It's been a rollercoaster five years for fans in the AS Monaco jersey, leading us to ask can AS Monaco win the Ligue 1 title? In 2010 2011, the football club crashed and burned, finishing in 18th place in the French Ligue 1, and suffering their first relegation to the second division since the mid-1970s. The 2011 2012 season was only marginally better, with the Red and Whites only sputtering to an eighth place finish in Ligue 2. For a moment, it seemed as if the team was doomed to languish in a lower-tier French football division for years to come.

But then something surprising happened. Instead of giving up, the Red and Whites buckled down and went to work. In 2012 2013, under the guidance of new manager Claudio Ranieri, Monaco soared to first place in Ligue 2, winning 21 games and cutting their loss number to four games (the previous season, they'd lost three times that number). Just like that, AS Monaco were back in the top-flight league. Unlike most recently promoted teams, though, the Red and Whites knew exactly what to expect from the Ligue 1, and mastered the pressure to finish in second place in 2013 2014, and third in 2014 2015.

Now, as the Red and Whites build up their squad during the summer transfer season and prepare to don the Monaco home shirt 2015 2016 for the forthcoming soccer season, fans are asking one question: can AS Monaco contend for the Ligue 1 title this year?

Breaking Down the Numbers

At this point, AS Monaco haven't won a Ligue 1 title since the year 2000. They've been runners-up twice since then (in 2003 and 2014), and finished third on an additional three occasions (in 2004, 2005, and 2015). In other words, the Red and Whites have often been contenders in France's top football league over the past decade and a half, but haven't quite had enough gas in the tank to nail down the title.

Even when Monaco have come close to winning the title in terms of table placement, they haven't always been close in terms of points. Their best shot was the 2002 2003 season, when they fell just one point behind Lyon at the end of the season. The Red and Whites even had a stronger goal difference that year (+33, versus Lyon's +22), but still lost the title by virtue of having one more loss on their record than Lyon.

However, the 2013 2014 season wasn't close. Paris Saint Germain won the soccer title with a point total of 89, and Monaco-while the runner-up for the season-were still nine points behind.

The Paris Saint Germain

And therein lies the biggest obstacle currently standing between AS Monaco and a title: Paris Saint Germain. PSG are currently riding high on the euphoria of winning three back-to-back Ligue 1 titles. Furthermore, the Parisians only seem to be getting better: last season, the football team won a historic treble, clinching not just the Ligue 1, but also the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue (not to mention the Trophee des Champions).

Looking at the statistics, it seems like the wearers of the Monaco football shirt might still need a few years before they can feasibly challenge PSG for the Ligue 1 title. In 2013 2014, Monaco's triumphant return to the top-flight yielded a record of 23 wins, 11 draws, four losses, and a goal difference of +32-an impressive row of statistics that still paled in comparison to PSG's 27-8-3 record and +61 GD.

Monaco's chances would be considerably stronger if Zlatan Ibrahimovic-PSG's not-so-secret weapon-departed the soccer club this summer. That's certainly a possibility, as Ibrahimovic has been linked with every team from Liverpool to Real Madrid. As of yet, though, no deal has been inked.

If Ibrahimovic takes his high-voltage scoring ability to a different football club, could that open a door for AS Monaco to really contend for a Ligue 1 title in 2015 2016? Let us know what you think about the Red and Whites' chances on social media! You can find Soccer Box on Instagram, Tumblr, Google +, and other popular social networks.