Coupe de France: Gazélec Ajaccio to forget his descent into hell

 Regoûter at a very high level, even briefly: by hosting Lille, leader of Ligue 1 on Sunday, Gazélec Ajaccio will find thanks to the Coupe de France a little of the sensations lost after a sudden fall, which led him to five years of the elite at the National 2.

The Coupe de France and Gazélec, it's an old story, which dates back to 1961 and which saw the club of the Imperial City reach 16 times the round of 16, like Sunday.

But against Lille, this time it will mainly be about leaving anonymity.

For a few years, under the era of former president Olivier Miniconi and with Thierry Laurey in charge of sports, the club had nevertheless left it and had tasted the professional world.

In 2014-2015, Gazélec had thus found the Ligue 2e thanks to a bunch of friends and quality players, who mainly came from the amateur levels.

The following season, while the objective was to maintain, the Corsicans even finished 2nd in L2 and rose for the first time in the club's history in L1.

Despite a successful first half of the championship, the adventure only lasted a year and the "Gas" returned to L2 at the end of the season.

Despite the relegation, the objective is then to professionalize and to recover as quickly as possible.

But come the difficulties.

Exit Laurey, it's Jean-Luc Vannuchi who takes over with less success.

If renowned players join Gazélec (Clerc, Elana…), the reality on the ground is quite different and the GFCA ends the competition in 9th position.

The Coupe de France, a real breath of fresh air in a difficult daily life

The following season, new changes in the workforce and new coach with the arrival of Albert Cartier.

The GFCA watches its rival aceist finish on the podium as it barely runs away (16th with 41 points).

At the edge of the precipice, the club finally plunges into National at the end of the 2018-19 financial year during a play-off against Le Mans.

Victorious on the first leg (2-1), the GFCA saw a real nightmare on the return.

He was led 1-0, missed a penalty in added time and conceded a fatal goal in the process.

The club will not recover.

Without great means and with a young workforce, the club vegetates at the bottom of the third level classification and is 17th and relegated to the end of the championships due to the health crisis last year.

Sports and financial crisis

For the first time since 2011, Gazélec has therefore found itself this season in the fourth division.

The DNCG had even sent him to National 3 (5th division) but the club's appeal was heard and the Corsicans were able to stay in N2.

Throughout its chaotic journey since 2015 and L1, the “Gas” will have used six coaches and nearly 80 players.

David Ducourtioux, emblematic player of the L2 and L1 years, has this season taken the helm with the objective of playing, again, the leading roles.

But at the end of the championships, the club was ranked 10th and the supporters were again hungry for more.

So even if the latter do not have any illusions about the chances of qualifying against Christophe Galtier's Lille, the Cup will still allow us to leave the dreary daily life of the last seasons and revive the memories of the great years, when the little Gazelec had climbed to the top.

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