The Association
Sportive de Monaco Football Club is a Monegasque football
club, founded in 1924. They became a professional club after
1948. Although the club is in Monaco, it has always competed
in the French football structure. For this reason, it has
always been regarded with a certain suspicion by a segment
of the French population. Some, like current Olympique
Marseille president, have hinted that Monaco should not be
allowed to use its income-tax exemption as it gives it an
unfair advantage. This would roughly equal to adding 1/3
extra to A.S. Monaco's budget.
AS Monaco is also recurrently derided for its relatively low
number of spectators (10,394 average for the season
2003/2004). However, taking into account the city's
population of 30,000 and that it competes with Nice's team
(300,000 inhabitants) OGC Nice 10 km nearby, Monaco as a
city has one of the highest spectators/inhabitants in France.
AS Monaco's home ground is Stade Louis II, an all-seater
with a capacity of 18,500 in the Fontvieille section of
Monaco. The stadium, as well as the Fontvieille district,
was built entirely on land reclaimed from the Mediterranean
Sea.
Monaco were finalists in the UEFA Champions League in 2004,
but were defeated by FC Porto. |