A new record

There was more evidence of St Etienne’s popularity yesterday when the club revealed that it had sold 17,419 season tickets for 2008/9. This beats the previous record of 17,144, set in 2005 when les Verts had just achieved their best league position (6th) for many years. Last season, of course, they finished 5th and qualified for the UEFA Cup, meaning that this year the club will get its first taste of European competition since 1982.

According to ASSE chief executive Vincent Tong-Cuong, the club will not be selling any more season tickets, as that would be unfair to supporters from other parts of the country who cannot make it to every game. “St Etienne is one of the best-supported clubs in the country,” he said. “The current capacity of Geoffroy-Guichard (35,525) does not allow us to meet demand. We have to limit the proportion of season ticket holders to roughly 50% of the stadium’s capacity.”

St Etienne will be looking to reward the faith of those season ticket holders tomorrow, when they play their first home game of the season against Sochaux. Kick-off is at 21h French time. They will be looking for a decent result to wipe out the disappointment of last Saturday’s defeat at Valenciennes, where they lost 1-0 thanks to an extremely poor penalty decision:

Category: St Etienne Team News