Association Sportive de Monaco was founded on 23 August 1924 in the Principality of Monaco, the small sovereign city-state on the French Riviera. Despite competing in the French league system, Monaco is a non-French club — a unique status in major European football. AS Monaco play at the compact Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, opened in 1985 with a capacity of 16,360 — one of the smallest in elite European football. The club's red-and-white diagonal-striped shirts are the most recognisable in French football.
Monaco's eight Ligue 1 titles (most recently 2016-17) tie them third in French football history. The club's golden generations are remarkable: Arsène Wenger's late-1980s Monaco produced Glenn Hoddle, Marco Simone and youth products who would become legends elsewhere; the early-2000s era under Didier Deschamps reached the 2003-04 UEFA Champions League final (lost to Porto), with Fernando Morientes and Ludovic Giuly stars. The 2016-17 title under Leonardo Jardim was the modern fairy-tale: an 18-year-old Kylian Mbappé, Bernardo Silva, Thomas Lemar, Fabinho, Benjamin Mendy and a resurgent Radamel Falcao played thrilling attacking football, eliminating Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund en route to the Champions League semi-finals.
Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev saved Monaco from Ligue 2 obscurity in 2011 and restored the club to elite status. Monaco are renowned globally as France's premier youth development pipeline. Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram, Emmanuel Petit, Fabien Barthez, David Trezeguet, Kylian Mbappé, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Youssouf Fofana, Eliesse Ben Seghir and Maghnes Akliouche are among the elite footballers who passed through La Diagonale academy. Monaco's principal rivalries are with Côte d'Azur neighbours OGC Nice and northern rivals Paris Saint-Germain.