Full name | Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Troyes |
Founded | 1986 |
Ground | Stade de l'Aube |
Capacity | 21,684 |
Chairman | Gary Allen |
Manager | Jean-Louis Garcia |
League | Ligue 1 |
2016–17 | Ligue 2, 3rd (promoted via play-offs) |
Website | Club home page |
Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne is a French association football club, based in Troyes that plays in Ligue 2 after being relegated from Ligue 1 during the 2015-16 season. It was founded in 1986, as the third professional club from the city, after ASTS and TAF. They won the Intertoto Cup in 2001, beating Newcastle United on the away goals rule after the score was 4–4 on aggregate.
The first ever football club in Troyes was created in 1900, as Union Sportive Troyenne (UST). In 1931, it merged with the AS Savinienne, a club from the suburbs of Troyes, to form the Association Sportive Troyenne et Savinienne (ASTS). The newly formed club became professional in 1935, and joined Ligue 2. The club reached Première Division in 1954/55, under the guidance of manager and former international player Roger Courtois (1952–1963), with players such as Abdelaziz Ben Tifour, Marcel Artelesa or Pierre Flamion. It constituted one of the more glorious times for the club, as they reached the Coupe de France final in 1956, against CS Sedan Ardennes, which they went on to lose 3–1. The same day, the youth team of the club won the Coupe Gambardella, the French Youth cup. That very same year, the club failed to keep its place in French top flight, and was back in Division 2. It finally succeed in reaching the Première Division again in 1960, but only lasted one season, and was relegated in 1961. The club had some financial difficulties, and had to leave professional football at the end of the 1962–1963 season, which they finished 17th out of 20. They continued for four more seasons at regional level, under the guidance of former ASTS player Jacques Diebold, before disappearing.