Seeds were planted even as far back as 1903 but it was in 1919 that Monaco became a football club — fruit of the amalgamation of several Clubs , one notably being Herculis football club . Herculis itself was created in 1903 , making it the second-oldest club in French football history after Le Havre . The other sporting clubs of the Principality included the Swimming Club and the aptlynamed AC Riviera . There were five clubs in all . And Monaco FC formally became part of the great “ AS ” ( Association Sportive de Monaco ) family of sports clubs when AS Monaco was founded on August 23rd , 1924 .

After a faltering attempt to turn professional in 1933 , Monaco finally managed to overcome that hurdle definitively in 1948 by entering the Second Division . By 1953 they had achieved promotion to the First Division for the first time in their history , supported by the Royal Family and particularly by Prince Rainier .

It had been back on April 23rd , 1939 , that Stade Louis II was inaugurated allowing the club to have an upgraded stadium and get their professional status back .

THE START OF THE SILVERWARE

Celebration in honour of Michel Hidalgo , captain of the team who won the French Championship and the Coupe de France , 1963

With charismatic coach Lucien Leduc and legendary captain Michel Hidalgo at their helm , AS Monaco found their footing in the First Division and eventually won their first silverware in 1960 , a French Cup win over Saint-Etienne .

The next year , with a new jersey designed by Princess Grace swapping the vertical red-andwhite stripes for diagonal ones , a design still dominant today , ASM won the French League for the first time . The League win was repeated two seasons later as Henri Biancheri and his teammates earned the first League-Cup double in ASM ’ s history .

Winners of the Coupe de France at the Parc des Princes , 1985

But you would have to endure periods full of agony as well as ecstasy and have nerves of steel . Read on , their history is rich indeed — over 100 years of it . And look at the roster of talent over the years , among them were Delio Onnis , Bruno Bellone , Jean-Luc Ettori , Enzo Scifo , Jürgen Klinsmann , Thierry Henry , Youri Djorkaeff , Fabien Barthez , Patrice Evra , Yaya Touré , just to name a few .

The year 1973 witnessed ASM bringing in historically its greatest ever striker , Ar-

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With charismatic coach Lucien Leduc and legendary captain Michel Hidalgo at their helm , AS Monaco found their footing in the First Division and eventually won their first silverware in 1960 , a French Cup win over Saint-Etienne .