USA Perpignan

History

Early years

One of the two merging clubs was established in 1902 as AS Perpignan. It would be in 1914 that the club would go on to make its first ever final appearance. On 3 May, Perpignan defeated Stadoceste Tarbais 8–7 at Stade des Ponts Jumeaux in Toulouse in front of 15,000 people. 19-year-old fly-half Aimé Giral converted a late try and went on to become captain. 14 months after their victory, Aimé Giral died alongside seven other members of the team at the outbreak of WW1 and, to honour their sacrifice, it was decided to colour USAP jersey like a Poilu uniform and to name the stadium after Giral.

Four years after the championship in 1914, the club was renamed as US Perpignan after a merging with Stade Olympien Perpignanais. Under the new club name, US Perpignan made it to the final of the French championship three seasons after the change. On 17 April 1921, Perpignan defeated Stade Toulousain 5–0 at Parc des Sports de Sauclières in Béziers and thus claiming their second championship. Three seasons later, the finalists of 1921 would meet again in the final of 1924, though this time Toulouse won the game 3–0 in Bordeaux.

The success continued throughout the 1920s, and following the final defeat of the 1924 season, US Perpignan were able to make it to the final of the 1925 season. They faced US Carcassonne in Narbonne, and defeated them 5–0 to win the 1925 Championship. For the third season in a row, US Perpignan made it to the final. The opponents were Stade Toulousain once again, the two sides had each defeated each other once in a final in recent years. Toulouse won 11–0 in Bordeaux. After their prominence in the mid-1920s, Perpignan's final appearance in 1926 was their last for nearly a decade.

Perpignan's next final appearance came in 1935 against Biarritz at Stade des Ponts Jumeaux in Toulouse on 12 May, with Biarritz winning 3–0. That season they also won the Challenge Yves du Manoir. Three seasons later Perpignan were again involved in the Championship final against Biarritz. The final was played on 8 May, and this time, Perpignan defeated Biarritz, winning 11–6 to claim their first Championship since 1921. They were also runners-up of the Challenge Yves-du-Manoir that same season as well.

The success continued throughout the late 1930s, with Perpignan again being runners-up of the Challenge Yves du Manoir in 1936. It was also the 1936 season that Biarritz and Perpignan would face off in the Championship. Both of Perpignan's last two final appearances were against Biarritz, and both Perpignan and Biarritz had won one each against each other. The final took place on 30 April, and Biarritz turned out to be victorious, defeating Perpignan 6–0. Two years later, Perpignan were in the final of the Challenge Yves du Manoir, but became runners-up.

Their next final appearance would not be until the season of 1944. Perpignan played Aviron Bayonnais at Parc des Princes in Paris on 26 March to decide who would be the champions of France. Perpignan won, defeating Aviron Bayonnais 20–5, claiming their first Championship since 1938.

Perpignan would have to wait another eight years until they would make it to the final again. In the 1952 season, Perpignan met FC Lourdes in the final at Stadium Municipal in Toulouse, where they went down to FC Lourdes 20–11. However, both sides would meet in another final three years later to decide the 1955 Championship. This time Perpignan emerged victorious, defeating FC Lourdes 11–6 in Bordeaux. Perpignan also won the Challenge Yves du Manoir during the 1955 season, and were runners-us the following year as well.

Perpignan won the Challenge Yves du Manoir in 1965, but made their first final appearance 20 years after 1955, to decide the 1977 season Championship. They met AS Béziers in the final, who defeated Perpignan 12–4 at Parc des Princes. Perpignan won the Challenge Yves du Manoir in 1994,

Professional era

They would next appear in the final in 1998, where they went down to Stade Français 34–7 in Paris in front of 78,000 people.

In 2002, the club entered into a partnership with the University of Barcelona Rugby Union Club, hence renaming them USAP Barcelona, which compete in the División de Honor, the national Championship in Spain. Perpignan made it to the 2004 final, where they met Stade Français, who defeated them in the 1998 final. Stade Français won again, 38–20 at Stade de France in front of 79,722 people.

In European competition, Perpignan reached the final stage in 2003 (losing 21–17 to Toulouse in Dublin Lansdowne Road) after losing a 1999 semi-final in Toulouse Stadium against Colomiers. They were beaten in the quarter-finals in Lansdowne Road again in 2006 by eventual winners Munster.

They signed All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter, widely regarded as one of the world's best players, on a six-month deal starting from December 2008. Carter's stint at Perpignan, however, ended prematurely when he tore an Achilles tendon.

Their season ended by progressing into the Top 14 semi-final with a 25–21 win over Stade Français and eventually winning it with a fantastic 22–13 win over ASM Clermont Auvergne in the final. In 2010, they advanced to the final again against Clermont, but they saw Les Jaunards end decades of frustration by winning their first championship final in 11 tries.

In 2011 they signed a twinning agreement with FC Barcelona of Spain, which proposes USAP to be promoted through FC Barcelona.

Club honours

• French championship Top 14
  • Champions (4): 1938, 1944, 1955, 2009
  • Runners-up (7): 1935, 1939, 1952, 1977, 1998, 2004, 2010
• Heineken Cup / European Rugby Champions Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2003
• Challenge Yves du Manoir
  • Champions (3): 1935, 1955, 1994
  • Runners-up (5): 1936, 1937, 1938, 1956, 1965
• Pro D2
  • Champions (2): 2018, 2021

Finals results

French championship

Heineken Cup / European Rugby Champions Cup

Challenge Yves du Manoir

Current standings

Current squad

The Perpignan squad for the 2025–26 season is:

Espoirs squad

Notable former players

• ARG Federico Martín Aramburú
• ARG Bautista Delguy
• ARG Rimas Álvarez Kairelis
• ARG Alejandro Allub
• ARG José Orengo
• ARG Sebastian Bozzi
• AUS Ryan Cross
• AUS Daniel Herbert
• AUS Justin Purll
• AUS Manny Edmonds
• CMR Robins Tchale-Watchou
• CAN Mike James
• CAN Phil Murphy
• ENG Alex Brown
• ENG Perry Freshwater
• ENG Richard Haughton
• ENG Dan Luger
• ENG Luke Narraway
• ENG Tim Stimpson
• FIJ Tevita Cavubati
• FIJ Samueli Naulu
• FIJ Alipate Ratini
• FIJ Eroni Sau
• FIJ Ben Volavola
• FIJ Watisoni Votu
• FRA Christophe André
• FRA Puig Aubert
• FRA Franck Azéma
• FRA Mathieu Barrau
• FRA Armand Batlle
• FRA Noël Brazès
• FRA Pascal Bomati
• FRA Benoît Bourrust
• FRA Élie Brousse
• FRA Gilbert Brutus
• FRA Benoît Cabello
• FRA Jacques Cabero
• FRA Didier Camberabero
• FRA Daniel Camiade
• FRA Julien Candelon
• FRA Florian Cazenave
• FRA Frédéric Cermeno
• FRA Damien Chouly
• FRA Georges Coste
• FRA Joseph Crespo
• FRA Marc Dal Maso
• FRA Vincent Debaty
• FRA Joseph Desclaux
• FRA Sébastien Descons
• FRA Nans Ducuing
• FRA Sylvain Dupuy
• FRA Nicolas Durand
• FRA Jérôme Fillol
• FRA Julien Fritz
• FRA Jean Galia
• FRA Charles Geli
• FRA Aimé Giral
• FRA Bernard Goutta
• FRA Raoul Got
• FRA Paul Goze
• FRA Jean-Philippe Grandclaude
• FRA Guilhem Guirado
• FRA Sofiane Guitoune
• FRA Raphaël Ibañez
• FRA Jean-Francois Imbernon
• FRA Melvyn Jaminet
• FRA David Janin
• FRA Jacques Jorda
• FRA Thierry Lacroix
• FRA Mickaël Ladhuie
• FRA Julien Laharrague
• FRA Nicolas Laharrague
• FRA Gregory Le Corvec
• FRA Marc Lièvremont
• FRA Matthieu Lièvremont
• FRA Thomas Lièvremont
• FRA Camille Lopez
• FRA Ludovic Loustau
• FRA Brice Mach
• FRA Lionel Mallier
• FRA David Marty
• FRA Nicolas Mas
• FRA Jo Maso
• FRA Sami Mavinga
• FRA Maxime Mermoz
• FRA Joffrey Michel
• FRA Romain Millo-Chluski
• FRA Olivier Olibeau
• FRA Vincent Planté
• FRA Christophe Porcu
• FRA Jerome Porical
• FRA Laurent Sempéré
• FRA Jérôme Schuster
• FRA Farid Sid
• FRA Jean-Marc Souverbie
• FRA Romain Taofifénua
• FRA Sébastien Taofifénua
• FRA Jérôme Thion
• FRA Sébastien Vahaamahina
• FRA Yohann Vivalda
• FRA Quentin Walcker
• GEO Dimitri Basilaia
• GEO Giorgi Jgenti
• GEO Davit Kubriashvili
• IRE Mick O'Driscoll
• IRE Paddy Jackson
• ITA Tommaso Allan
• ITA Tommaso Benvenuti
• ITA Ramiro Pez
• NZL Dan Carter
• NZL Scott Robertson
• NZL Eric Sione
• ROU Răzvan Mavrodin
• ROU Marius Țincu
• ROU Ovidiu Tonița
• ROU Johan van Heerden
• RSA Rudi Coetzee
• RSA Gavin Hume
• RSA Steve Meyer
• RSA Wandile Mjekevu
• RSA Percy Montgomery
• RSA Gert Muller
• RSA Jacques-Louis Potgieter
• RUS Kirill Kulemin
• SAM Manu Leiataua
• SAM Henry Tuilagi
• SCO Chris Cusiter
• SCO Nathan Hines
• SCO Alasdair Strokosch
• SPA Raphaël Bastide
• SPA Mathieu Bélie
• SPA David Mélé
• TGA Lifeimi Mafi
• TGA Tevita Mailau
• TGA Sione Piukala
• TGA Kisi Pulu
• TGA Sona Taumalolo
• TGA Viliami Vaki
• USA William Leon Jefferson
• WAL Richard Parks
• WAL James Hook
• WAL Luke Charteris

Notes

References

References

1. "Historique et Palmarès du Club de Rugby USAP".
2. Perrin, Thibault. (1 September 2018). "De retour en Top 14, l'USAP pourrait faire une infidélité à Aimé-Giral".
3. (2 May 2014). "USAP and Stade Aimé Giral".
4. Pryor, Matthew. (28 June 2008). "Dan Carter joins Perpignan". [[The Times]].
5. (2 January 2024). "Notre équipe". USAP.fr.
6. (2 January 2024). "Perpignan squad for season 2025/2026". All Rugby.