The current Toulouse Football Club, set up in 1970, is not to be confused with the Toulouse Football Club founded in 1938, which was amazingly sold lock, stock and barrel to Parisian club Red Star in 1967.
Following the bizarre sale, which included Coach, trainers and players, Toulouse was without a professional football club for three years before local businessman Lilian Buzzichelli drummed up the support required to create the Union Sportive de Toulouse. The Rose City’s town hall provided a stadium and Buzzichelli became the new club’s first President, immediately absorbing two smaller, local outfits – Cadets de Gascogne and AS Mermoz-Bonefoy. He brought in France legend Just Fontaine as an advisor and appointed José Farias as player-Coach.
The FFF invited the club to take part in the second division for the 1970-71 season and they played in red and white, but, with the retirement of Buzzichelli in 1977, US Toulouse adopted the name Toulouse Football Club and changed to an all-purple strip – the city’s traditional colour.
Second division champions in 1987 and 2003, Les Violets climbed as high as sixth in Ligue 1 during the 2004-05 season and an extensive recruitment program ahead of the 2005-06 season sees the club embarking on an ambitious sporting plan for the future.
