AC Arles AvignonAthlétic Club Arles-Avignon (French pronunciation: commonly referred to as Arles-Avignon or simply Arles) is a French association football club originally based in Arles. The club was founded in 1912 as a result of a merger and was formerly known as Athlétic Club Arles, but in 2010, moved to the nearby commune of Avignon and adopted its current name. Arles-Avignon currently plays in Ligue 1, the top division in French football, having earned promotion to the league for the 2010–11 season. The club's ascension to the first division is notable due in part to the fact that the club achieved successive promotions in four of the past five football seasons.
Arles-Avignon plays its home matches at the Parc des Sports in nearby Avignon. The team is managed by former football player Faruk Hadžibegić and captained by midfielder Sébastien Piocelle, who joined the club in 2009, after a five-year stint in Italy. In France, it has been commonplace to described Arles-Avignon as an overachieving club primarily due to succeeding despite limited resources. Despite playing in the top-flight of French football, Arles-Avignon has the lowest payroll among first division clubs.[1] The club's honours reflect this with many of Arles-Avignon's achievements being at amateur level. Arles-Avignon's highest honour to date was winning its group in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football, in 2007. Regionally, the club has won the Division Honneur Sud-Est Ouest three times and its reserve team are the current defending champions of the Méditerranée Division Honneur Régionale.
Arles-Avignon is known locally as Les Lions (English: The Lions) and incorporates the nickname into a multitude of club's fixtures, most notably its crest. After merging with Avignon, the club unveiled its new crest on 4 June 2009. The crest combines both elements of each club's predecessors and unscripted on the crest is Pays d'Arles Grand Avignon, which pays tribute to the inhabitants of the city of Arles and the Grand Avignon, the metropolitan area that encompasses the commune of Avignon. In 2010, the club changed its crest again to coincide with its promotion to Ligue 1.
Source : Wikipedia.com
