Libero logo

LIBERATING FOOTBALL TRAVEL

AS St-Étienne

Allez les Verts as a legendary club returns to Ligue 1

A fan’s guide – the club from early doors to today

Ten-time title-winners AS St-Étienne dominated French football for ten years, culminating with the European Cup final defeat of 1976. Europa League group-stage competitors in 2019-20, St-Étienne had only recently come back into contention at home and abroad when they were relegated in 2022. 

After two seasons in Ligue 2, ASSE scraped back into the top tier by the tightest of margins in a play-off against Metz in 2024 – though not as tight as the penalty shoot-out against Auxerre that had condemned St-Étienne to relegation in the first place. 

All that time, ‘Allez les Verts’ remained a familiar chant around French stadiums, an echo of the days of green-topped Dominique Rocheteau and Michel Platini. The Stade Geoffroy-Guichard rarely dipped below cauldron level – hence its nickname, le Chaudron Vert, the Green Cauldron.

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard/Stephen Perrin

The football team of local supermarket chain, Casino, St-Étienne were formed in 1919. Playing in Casino’s trademark green, St-Étienne had just moved up to the top flight when war broke out. A key player in 1938-39, Jean Snella became a coach after the war, leading the first XI in the 1950s and 1960s.

A side featuring future PSG manager George Peyroche and, most notably, half-back Robert Herbin, won the league in 1957. Prolific Algerian striker Rachid Mekloufi then interrupting his career to represent the globetrotting FLN side that promoted Algerian independence, returning to St-Étienne in 1962.

Robert Herbin was then in his prime, a modern-day midfielder under a returning Snella as coach. St-Étienne won the league by three points over title holders Monaco in 1964. After Snella’s departure, renowned Albert Batteux, who took France to the 1958 World Cup semi-finals and Stade de Reims to five titles, took over.

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard/Stephen Perrin

Pulling the strings was club president Roger Rocher, who had worked down the mines of St-Étienne. His 20-year stint in charge would reach extremes never previously seen in the French game. St-Étienne also featured the prolific Hervé Revelli, locally born striker Georges Bereta and 1966 World Cup defender Bernard Bosquier in their ranks. The double win of 1966-67 led to a run of four straight titles, Revelli top club scorer every time.

It was Revelli, and incoming star forward Salif Keita, who would score the three unanswered goals that sensationally sunk Franz Beckenbauer’s Bayern Munich, 2-0 up from the home leg, in the 1969-70 European Cup. That memorable night apart, les Verts made little headway in Europe until Rocher astutely placed Herbin as coach. 

Bringing Dominique Rocheteau, Gérard Janvion and Dominique Bathenay through the ranks, Herbin led les Verts back to three straight titles from 1974 to 1976 – the same years that Bayern Munich dominated the European Cup. Having memorably overturned Hajduk Split 5-1 after extra-time, Revelli still banging in the goals, les Verts had fallen to a tougher Bayern in the semi-finals of 1974-75. 

At the quarter-final stage year later, St-Étienne faced Valeriy Lobanovskiy’s great Dynamo Kyiv, 2-0 down from the Ukraine. After another Revelli strike, Rocheteau famously hit the quarter-final winner in extra-time. The Chaudron Vert supporters’ bar had opened that very same night.

St-Étienne shop/Stephen Perrin

Edging past PSV Eindhoven to a first European Cup final for a French club since 1959, St-Étienne risked a palpably injured Rocheteau towards the end to scare a Bayern side precariously holding onto a 1-0 lead. Les Verts had already twice been denied by the unusual thickness of the Hampden Park crossbar, a controversial detail forever lodged in the collective memory of all St-Étienne fans. 

Though the Bavarians prevailed, Herbin’s side had earned their place in history as valiant also-rans, denied by fate and Scottish woodwork. 

A year later, les Verts pushed eventual winners Liverpool close – but not quite close enough. A last league title came in 1981, after the high-profile signing of Michel Platini, just before the slush-fund scandal that put an ageing Rocher in jail and led to the immediate and long-term demise of the club. 

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard/Paola Baños

It was nearly 30 years before young centre-back Loïc Perrin and midfielder Dimitri Payet would come to the fore, pushing les Verts back into Europe in 2008. Stepping out of Alain Perrin’s shadow, his former assistant coach at five clubs including ASSE, Christophe Galtier, saved les Verts from relegation in 2011 and instilled a consistency not seen since the 1970s.

Regularly finishing in the top half of the table and often in a European place, Galtier was the longest-serving coach in Ligue 1 by the time he left for Lille – and an eventual league title – in 2017.

Finishing the 2010-11 campaign as the club’s top scorer, the much-coveted Payet had already moved on in 2013, when les Verts claimed their first silverware since 1981. Captained by one-club stalwart Perrin, Galtier’s St-Étienne overcame Rennes by a single goal in front of a mainly green 79,000 crowd at the Stade de France. Assisting Brandão for the goal was a prolific Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, top scorer in both his seasons at St-Étienne, earning himself a transfer to Borussia Dortmund.

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard/Stephen Perrin

Four straight campaigns in the Europa League resulted in two qualifications for the knock-out stage, a late defeat to Basel in 2016 particularly bitter, an away goal by Moustapha Sall on 89 minutes sending les Verts through to the quarter-finals for all of 60 seconds before the Swiss claimed a shock winner in stoppage time.

At the same stage year later, a Ibrahimović hat-trick pretty much sealed the tie at Old Trafford, Manchester United silencing a boisterous Geoffroy-Guichard with an early away goal. Although only a faint echo of the classic European nights of yesteryear, the occasion at least gave the Pogba brothers a chance to cross paths on a football pitch, megastar Paul for United, centre-back Florentin for les Verts.

A more poignant reminder of the glory days came in April 2020, when Robert Herbin was found dead a few days after being let out of hospital with serious heart problems. A legendary midfielder who could read the game like a book, Herbin directed St-Étienne through the club’s golden decade, his passive demeanour on the bench earning him the nickname, le Sphinx.

Le Chaudron Vert/Stephen Perrin

By then, Galtier was on his way to a league title in charge of LIlle – and a struggling St-Étienne were changing managers at will. Consistency had gone and a grim winless six-game run-in led to a relegation play-off with Auxerre in May 2022. It was Algerian attacker Ryad Boudebouz, hero of ASSE’s run to the final of the French Cup in 2020, who missed the first penalty in the shoot-out that condemned Saint-Étienne to Ligue 2.

The subsequent pitch invasion was only the latest in a long series of disturbances involving fans of les Verts, and ensured that Saint-Étienne would start their Ligue 2 campaign with a three-point deduction. Once thought too big to be relegated, Saint-Étienne were soon being thrashed 6-0 at home by Le Havre in the second tier. 

For a while, it even looked as though the club might drop straight down to the third flight but goals from Ivorian international Jean-Philippe Krasso saved the day. Looking unlikely to gain promotion the following season either, the club’s much-maligned ownership brought in Olivier Dall’Oglio, a solid defender as a player and an unspectacular recent manager of Montpellier, in December 2023. 

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard/Stephen Perrin

Stopping the rot of five straight defeats before his arrival, Dall’Oglio oversaw a winning run going into spring 2024 that pushed Saint-Étienne into the promotion play-off. Overcoming Metz 2-1 at the Geoffroy-Guichard, les Verts travelled en masse to Lorraine, with violent incidents around the station before the game. 

Needing a win to preserve Ligue 1 status, the hosts soon went 2-0 up but a goal from former Saint-Étienne academy left-back Léo Pétrot gave the visitors a lifeline. With another play-off seemingly going to penalties, Senegalese Ibrahima Wadji hit a late, late goal to put les Verts up on aggregate. 

Some 2,000 Saint-Étienne fans who couldn’t make the journey up to Metz then waited at the city’s airport for the triumphant team to return, causing significant damage to the terminal building. Some even dismantled the security fence to access the runway tarmac.

None of this seemed to bother Ivan Gazidis, the Greco-South African business executive previously of Arsenal and AC Milan, who jumped at the chance of becoming president in June 2024 after Canada’s Kilmer Sports Ventures acquired the club within hours of the play-off success. After all, this is still one of the biggest names in European football, with a huge fan base, a 42,000-capacity stadium and Ligue 1 status.

Stadium Guide

The field of dreams – and the story behind it

Modernised for Euro 2016, the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard has been St-Étienne’s home for most of the club’s history. It is known as le Chaudron, the Cauldron, based on its reputation earned and maintained since the 1970s.

Named after the club’s founder who bought the land it was built on, the stadium was opened in 1931, when les Verts were still a essentially a works team. Holding less than 2,000 spectators, with a running track and changing and administrative facilities in the one stand, the Geoffroy-Guichard suited St-Étienne’s then modest needs.

A second stand was added soon afterwards but le Chaudron didn’t resemble the English-style football ground of Rocheteau lore until les Verts’ first title win of 1957. With the running track removed and standing areas opened, capacity rose to 25,000-plus, floodlights erected a decade later when the City of Saint-Étienne bought the stadium from the Guichard dynasty.

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard/Stephen Perrin

After expansion to nearly 40,000 in the golden years of the late 1960s, the next real overhaul came with the hosting of Euro 84. With three new stands, capacity reached nearly 50,000, and crowds for league games remained high despite the club’s demise.

St-Étienne’s fortunes were hardly better by the time France 98 came around but, as head of the organising committee, ex-Verts star Michel Platini insisted on the stadium’s inclusion. The north and south terraces were knocked down and all-seater stands raised their place. The pitch was also relaid, the perfect canvas for Michael Owen to score his wonder goal for England against Argentina here.

Since then, after talk of a move, the Geoffroy-Guichard was chosen for another major tournament, Euro 2016. Building works took place between 2011 and 2014, reducing capacity to the current 42,000.

The traditional home end is the Kop Nord, with the Paret Supérieur tier above, mirrored by the Kop Sud with the Snella tier above. Away fans are placed in an area between the Kop Nord and the sideline Pierre Faurand stand. Press, VIP and the best seats are found opposite, the Tribune Officielle.

getting there

Going to the stadium – tips and timings

The Geoffroy-Guichard has its own tram stop on the T1 and T2 lines, seven north of the Hôtel de Ville – it’s then an 8min walk along rue Claude Odde/boulevard Roger Rocher.

getting in

Buying tickets – when, where, how and how much

With average gates under 30,000, availability only affects the visits of Lyon, Marseille and PSG, and the big European nights.

Tickets are sold at the stadium (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, 6hrs before kick-off) and online from the club websiteTicketmaster and Fnac.

Prices start at €20-€25 in either Kop, with a decent seat on the sidelines going for around €40-€50.

what to buy

Shirts, kits, merchandise and gifts

The Boutique des Verts (Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, match days) by the stadium café is 800 square metres of wall-to-wall green, including little sets of French boules and Denis Chaumier’s lovely book Glasgow 1976.

club Museum

Explore the club inside and out

The only museum dedicated to a single club in France, le Musée des Verts (Tue-Sun 2pm-6pm, match days up until 30min before kick-off, €7, under 18s €5) is accessed between the Pierre-Faurand and the Jean-Snella stands in the south-west corner of the stadium.

Telling the St-Étienne story from Pierre Guichard to the first title, then domestic domination to that fateful night in 1976 – Hampden’s square goalposts have been shipped all the way from Glasgow – the museum places special focus on the 1970s. There’s even a special area dedicated to goalkeeper Ivan Ćurković, centrepieced by the car the club gifted him for his performances in ’76.

Where to Drink

Pre-match beers for fans and casual visitors

Though stuck in a bleak industrial area north of town, the Geoffroy-Guichard witnesses lively pre-match drinking.

The hotspot is the Chaudron Vert (23 rue des Trois Glorieuses), the supporters’ bar/restaurant that opened shortly before the memorable night in 1976 when Rocheteau’s Verts beat Dynamo Kyiv across the road. Set by two hypermarkets over the main road north of the stadium, it also features a grill and outdoor bar for warmer nights at the Geoffroy-Guichard. Green-framed photos showing fans, players and club history cover the walls of this neat establishment, whose chairs are also coloured regulation green. These days, it’s also adjoined by an ASSE-themed hotel.

Closer to the stadium, the Café des Abattoirs (137 rue Bergson) sports a framed flag and a TV. By the club shop, the Casino supermarket runs a self-service restaurant, À La Bonne Heure, if you have hungry young mouths to feed pre-match.