Aarran Summers

Walking up to Stade Louis II, you immediately notice how tiny the stadium is. A multipurpose arena with a capacity just shy of over 18,500. As one looks inside, it is eerily quiet, as the Mediterranean winds cross the pitch. On game day, it remains so. Not so long ago, Monaco was thriving, and it was packed. Things have changed for one of France’s great footballing clubs. 

Unlike the other nineteen clubs in France, Monaco has royal approval. Prince Albert II a keen supporter of his club. It was during his namesake’s reign that the club was found. Three years before Prince Albert’s I death in 1922, Monaco was merged by five different clubs in the region. It took the club nearly thirty years to become a professional outfit.

Whenever you asked an experienced or hardcore Monaco fan who the father of the team is, they quickly point to Lucien Leduc. A man barely a year older than the club itself steered Monaco to several brilliant triumphs in the 1960s. The bald charismatic coach is well-loved and respected in the principality. Following their Coupe de France victory over Saint-Etienne in 1960, Leduc led Monaco to their first ever Ligue 1 the following season. Two years after that, Monaco secured their first and only double.

Leduc’s departure coincided with Monaco’s first of many slips into the abyss. However, this was to change when the club picked up a couple of League titles and Coupe de France trophies over six years in the 1970s and 80s.

Leduc was well known and prolific under the nine arches of Monaco. Perhaps the club’s chosen son was a man who enjoyed great success away from the club. When Arsene Wenger joined the club after leading Nancy to relegation, he would turn the club’s fortunes around. Monaco were now a club that enticed some of the best players in the world. It was the first influx of foreign talent to arrive at the principality. 

The likes of Glenn Hoddle and Mark Hateley arrived from England and Italy respectively. Monaco won the league in Wenger’s first season in charge. George Weah joined the following season. The next decade, talented players like Belgium’s Enzo Scifo and Germany’s prominent striker Jurgen Klinsmann would ply their trade on the southern coast of France. 

Monaco became a club great at nurturing young talent. Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Lilian Thuram, Emmanuel Petit and the slightly older and more experienced, Youri Djorkaeff, played their part in Monaco’s footballing history. World Cup Champions several years later for France, it is Stade Louis II where enjoyed they enjoyed their career beginnings. When Wenger left the club for Japan, Monaco were already continental champions. They were becoming a European footballing powerhouse; however, all this was to change at the turn of the millennium.

In 2003, Monaco were relegated to Ligue II for amassing enormous debt. They did return however with World Cup-winning captain and coach, Didier Deschamps, masterminding an incredible return to the highs of Ligue 1 once more. 

In recent years Monaco had enjoyed one of the most exceptional footballing talents in world football. Kylian Mbappe began his career at the club and is revered in these parts of France. Under the owner and president Dmitry Rybolovlev, Monaco became huge spenders in the transfer market. Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez. The now well respected Leonardo Jardim replaced manager Claudio Ranieri. Rybolovlev also oversaw big-money sales, including that of Mbappe to Paris Saint-Germain. 

In 2017, Monaco won the Ligue 1 once again, but the following season only just staved off relegation. A season of incredible highs would turn to incredible lows as Leonardo Jardim was sacked twice.

As one leaves Stade Louis II, there is another name of the lips of the Monegasque supporters. Robert Moreno is always mentioned here. The new coach is the man now in charge of returning Monaco to its past glories. For a small club on the south coast, it has a huge heart. For all the trouble it has faced, the club will one day become a champion again.