ASPL 2000

In 2016, an Australian international with more than a decade in the A-League signed for a club few outside Mauritius had heard of. Archie Thompson played six matches for AS Port-Louis 2000, scored six goals, and then retired from football altogether — his last stop before hanging up his boots was the St. François Xavier Stadium in Port Louis.

The club he joined had been assembled for less romantic reasons. When Mauritian football was reorganised along regional lines in 2000, two local sides, Roche Bois Boys Scouts-St Martin United and Century Welfare Association, were merged into a single team carrying the new system's name.

Between 2002 and 2016, ASPL 2000 took the Mauritian League six times, added three Mauritian Cups and four Republic Cups. The high point came in 2005, when the club won the league, the cup and the Republic Cup in the same season — a treble that still stands out on the club's record.

Its closest rivalry is with La Cure Silvester, and the two sides' meetings are known locally as the Derby de Port-Louis. On the international side, Ugandan midfielder David Obua passed through the club in 2002 before moving on to Kaizer Chiefs and later Heart of Midlothian. But it is Fabien Pithia, the Mauritian international who wore the shirt from 2006 to 2011, who is remembered at the club longer than anyone else who has played there.