AS Monaco was officially born on 23 August 1924, when a government decree of the Principality recognised the new Association Sportive de Monaco. On 23 August 2027 it turns 103. A tiny Mediterranean country thus gained a team that would make history in French football.

Four clubs, one team

Football in Monaco goes back to 1903 and to Herculis, the strongest club in the area at the time. In 1924 four clubs from Monaco and neighbouring Beausoleil merged, among them Monaco Sports, as Herculis was then called. The merger created a multi-sport club, with football as one of its sections.

Sources do not fully agree on the year of birth. The club itself has at times cited 1919, when Herculis joined the federation, but its centenary was celebrated in August 2024. The first season was 1924-25, in a regional division of the Côte d'Azur.

From stripes to the diagonal

The first shirts were black and white. Later the team switched to red and white, which earned it the nickname "Les Rouge et Blanc", at first in vertical stripes, like many other teams.

In the early 1960s Prince Rainier III asked for this ordinary shirt to be changed. According to the club, Princess Grace Kelly took the idea a step further and designed the diagonal, inspired by the red and white lozenges of the Principality's coat of arms. Michel Hidalgo, one of the first to wear it, recalled that the princess had shown it to him while she was designing it.

Sources give the year as either 1960 or 1961. The first version had the diagonal on the front and back, a collar, white sleeves and no badge, which was added a few years later.

The shirt that brought luck

The diagonal became tied to the first great successes. In 1960 Monaco won its first Coupe de France, 4-2 after extra time against Saint-Étienne, and in 1961 it celebrated its first league title. In 1963 came the only double in its history.

More titles followed in 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997 and 2000. On the bench in 1988 sat Arsène Wenger, who brought in George Weah and Jürgen Klinsmann and developed youngsters such as Emmanuel Petit, Lilian Thuram and Thierry Henry.

European dreams and falls

In 1992 Monaco reached the Cup Winners' Cup final. In 2004, with Didier Deschamps as coach and Fernando Morientes up front, it knocked out Real Madrid and Chelsea and reached the Champions League final. There it lost 3-0 to Porto.

Hard years followed, with relegation in 2011. The team returned to Ligue 1 in 2013 as Ligue 2 champions, with Claudio Ranieri on the bench.

The miracle of 2017

On 17 May 2017, with a 2-0 win over Saint-Étienne, Monaco sealed its eighth title, the first in 17 years. Radamel Falcao scored 30 goals and the young Kylian Mbappé 26, while the team also reached the Champions League semi-finals.

Its home is the Stade Louis II, named after Prince Louis II. The current stadium opened in 1985 on land reclaimed from the sea. In the 2025-26 season Monaco finished seventh in Ligue 1, where it continues to play.

Celebrate with us

From Herculis to Mbappé, Princess Grace's diagonal has remained a trademark for more than six decades. Happy 103rd birthday, Monaco!

See our AS Monaco jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: AS Monaco play OGC Nice at the Stade Louis II (2022) – FromMorningToMidnight, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.