Avenir Sportif Béziers is a French

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club founded in 2007 by the merger of AS Saint-Chinian, FC Béziers Méditerranée, and the Béziers-Méditerranée Football Cheminots. They are based in the town of Béziers and their home stadium is the Stade de Sauclières. The idea to merge the three football teams in order to have a championship team came in 2006, but a Championnat de France amateur (CFA) team was not created until 2007. Béziers won promotion to professional football in 2017–18 for the first time, and played in Ligue 2 for one season. As of the 2022–23 season it plays in Championnat National 3, after three recent relegations.

Current squad

B-players used on the first team 2019-20

History

Since 2006, a fusion project between the three biterrois clubs, the Avenir Sportif Saint-Chinian, the

Football Club Béziers Méditerranée Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and the Béziers-Méditerranée Football Cheminots, is pushed back by diverse administrative issues. One of the issues, seemingly minor, was the choice of the colors of the new club. while Avenir Sportif Saint-Chinian rooted for yellow and black, the two other clubs wished to see the club adorn the red and blue, the colors of the city of Béziers. In 2007, the three clubs reached a settlement, and fused into the AS Béziers. ASB then took part in the

CFA 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

, with a division coming from the former club of AS Saint-Chinian, the best ranked of the three clubs before the fusion. However this first season was devoted to sportive and administrative amelioration, and the club was relegated in the honor division of their league at the end of the season. At the end of the following year, ASB was back in the CFA 2, and was the first of its group securing promotion only two years after being relegated in regional elite, earning the title of champions of the CFA 2. In its first season in the CFA, AS Béziers went up and down and was nearly relegated before being reinstated due to the high number of administrative relegations in other clubs. In the three following seasons, the club held its ground in the low in the ranks of the CFA, the 2014–15 season was historic for Xavier Collin and his players since the club was promoted into the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

for the first time in its history. It was an exceptional season for the club, even if the title of the CFA was won by

CS Sedan Ardennes Club Sportif Sedan Ardennes, commonly referred to as CS Sedan or simply Sedan (), is a French association football club based in Sedan. The club was formed in 1919 and plays its home matches at the Stade Louis Dugauguez located within the ci ...

. Xavier Collin, in high spirits due to his title of best coach of the CFA of the year, prepared for the first season of the club in the third level of French football, imitating past teams from Béziers who brought the club of

AS Béziers As, AS, A. S., A/S or similar may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * A. S. Byatt (born 1936), English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer * "As" (song), by Stevie Wonder * , a Spanish sports newspaper * , an academic male voice ...

in second division in the 1980s After three seasons of the club maintaining itself in the

, it ends on the second step of the podium of the championship under Mathieu Chabert on the last day of the 2017–18 season, cementing its spot in French professional football and allowing the club to move into the Ligue 2. The club played just one season in Ligue 2, and then suffered back-to-back relegations, to the fourth tier. In the 2021–22 season it finished 8th in its group, but was administratively relegated again to Championnat National 3, the fifth tier.

Sporting history

At the end of the 2017–18 season, AS Béziers has participated in its history three times in the

, five times in the CFA and two times in

. It has also participated in eleven

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

. The competitions won by the club are the 2009 DH Languedoc-Roussillon and 2010 Championnat National 3 , it was also vice-champion of the 2017–18 Championnat National

Stadiums

The main home stadium of the club is the Stade de Sauclières previously used by the

AS Béziers Hérault Association Sportive Béziers Hérault ( oc, Associacion Esportiva de Besièrs Erau), often referred to by rugby media simply by its location of Béziers, is a French rugby union club currently playing in the second level of the country's profes ...

club in its glory days. It is located on avenue Fernand Sastre in Béziers. The club may also be lent the

Stade Raoul-Barrière Stade Raoul-Barrière, formerly Stade de la Méditerranée, is a multi-purpose stadium in Béziers, France. The stadium is able to hold 18,555 (16,110 seated) people and was built in 1989. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches and i ...

by the rugby club

. The Stade de la Présidente on avenue Pierre de Coubertin is also used for training. Finally, the Stade de la Plaine de Montfloures is also used by the club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beziers 2007 AS Béziers (2007) Béziers 2007 establishments in France Sport in Béziers Football clubs in Occitania (administrative region)