Saint-Étienne is the ultimate sweet spot for many French football fans, dating from the glorious seventies. The green record champions might not be as strong as they were anymore, but their charm was preserved. If you visit the derby against Lyon in Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, you're guaranteed to be deaf for a couple of days.
To understand what Saint-Étienne means for French football, we have to go back to the seventies, in which Les Verts won title after title and in 1976 even reached the Europa Cup I Final. They lost it against Bayern Munich, but the whole of France was proud and a little bit fan of Saint-Étienne, a real peoples club. After their return to France, they were welcomed in Paris by the French president, and even got a parade on the famous Champs-Elysées, with thousands of football fans on the side of the road, 500 km away from home. These days are far in the past, but to this day Saint-Étienne is still the record champion of France and a club which is worth a visit for many reasons. Allez les Verts!
The Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is located in the north of Saint-Étienne on the Rue Paul et Pierre Guichard, and that tells you something about the history of the club. The Guichard family set up the Casino supermarkets - one of the biggest chains in France - and the sports club of the company became the Association Sportive Saint-Étienne. It explains also the origin of the green colours of the club, based on the style of the supermarkets. Even though the stadium has been renovated regularly, it never took the great atmosphere of Geoffroy-Guichard away. Not for nothing, in France it's widely known as Le Chaudron Vert, the green cauldron. When the cauldron boils, you start to understand why away teams don't like to come here, especially with the fanatic fans behind both goals.
There are just 60 kilometres between Saint-Étienne and Lyon, which by French standards is nothing. If you ask us, the Derby du Rhône is the most beautiful derby in France, with fireworks on and off the pitch. The raw industrial city of Saint-Étienne against the mundane, culturally rich and bigger Lyon. A chairman of Saint-Étienne once stated famously that 'in football, Saint-Étienne will always be the main city and Lyon its suburb'. After seven league titles in a row for Lyon at the beginning of the century we're not so sure about that, but the fact is that Saint-Étienne still has got three more titles than their hated neighbour.
Saint-Étienne has a club museum as well, in the corner right from the main entrance of Geoffroy-Guichard. There aren't many clubs with a history like Saint-Étienne does, and the collection is very original. Let's face it, which football museum has got an actual real Mercedes of a player from the seventies in their collection? Above all the memorabilia, you have the chance to watch the highlights of famous matches in the club's history. The museum is open on match days as well and is an ideal place to brush up your knowledge.
Do you want to spend the night in the green atmosphere too? You can, Saint-Étienne has got its own hotel. In walking distance of the stadium (Rue des Trois Glorieuses 23) you'll find Hotel Bar Restaurant 'Le Chaudron Vert'. It's in fact sort of a part of the club museum as well, with all the memorabilia in the restaurant. All the rooms are in the club's colours and are equipped with photos of the stadium. Also without an overnight stay, you can have dinner and a drink in the restaurant before the match.
For home games of Saint-Étienne, you can easily buy tickets on the official website of the club. Even as a one-time visitor, you can get tickets for the derby against Lyon, if you simply make sure you buy them a couple of weeks in advance.
From the city centre, you can take tram 1 to stop at Roger Rocher - Allez les Verts, a five-minute walk from the stadium. Or you can take tram 3, whose ride is a little bit longer, but this one takes you to stop Geoffroy-Guichard - Musée des Verts, right in front of the stadium.
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