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| Full name | Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short name | AJ Auxerre, AJA | |||
| Founded | 29 December 1905 | |||
| Ground | Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps | |||
| Capacity | 18,541 | |||
| Owner | James Zhou | |||
| President | Baptiste Malherbe | |||
| Manager | Christophe Pélissier | |||
| League | Ligue 1 | |||
| 2023–24 | Ligue 2, 1st of 20 (promoted) | |||
| Website | aja.fr | |||
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Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (French pronunciation: [asɔsjɑsjɔ̃ də la ʒœnɛs osɛʁwaz]), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or by the abbreviation AJA, is a French professional football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club plays in Ligue 1, the top division of French football, since the 2024–25 season after securing promotion from Ligue 2 as winners of the 2023–24 season. Auxerre plays its home matches at the Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps, on the banks of the Yonne River. The team is managed by Christophe Pélissier.
Auxerre was founded in 1905 and made its debut in the first division of French football in the 1980–81 season, remaining in the premier league until the 2011–12 season. The club has won the Ligue 1 title once, in the 1995–96 season. Two years prior, Auxerre achieved its first major honour by winning the Coupe de France in 1994. The club has since added three more Coupe de France titles, which ties the club for the fifth-best standing among teams who have won the trophy.
Auxerre has produced several notable players during its existence. The club has most notably served as a springboard for several prominent French football players such as Eric Cantona, Laurent Blanc, Stéphane Guivarc'h, Philippe Mexès, Basile Boli, and Djibril Cissé, among others, who all became French internationals, with Blanc playing on the teams that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000. Guivarc'h, Bernard Diomède and Lionel Charbonnier were the three footballers from Auxerre who were world champions in 1998. From 1961 to 2005, the club was predominantly coached by Guy Roux. This included an uninterrupted period when Roux was in charge for 36 years between 1964 and 2000.