sides are acutely aware of. Fans of ASSE are proud of the city’s industrial heritage, believing themselves to be harder-working and warmer than their counterparts in Lyon. Supporters of OL, however, like to play up the aristocratic standing of Lyon and remind ASSE supporters of their city’s lowly beginnings at any given opportunity, with one common jibe being to compare supporters of ASSE to binmen.

All of this begs the question - just how did the plucky city of Saint-Etienne manage to produce the longest period of sustained success in French football history? 

France’s first professional football league came into existence in 1933. The first couple of decades of the league were characterised by instability, which of course was not aided by the suspension of the league between the years of 1939 and 1945 due to the not insignificant issue of WWII breaking out across much of Europe. Aside from the political instability that impacted the development of the league, the league constituents were far from a picture of solidity themselves.

In neighbouring countries, such as Spain, soon to be famous clubs such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid & Athletic Bilbao were already beginning to emerge as perennial contenders from the 1930s onwards. In contrast, some of the early winners of the French championship are not exactly names that roll off the tongue; Sète, RC Paris (now languishing in France’s fifth tier) & the now defunct Roubaix–Tourcoing.

In the years after WWII, we began to see the rise of prominent clubs from some of the larger cities in France, with clubs from Nice, Marseille & Bordeaux all experiencing success during the 40s & 50s. However, the championship remained very open, with eight different teams winning the league between 1945 and 1960, an openness of competition that, to date, has never been repeated in the history of France’s premier division.

As it would happen, the first of what would become many different golden eras of French football would belong to AS Saint-Étienne. ASSE celebrated their first league title in 1957, but it was only after Roger Rocher was appointed as the club’s president in 1961 that the fortunes truly began to turn.

Rocher had enjoyed a successful career as an industrialist, prior to his abrupt change in career path into the world of French football. Rocher revolutionised the professionalism of the club, establishing a combination of innovative training regime & stable financial structures that would help to guide ‘Les Verts’ (The Greens - named after the ASSE’s distinctive green kit) to nine more titles over the next 20 years or so.

This era of unanticipated Saint-Étienne dominance helped to stoke the flames for the club’s rivalry with Olympique Lyonnais, as Lyon fans grew frustrated by their team being consistently overshadowed by a team that hailed from their blue-collar rivals to the South-West. 

This rivalry continued to intensify even after ASSE’s final championship of their golden era, in 1981, as the greater resources of Paris Saint-Germain & Olympique de Marseille began to increasingly impact the direction of the Ligue 1 title. The atmosphere at Saint-Étienne’s Stade Geoffrey-Guichard & OL’s Stade Gerland for derby day has remained as intense as ever. In the 42nd (Saint-Étienne is in the 42nd départment in France) minute of each match at the Groupama Stadium (OL’s home since 2016), Lyon fans sing “ ‘Emmenez-moi à Geoffroy-Guichard’ (Bring me to the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard) - an indication of how ASSE are always top of mind for Lyon fans, regardless of their opposition.

In fact, the derby was arguably at its most violent during the early to mid 90’s, in spite of the fact that both clubs were enjoying pretty average performances in Ligue 1. Clashes between the supporters were common, with ASSE ultras even breaking through one of the barriers at the Stade Gerland during the 1992-1993 season.

It was only in the early 2000’s when Lyon would start to consistently get the better of its bitter rivals, as an OL team propped up by a golden generation of youngsters - Sidney Govou, Eric Abidal, Michael Essien, Karim Benzema amongst others, combined with influential imports such as the Brazilians, Juninho & Giovane Élber, helped to propel to club to a record seven consecutive league titles, starting with the 2001/2002 season.

This tension has far from abated in recent years, with opposing fans banned from attending derbies at their rival’s stadium as recently as during the 2013/2014 season. In 2017, ASSE reversed their decision to sign former Lyon player, Anthony Mounier, on loan, after the player received death threats from ASSE supporters, based on the player having made pejorative comments about their club previously. Saint-Étienne’s most famous, ultras group, ASSE Magic Fans, were belligerent about their involvement in influencing the decision, releasing a statement claiming that - “any player who insults the club can never wear the green jersey”.

Similarly, while the violence associated with most European derbies has greatly diminished since the heights of the last century, mass brawling in the Cordeliers area of Lyon prior to a ‘Derby du Rhône’ in February 2020, led to several supporters being hospitalised.

Lyon’s unprecedented period of success in the early 2000’s marked the beginning of new era for French football, as clubs from the largest or wealthiest cities began to dominate Ligue 1. For Saint-Étienne, it has now been close to 40 years since their unlikely heroes last lifted the title. For supporters of ASSE, the fact that their working class city, built on coal money, still holds the record for the most French championship is still a source of immense pride. However, Paris-Saint Germain, a club that has recently been revolutionised by an influx of oil money from Qatar, lie ominously in wait with nine titles.

A special thanks to the avid, (and surprisingly impartial), OL fan, Tom Abadie, for his contribution to this article. We recommend giving Tom a follow on Twitter to keep up to speed with his latest projects.