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Toulouse Football Club, also known simply as Toulouse (familiarly as TFC), is a French association football club based in the city of Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top level of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium Municipal located within the city. The first team is managed by former club player Dominique Arribage and captained by midfielder Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro. ''Les Pitchouns'' have won 3 Ligue 2 and 1 Coupe de France. Toulouse have participated in European competition five times. In 2008, the club, among celebratory fanfare, qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history and, in the following season, played in the inaugural edition of the UEFA Europa League. Toulouse is presided over by the French businessman Olivier Sadran, who took over the club following its bankruptcy in 2001 which resulted in it being relegated to the Championnat National. The club has served as a springboard for several players, most notably the World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and international striker André-Pierre Gignac. ==History== The city was left without a big side in 1967 when Toulouse FC sold its players and place in the French top flight to Paris outfit Red Star, but three years later a new club, Union Sportive Toulouse, rose from the ashes. Adopting red and yellow jerseys, the club started out in Ligue 2 and in 1977 reclaimed the name Toulouse FC. Now wearing purple and white, ''Les Pitchouns'' gained top-flight promotion in 1982. A side containing Jacques Santini and Swiss forward Daniel Jeandupeux earned a famous penalty shoot-out victory against Diego Maradona's Napoli in the 1986–87 UEFA Cup, Toulouse's maiden European campaign, but it failed to herald a bright new era. Instead, with goalkeeper Fabien Barthez having made his breakthrough and moved on, Toulouse were relegated in 1994. They subsequently bounced back and forth between Ligues 1 and 2 before slipping to the third flight in 2001 after financial problems. Toulouse were back in the top flight two seasons later, steadily finding their feet before a memorable 2007 campaign when they finished third to earn a place in the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. The draw was unfavourable, however, and Liverpool overpowered them 5–0 on aggregate.〔 In the second match of the 2007–08 season, Toulouse beat the Olympique Lyonnais 1–0 at the Stadium Municipal with a goal from Johan Elmander. After the victory against Olympique Lyonnais Toulouse struggled all season to avoid relegation. Their Ligue 1 place was finally secured on the last day of the season with a 2–1 home win against Valenciennes. The 2008–09 season marked unexpected success for Toulouse. The club finished fourth in the Ligue 1 table with 64 points, and secured a spot in the new Europa League. After a difficult season the previous year in which the club struggled to avoid relegation, not much was expected of Toulouse. The 2008–09 season also marked the emergence of striker André-Pierre Gignac, who led all scorers in Ligue 1 with 24 goals and was awarded a call-up to the French national team.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Toulouse FC」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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