Alain Orsoni

Alain Orsoni (Corsican: Alanu Orsoni; 27 September 1954 – 12 January 2026) was a Corsican politician, separatist militant and football club president. Founder of the FLNC-Canal Habituel (Corsican: Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA) and its political wing, the Movement for Self-Determination (Muvimentu per l’Autodeterminazione, MPA), Orsoni led the organization until its dissolution in 1997. Orsoni was known as the Man of Seven Lives and one of the Corsican "parrains" (a word that can be translated to "godfathers", "capi" or "mob guys") due to his criminal convictions and proclivity for creating new identities overseas to flee persecution. Orsoni was born in the town of Vero, near the city of Ajaccio. His father, a war hero from the Second World War, left when Orsoni was young to fight in Algeria, where he later joined the OAS. After a brief period as a far-right activist, Orsoni became an avid supporter of Corsican independence and moved left on the political spectrum. In 1976, a year after his participation in the Aleria standoff, he joined the newly-formed National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC). In 1988, Orsoni took action during the fracture of the FLNC to preserve a ceasefire signed with the French. Later, Orsoni led the FLNC-CA, and formalized peace with the French government and began a war with the other FLNC splits. After a 7-year-long war with the FLNC-Canal Historique (Canale Storicu, FLNC-CS), in which he played a major role, The Canal Habituel dissolved and Orsoni fled to Nicaragua where he began a gambling business and became involved in extortion. In 2008, Orsoni returned to Corsica and became president of the football club AC Ajaccio. Orsoni was assassinated in January 2026.