Football in France

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Football in France
The Parc des Princes is the home of Paris Saint-Germain
Country	France
Governing body	FFF
National team(s)	France (men) • France (women)
First played	1863; 161 years ago (1863)
Registered players	2.1 million[1]
Clubs	18,194
National competitions
FIFA World Cup UEFA European Championship UEFA Nations League
Club competitions
List League: Régional 2 Cups: Coupe de France Trophée des Champions
International competitions
FIFA Club World Cup UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Europa Conference League UEFA Super Cup

The first football club was introduced to France in 1863 as described in a newspaper article by The Scotsman, which stated "A number of English gentlemen living in Paris have lately organised a football club... The football contests take place in the Bois de Boulogne, by permission of the authorities and surprise the French amazingly."^[6] Modern football was introduced nine years later in 1872 by English sailors playing in Le Havre in 1872.^[7]

Today, football in France is especially being played successfully by people of non-European origin, in particular

France is a football superpower; by its footballers playing around the world, according to the

Ligue de Football Professionnel

The top two divisions of French football, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, are governed by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The league is responsible for organizing, overseeing and managing the top two leagues and is also responsible for the 46 professional football clubs that contest football in France (20 in Ligue 1, 20 in Ligue 2, and 6 in the Championnat National).^[12][13][14]

Ligue 1 is the French professional league for football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Ligue 2. Ligue 1 is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked fifth in Europe behind the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, and the Italian Serie A. Ligue 1 was inaugurated on 11 September 1932 under the name National before switching to Division 1 after a year of existence. The name lasted until 2002 before switching to its current name. The current champions of France are Paris Saint-Germain, who won their tenth title in 2022.

Ligue 2 is the second division of French football. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Championnat National. The league was created in 1934, a year after Ligue 1 and consisted of 23 clubs that were divided into two groups, Nord and Sud.

The

The Championnat National 3 is the 5th division in French football and normally consists of 168 teams in 12 groups of 14 organised to align with the regional leagues. The twelve teams (both amateur and reserves of professional teams in higher divisions) that top their league are promoted to Championnat National 2. Relegation from Championnat National 3 is defined by both position in the group and the region the club belongs to. Normally, one club is relegated to each regional league that feeds that group.

Lower divisions

Some of regional leagues are organised and managed by the Ligue du Football Amateur. The LFA, under the watch of the French Football Federation, is responsible for administering and federating the actions of the regional and district leagues.

Women's football

Division 1 Féminine

Division 1 Féminine is the top league for women's football clubs in France. Division 1 Féminine is ranked the best league in Europe according to UEFA. The league was originally created in 1918 by Alice Milliat and ran for 12 successful seasons until women's football was banned in France. The league was refounded in 1974 and officially reinstated in 1975.

It is contested by 12 clubs. The league operates on a system of promotion and relegation with lower leagues and is governed by the French Football Federation. The league is known as D1 Arkema. Lyon has won the most league titles at 16.

Lower divisions

Division 2 Féminine is the second-tier of French women's football, contested by 12 clubs. Relegation is to Division 3 Féminine, contested by 24 fully professional clubs split into two groups. The fourth level is Régional 1 Féminine.

Overseas leagues

The leagues based in the

The most important cup competition in France is the Coupe de France. However, several other national cups are targeted at clubs at different levels.

• The
  overseas departments and territories. The final is played at the Stade de France and, during the 2016–17 season
  , celebrated its 100th anniversary.
• The Coupe de la Ligue was the second major cup competition in France. It was known outside France as the French League Cup and was a knockout league cup competition organised by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. Unlike the Coupe de France, it was only open to professional clubs who were members of the LFP. The competition was discontinued in 2020 to prevent fixture congestion.
• The Trophée des Champions is played each July as a one-off match between the Coupe de France winners and the Ligue 1 champions.
• Regional amateur leagues of France organise their own cup competitions that are run by the French Football Federation. For example, the Coupe Bourgogne only features amateur clubs that are based in the region of Burgundy.
• Men's youth cups include the
  Coupe Nationale
  , and the Coupe Fédérale. The Coupe Gambardella cup competition held between the under-19s of the French football clubs. The Coupe Nationale holds dual competitions for the under-13 and under-15 teams of football clubs, while the Coupe Fédérale holds a national cup competition for under-16 teams.
• The Coupe de l'Outre-Mer is a football cup competition that was created in 2008. It was designed to have the national football teams of the overseas territories compete against each other

Women's

• The
  Coupe de France féminine
  , a premier cup competition reserved exclusively for French football clubs. The competition is open to all professional and non-professional teams in the country.
• Trophée des Championnes, an annual match between the league champions of Division 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. The league runners-up play if the same team won the league and the cup.
• Coupe Nationale
• Coupe Fédérale
• The Coupe National holds a youth cup competition for the under-14 teams, while the Coupe Fédérale holds cup competitions for the under-13 and under-16 teams.

Competition records

UEFA Champions League

The following teams have qualified for the last eight of the European Cup / UEFA Champions League.

• 2011–12
  – Quarter-finals)
• Monaco (1993–94 – Semi-finals, 1997–98 – Semi-finals, 2003–04 – Runners-up, 2016–17 – Semi-finals)
• Saint-Étienne (1974–75 – Semi-finals, 1975–76 – Runners-up, 1976–77 – Quarter-finals)
• Lyon (2003–04 – Quarter-finals, 2004–05 – Quarter-finals, 2005–06 – Quarter-finals, 2009–10 – Semi-finals, 2019–20 – Semi-finals)
• 1955–56 – Runners-up, 1958–59 – Runners-up, 1962–63
  – Quarter-finals)
• Bordeaux (1984–85 – Semi-finals, 2009–10 – Quarter-finals)
• Paris Saint-Germain (1994–95 – Semi-finals, 2012–13 – Quarter-finals, 2013–14 – Quarter-finals, 2015–16 – Quarter-finals, 2019–20 – Runners-up, 2020–21 – Semi-finals)
• Nantes (1995–96 – Semi-finals)
• Auxerre (1996–97 – Quarter-finals)

UEFA Women's Champions League

• Lyon (Winners: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22. Runners-up: 2009–10, 2012–13. Quarter-finals: 2020–21, 2022–23.)
• Paris Saint-Germain (Runners-up: 2014–15, 2016–17
  .)
• Paris FC (Semi-finals: 2012–13. Quarter-finals: 2010–11.)
• Montpellier (Quarter-finalists: 2009–10, 2017–18.)

National teams

The

The

The France national youth football teams consists of age-specific national teams beginning with the France national under-16 football team and ending with the France national under-21 football team. Since the coaching tenure of Aimé Jacquet, there is an unwritten rule among senior national team coaches that players called up to the national team must have had prior international experience with the under-21 team.

Overseas departments national teams

The following

. All teams are run by their respective federation under the authority of the French Football Federation.

National team	Elo Ranking	Manager	Stadium	Member Association(s)
French Guiana	159	Ghislain Zulémaro	Stade de Baduel	CONCACAF and CFU
Guadeloupe	91	Roger Salnot	Stade René Serge Nabajoth	CONCACAF and CFU
Martinique	115	Theodore Antonin	Stade d'Honneur de Dillon	CONCACAF and CFU
Réunion	138	TBD	Stade Jean-Ivoula	CAF
Saint Martin	193	Andy Gerard	TBD	CONCACAF and CFU

As an overseas department of the French Republic, each national team is not a member of FIFA, therefore they are not eligible to enter the World Cup. However, since inhabitants of the overseas departments are French citizens, players are eligible to play for the France national football team. Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, and French Guiana are associate members of CONCACAF and are full members of the Caribbean Football Union, and are thus eligible for all competitions organized by both, while Réunion are associate members of CAF. Indeed, according to the status of the FFF (article 34, paragraph 6): "[...]Under the control of related continental confederations, and with the agreement of the FFF, those leagues can organize international sport events at a regional level or set up teams in order to participate to them."

A special rule of the CONCACAF Gold Cup only allows players to join the team if they have not played for France during the previous five years. On the other hand, any player joining the team is allowed to join the France national team afterward with no time restrictions.

The use of

(Réunion) are members of the national team who either hail from or whose families hail from the overseas departments.

French football stadiums

Stadiums with a capacity of 40,000 or higher are included.

#	Image	Stadium	Capacity	City	Region	Home Team	Opened	Notes
1		Stade de France	81,338	Saint-Denis	Île-de-France	France national football team	1998	UEFA Category 4 stadium
2		Stade Vélodrome	67,394	Marseille	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Olympique de Marseille	1937	UEFA Category 4 stadium
3		Parc Olympique Lyonnais	59,186	Décines-Charpieu	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	Olympique Lyonnais	2016	UEFA Category 4 stadium
4		Stade Pierre-Mauroy	50,157	Villeneuve-d'Ascq	Hauts-de-France	Lille OSC	2012	UEFA Category 4 stadium
5		Parc des Princes	48,583	Paris	Île-de-France	Paris Saint-Germain FC	1972	UEFA Category 4 stadium
6		Matmut Atlantique	42,115	Bordeaux	Nouvelle-Aquitaine	FC Girondins de Bordeaux	2015	UEFA Category 4 stadium
7		Stade Geoffroy-Guichard	41,965	Saint-Étienne	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	AS Saint-Étienne	1931

List of club owners

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2024)

Ligue 1

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (May 2017)

Club	Owner(s)	Estimated combined net worth	Source of wealth
Brest	Denis Le Saint		Fruits and Vegetables
Clermont	Ahmet Schaefer
Le Havre	Vincent Volpe
Lens	Joseph Oughourlian Amber Capital		Investments
Lille	Merlyn Partners		Investments
Lorient	Loïc Ferry Bill Foley	300 M€	Investments
Lyon	Eagle Football Holdings LLC John Textor
Marseille	Frank McCourt	1,2 Mds$	Sport investments
Metz	Bernard Serin		Steel Products
Monaco	Dmitry Rybolovlev	7,4 Mds$	Specialized chemicals, investments
Montpellier	Laurent Nicollin	150 M€	Waste management
Nantes	Waldemar Kita	170 M€	Optical
Nice	Jim Ratcliffe		Chemical industries
Paris	Qatar Sports Investments Arctos Partners	9.0 B$[citation needed]	Gas & oil
Reims	Jean-Pierre Caillot		Transport
Rennes	Francois Pinault	23 Mds€	Luxury
Strasbourg	Clearlake Capital Group
Toulouse	RedBird Capital Partners		Investments

Ligue 2

Club	Owner(s)	Estimated combined net worth	Source of wealth
Ajaccio	Alain Orsoni
Amiens	Bernard Joannin		Retail
Angers	Saïd Chabane
Annecy	Sebastien Faraglia
Auxerre	James Zhou
Bastia	Familles Luiggi et Ferrandi
Bordeaux	Gérard Lopez		Investments
Caen	Oaktree Capital		Investments
Concarneau
Dunkerque	Amissos / Yildirim
Grenoble	Stéphane Rosnoblet		Supermarket
Guingamp	Noël Le Graët
Laval	Laurent Lairy
Paris FC	Allirajah Subaskaran Noah Football Group
Pau	Bernard Laporte-Fray
Quevilly	Michel Mallet
Rodez	Pierre Olivier Murat
Saint-Étienne	Roland Romeyer Bernard Caïzzo
Troyes	City Football Group		Sport investments
Valenciennes	Sport Republic

National

Club	Owner(s)	Estimated combined net worth	Source of wealth
Chateauroux	United World Group Abdullah bin Mossad		Sport Investments
Dijon	Olivier Delcourt
Le Mans	Thierry Gomez
Nancy	Chien Lee		Sport Investments
Nîmes	Rani Assaf		Telecommunications
Niort	Ethan Hanouna
Red Star	777 Partners
Sedan
Rouen
Sochaux	Romain Peugeot
Versailles	Alexandre Mulliez

See also

• Football in Paris
• Sport in France
• List of football stadiums in France

References

External links

• Official site