The Bleus didn't enjoy their long-term success. In September of 1980, Gress was controversially sacked and, after a few seasons of poor performance, Racing was returned to second-tier football in 1986. The first time around, Strasbourg was unable to secure immediate advancement back to the first level, and eventually finished in at 9th in the group, which was the worst position ever achieved by the club. The club's fortunes improved during the 1987-88 season, when the new coach Henryk Kasperczak guided Racing into its third Division 2 title with players such as Juan Simon, Peter Reichert and Leonard Specht. Strasbourg however, was in no position to stay in the top division and was again in Division 2 in the year 1989. With Specht now in charge, Racing failed to secure promotion in the following two seasons, both times losing in the playoffs, firstly against Nice and then Lens. In 1991-92 Gress returned to his home town as manager and, following a 4-0 win over Rennes (0-0 4-1)) during the last playoff game for promotion, Strasbourg made a lasting return to the top division. In 1992 and 1993, the team achieve eighth place and hasn't been matched since, allowing players like as Jose Cobos, Frank Leboeuf and Marc Keller to shine in the top league. The end of the 1993-94 season Gress quit Racing because of personal discontents with the direction the club was taking. Gress was replaced with Daniel Jeandupeux who was himself dismissed after just eight months. Jacky Dugueperoux then took over Racing and took the club to its most successful period since the 1979 championship. In the 1990s there was an increasing desire for football in France thanks to the rise of the national squad and as with other club, Racing benefited from this setting. The club was capable of attracting French big players like Franck Sauzee as well as foreign players like Aleksandr Mostovoi. With this mixture of experienced players and rising potential, the team made it to an end of their cup campaign in 1995but lost against Paris Saint-Germain (0-1). In April of the same year, Strasbourg became the only team to beat champions Nantes with a 2-0 win at La Meinau. After having a great time in the 1995 Intertoto Cup during the summer, Racing was able to take part in the UEFA Cup where they reached the second round before losing in the second round to Italian greats AC Milan.
In 1996 in 1996, the Bosman ruling was enacted and made it more difficult to French clubs to keep their top players. Strasbourg was not an exception. In the summer, the team was sacked by Mostovoi and two French internationals, Marc Keller and Frank Leboeuf. Despite these departures Racing was a success throughout the season, spending for the majority of this season within the top five and then settling for an 8th-place finish. The was the same season that IMG McCormack Group was picked by the municipal authorities to manage the team. The players, who were still coached by Jacky Dugueperoux and Jacky Dugueperoux, won the Coupe de la Ligue - the first trophy of national significance in 18 years by beating Bordeaux in the penalty shootout. An impressive UEFA Cup run followed that win, which allowed young players from the club such as Olivier Dacourt or Valerien Ismael to shine on the continent. After a good qualifying match with Rangers as well as Liverpool, Strasbourg defeated Inter Milan with a 2-0 win at La Meinau and lost 3-3 at the home leg.
In the between, IMG had taken over the club in summer 1997. Patrick Proisy, former tennis player and director of the French branch, was appointed president. He was later joined a year later by his former friend Claude Le Roy as manager. The Proisy-Le Roy era at Racing was not without its problems with poor performances, several scandals, and a general discontentment of fans with the management of the club. A series of suspicious transfers in that time period led Strasbourg's chief prosecutor to charge Proisy as well as Le Roy of stealing corporate assets and fraud in the year 2006. The club sold its most promising players and substituted them with disappointed expensive foreign players like Diego Hector Garay, Gonzalo Belloso, and Mario Haas. The club pulled off the bizarre task of being knocked out of the league after spending the entire campaign in the lowest three and being crowned the French cup by winning with penalties over Amiens. At that time, Paraguayan star Jose Luis Chilavert scored the winning penalty for Strasbourg at the Stade de France.
In 2001-02, the team under the direction of the manager Ivan Hasek, immediately re-took its place in the nation's soccer elite after being runners up in Ligue 2. In 2003, the club experienced the disappearance from IMG along with Proisy. The club was purchased by a group of local investors , with the former teammate Marc Keller staying as director-general. The new owners were concentrated on securing its finances. As of 2005 Racing took home their first domestic title in the span of four years when they defeated Caen by a score of 2-1 during the semi-final of the League Cup, a feat that earned them an entry into the 2005-2006 UEFA Cup, in which they made it to the final 16.
As of 2006, Strasbourg had to be relegated. The club was bought by real estate developer Philippe Ginestet and celebrated its centennial in autumn 2006 by hosting a variety of events, including an exhibition, as well as an informal match against Marseille. Ginestet appointed French legend Jean-Pierre Pappin as the new manager, and the club was again promoted to the highest level in 2007, placing third. Despite this, Papin resigned as manager due to internal issues and was replaced by Jean-Marc Farran. Under Furlan the RCS did not manage to keep its place at the top of Ligue 1, mainly due to 11 consecutive losses at the close of the 2007-08 campaign, which was a record for post-World War II soccer in France. Furlan was however appointed manager for the next Ligue 2 season but failed in his attempt to get the club back into the top league in the league. Racing finished fourth after the loss of a record-breaking amount at Montpellier. Furlan's contract was then cancelled as well. Phillipe Ginestet stepped down from his chairmanship as the main shareholder. He was replaced by Leonard Specht, who picked Gilbert Gress as manager. The problem was that Gress soon found himself in dispute with several members of the club, among them Ginestet who the manager violently attacked following the defeat of his team to Chateauroux in the first league game. [citation requiredIt was Ginestet was then able to convene an extraordinary board meeting to remove Gress which led to Leonard Specht's departure. Gress got replaced with Assistant manager Pascal Janin, first as an interim manager, and later as permanent manager, after Ginestet returned to the presidency of the club in August 2009. The 2009-10 season was a disaster. an early-season defeat at home resulted in the relegation of Strasbourg into the Championnat National as they suffered their third relegation in the space of three seasons. Their 2010-11 seasons saw them just not be promoted into Ligue 2 as they finished in fourth place, just one point behind Guingamp.
On the 17th of July, 2011 Racing Club de Strasbourg entered complete liquidation and was taken out of the National to be replaced by AS Cherbourg. On the 25th of August, 2011, after a long negotiation between FFF, after lengthy negotiations with FFF, Strasbourg were eventually returned to the fifth tier of French footballing system, which is the CFA 2 the Group C. Strasbourg finished with 100 points and was promoted to the CFA the fourth level of French Football in their debut in the 2011-12 season.
As of 2012, the team changed its name to RC Strasbourg Alsace with a similar badge.
Strasbourg ended up as champions in Strasbourg's CFA at the conclusion of the 2012-13 season , and was relegated in the National. The following year, Jacky Dugueperoux was given the job of manager three times. He took over from Francois Keller. Keller having served for three years was the longest-serving manager ever since Gilbert Gress in the early-to-mid-1990s.