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{{Infobox rugby team
| teamname    = Albi
| image       = SC Albi logo.svg
| imagesize   = 150px
| fullname    = Sporting Club Albigeois
| founded     = {{Start date and age|1906}}
| location    = [[Albi]], [[France]]
| countryflag = France
| ground      = [[Stadium Municipal d'Albi]]
| capacity    = 13,058
| president   =  [[Bernard Archilla]]
| coach       =  [[Jean Christophe Bacca]]<br> [[Henri Broncan]]
| captain     =  [[Vincent Clément]]
| league      = [[Championnat Fédéral Nationale|Nationale]]
| season      = [[2022–23 Championnat Fédéral Nationale season|2022–23]]
| position    = 3rd (playoff semi-finalists)
| url         = www.sca-albi.fr
| pattern_la1= _black_hoops| pattern_b1=_blackhoops| pattern_ra1=_black_hoops| leftarm1=F7E400| body1=F7E400| rightarm1=F7E400| shorts1= 000000 | socks1=000000|
|pattern_la2=_white_hoops| pattern_b2=_whitehoops | pattern_ra2=_whitehoops
|leftarm2=F7E400 |body2=F7E400 |rightarm2=F7E400 |shorts2=FFFFFF |socks2=F7E400
}}
'''Sporting Club Albigeois''' is a professional [[France|French]] [[rugby union]] club playing the third-level [[Championnat Fédéral Nationale|Nationale]]. During the past years it went back and forth between [[Top 14]], the highest level of the [[National Rugby League (France)|French league system]] and the second-level [[Rugby Pro D2]]. Their last time in the Top 14 was for 2009–10 after winning the [[2008–09 Rugby Pro D2 season|2008–09]] promotion playoffs. The previous one began in 2006 and came to an end after the [[2007–08 Top 14 season|2007–08 season]] due to financial issues. Founded in 1907, the club plays at the Stadium municipal d'Albi (capacity 12,000). They wear black and yellow. They are based in [[Albi]] in [[Occitania (administrative region)|Occitanie]].
==History==
'''Sporting Club Albigeois''' was founded in December 1906 as a sportsclub where, in addition to rugby, [[tennis]] and [[running]] were practiced. Their first title came in 1926 when they beat [[Stade Toulousain]] in the final of the highly competitive ''championnat des Pyrénées'' (Pyrénées league).
In 1940, the [[Vichy regime]] forced towns with a population below 50,000 to merge their sports clubs in single entities. ([[UA Gaillac]] is another rugby union example). Vichy also targeted the professional [[rugby league]] and Albi was forced to bring together the two local clubs, S.C. Albi and R.C. Albi XIII under the name '''Albi Olympique'''.
In 1945, each club went its way and recovered its previous name. In 1949, SC Albi reached the First Division. In 1955, it qualified for the playoffs, managing to oust the prestigious [[Racing Métro 92 Paris|Racing Club de France]] in the first round, before going down to Romans in the round of 16.
Until the 1980s, Albi went through regular ups-and-downs between the first and second divisions (Div 1 1961–1970, 1973–75, 1977–79, Div 2, 1957 – 1959, 1970–73, 1975–77, 1979–85). Their only notable performance was another playoff win against [[Stade Toulousain|Toulouse]] in 1974. Albi remained in the second or third divisions until 2000.
The millennium was very favourable for Albi. The club reached three consecutive third division finals, all lost, in 2000, 2001 et 2002, to [[FC Oloron Sainte-Marie]], [[Oyonnax Rugby|Oyonnax]] and Tours. However, the professional Pro D2 offered two promotion spots in 2002 and Albi was back in the second division.
It took them four more years to take the last step. After finishing second to [[US Montauban]] in the 2006 regular season, they went on to beat [[AS Béziers]] and [[US Dax]] in the promotion playoffs and secure the final spot in the élite league [[Top 14]]. They remained in Top 14 until the 2007–08 season. Although they finished 12th that season, which would normally have kept them in the top flight, they were forcibly relegated to Pro D2 due to financial issues.
[[2008–09 Rugby Pro D2 season|The following season]], they finished third on the regular-season table, qualifying for the promotion playoffs. Their home playoff semifinal against [[Stade Rochelais|La Rochelle]] ended 12–12 in regulation. Each team slotted a penalty in extra time, which ended 15–15. Under French rules, the first tiebreaker in such a situation is fewest red cards. Since neither side had a player sent off, the next tiebreaker is number of tries, followed by number of penalties scored. Albi went through because they had kicked 5 penalties to La Rochelle's 4 (and one drop goal). They defeated [[Oyonnax Rugby|Oyonnax]] 14–12 in the playoff final on 31 May 2009 in [[Stade Yves-du-Manoir (Montpellier)|Montpellier]] to secure their place in the  Top 14 2009–2010 season.
By April 2010 the club had already been relegated from the Top 14 after recording only 3 wins all season.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.planetrugby.com/tables/0,25806,9818,00.html#9818|title = Rugby Live Centre}}</ref>
==Honours==
* '''French league, Division 1:''' (predecessor to today's Top 14)
**Round of 16 : 1955, 1974
* '''Rugby Pro D2:'''
** Promotion playoff winners: 2006, 2009
* '''French League, Division 1, B Group:''' (second division; predecessor to today's Pro D2)
**semi-final: 1980, 1986
* '''French league, Nationale 1:''' (Div 3, highest amateur level)
**Runner-up: 2000
*'''French league, Promotion Nationale:''' (Div 3, highest amateur level)
**Runner-up: 2001
* '''French league, Fédérale 1:''' (Div 3, highest amateur level)
**Runner-up: 2002
* '''Championnat des Pyrénées:'''
**Winner 1926
==Current standings==
{{#lst:2024–25 Championnat Fédéral Nationale season|table}}
==Current squad==
The current Albi squad is:<ref name="L’effectif">{{cite web | url=http://www.sca-albi.fr/leffectif/ | title=L'effectif | work=Sporting Club Albigeois | access-date=19 July 2018 | language=fr}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; font-size:90%; width:60%"
|-
! colspan="100%" | Albi squad
|- valign="top"
|
'''Props'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Vladimir Bida]]
* {{flagicon|Italy}} [[Niccolo Ceccato]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Swan Cormenier]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Bastien Dedieu]]
* {{flagicon|Georgia}} [[Zaza Navrozashvili]]
* {{flagicon|Cameroon}} [[Ralph Laurel Po'o Njike]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Benoît Sevestre]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Lomualito Tafili]]
* {{flagicon|New Zealand}} [[Patrick Toetu]]
'''Hookers'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Romain Casals]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Arthur Castant]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Arnaud Feltrin]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Romain Hollet]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Gymael Jean-Jacques]]
'''Locks'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Matthieu André]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Russlan Boukerou]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Gianni Gaillard]]
* {{flagicon|Tonga}} [[Nomani Tonga]]
||
'''Loose forwards'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Paul Armengaud]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Vincent Calas]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Paul Farret]]
* {{flagicon|Romania}} '''[[Vlad Nistor (rugby union)|Vlad Nistor]]'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Chris Tafili]]
* {{flagicon|Tonga}} [[Tunufai Tavalea]]
* {{flagicon|Spain}} [[Asier Usarraga]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Simon Veyrac]]
* {{flagicon|New Zealand}} [[William Whetton]]
'''Scrum-halves'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Thibaut Bisman]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Martin Doan]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Laurent Magnaval]]
'''Fly-halves'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Maxime Alric]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Romain Barthelemy]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Benjamin Caminati]]
* {{flagicon|England}} [[Tom Hardwick]]
||
'''Centres'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Gaëtan Bertrand]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Dorian Hermet]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Antonin Ollier]]
* {{flagicon|Chile}} '''[[Simon Pardakhty]]'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[François Vergnaud]]
'''Wings'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Maxence Blanc]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Louis Decrop]]
* {{flagicon|Fiji}} [[Saïmoni Nabaro]]
* {{flagicon|Fiji}} [[Avenisi Vasuinubu]]
'''Fullbacks'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Anthony Clerc]]
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Thomas Lacelle]]
* {{flagicon|Spain}} '''[[Mathieu Peluchon]]'''
* {{flagicon|France}} [[Benoît Sicart]]
|-
| colspan="100%" style="height: 10px;" |
|-
| colspan="100%" style="text-align:center;" | <small> ([[Captain (sports)|c]]) Denotes team captain, '''Bold''' denotes player is internationally capped</small>
|}
==Notable former players==
{{famous|date=June 2012}}
* {{flagicon|France}} Robert Basauri
* {{flagicon|France}} René Bousquet. 9 caps. One of the 15 Frenchmen who defeated England for the first time in 1927.
* {{flagicon|France}} Pierre Danos
* {{flagicon|France}} Charles-Antoine Gonnet. 16 cap. Also beat the English in 1927.
* {{flagicon|France}} Bernard Momméjat. 9 caps with SCA.
French president [[Georges Pompidou]] accepted to be honorary chairman of the club in 1969 and paid his fees regularly  until he died in 1974. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721055330/http://sporting.club.albi.free.fr/archives/historique/livredor/hommes/lettrepompi.htm].
==See also==
* [[List of rugby union clubs in France]]
* [[Rugby union in France]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.sca-albi.fr/ SC Albi] Official website
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://sporting.club.albi.free.fr Club volunteers’ website]
{{Championnat Fédéral Nationale}}
{{Rugby union in France}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sc Albi}}
[[Category:Rugby union clubs in France|Albi]]
[[Category:Rugby clubs established in 1906]]
[[Category:Midi-Pyrénées]]
[[Category:Occitania (administrative region)]]
[[Category:Sport in Albi]]
[[Category:1906 establishments in France]]