Football in France

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: Ligue 1 Première Ligue Ligue 2 Championnat National Championnat National 2 Championnat National 3 Régional 1 Régional 2 Cups: Coupe de France Coupe de France féminine Trophée des Champions Trophée des Championnes
International competitions
FIFA Club World Cup UEFA Champions League UEFA Women's Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Conference League UEFA Super Cup

France at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

Association football is the most popular sport in France. ^{[2] [3]} In 2024, 53% of people in France declared an interest in football, with 26% being very interested. ^[4] The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the country, both professional and amateur. ^{[5] [6]} The federation organizes the Coupe de France and is responsible for appointing the management of the men's, women's, and youth national football teams in France. The federation gives responsibility of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 to the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) who oversee, organize, and manage the country's top two leagues. The LFP is also responsible for organizing the Coupe de la Ligue, the country's league cup competition. The French Football Federation also supervises the overseas departments and territories leagues and hosts football club AS Monaco, a club based in the independent sovereign state of Monaco. In 2022, the FFF had 2.1 million licensees, 1.8 million players and 14,000 registered clubs, the second highest number of registered players in Europe after Germany. ^[1]

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." ^[7] Modern football was introduced nine years later in 1872 by English sailors playing in Le Havre in 1872. ^[8]

Today, football in France is especially being played successfully by people of non-European origin, in particular people of Subsaharan origin and people from North Africa who are overrepresented in the Banlieue. ^[9] The importance of players of non-European origin is also reflected in the composition of the French World Cup winning team where only six of the 23 players were of European descent. ^[10]

France is a football superpower; by its footballers playing around the world, according to the CIES Football Observatory, in 2023, France is the second country in the world behind Brazil, with the most footballers playing abroad with 1,033. ^[11] According to Statista, of the estimated 130,000 professional football players worldwide, 6,368 originated from France, the third highest number in the world after Brazil (10,694) and Mexico (9,223). ^[12]

League system

See also: French football league system

Ligue de Football Professionnel

The Stade Vélodrome, home of Olympique de Marseille, before a match against Paris Saint-Germain in 2015.

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 38 professional football clubs that contest football in France (18 in Ligue 1 and 20 in Ligue 2). ^{[13] [14] [15]}

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 18 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, Italian Serie A, and the German Bundesliga. 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 a record twelfth title in 2024.

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.

Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain ranked fourth place in the top ten most popular sports clubs on social media in the world as of 7 February 2024: ^[16]

Rank	Football club	Country	Followers
1	Real Madrid	Spain	360.5 million
2	Barcelona	Spain	318.8 million
3	Manchester United	England	207 million
4	Paris Saint-Germain	France	163 million
5	Juventus	Italy	147.4 million
6	Manchester City	England	139.7 million
7	Chelsea	England	136.7 million
8	Liverpool	England	131.6 million
9	Bayern Munich	Germany	126.5 million
10	Arsenal	England	99.2 million

Championnat National

The Championnat National is the third division of French football. Though the league has several clubs that are members of the Ligue de Football Professionnel, it is not governed by the organization primarily because of the LFP's refusal to divide its profits into smaller shares, so they can collaborate with the many amateur clubs in the league to help them become professional. The French Football Federation moderates the league, which was founded in 1993 under the name National 1. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Championnat de France amateur.

Championnat National 2

The Championnat National 2 is the fourth division of French football and normally features 72 football clubs. Most clubs that participate in the league are amateur clubs, but a small number of clubs are semi-professional. The CFA consists of 72 clubs spread into 4 parallel groups of 18. It is open to the best reserve teams in France and amateur clubs in France, although only the amateur clubs are eligible for promotion to the Championnat National. The highest-placed amateur team in each pool are promoted, replaced by the 4 lowest-placed in the Championnat National.

Championnat National 3

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

Main article: Women's football in France

Division 1 Féminine

Main article: 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 overseas departments and territories of France are run by their respective associations under the watch of the French Football Federation. Under the rules of the FFF, clubs in the leagues are allowed to participate in confederation competitions based on their regional locations. For example, the champion of the Réunion Premier League is allowed inclusion into the CAF Champions League.

Cup competitions

Coupe de la Ligue trophy.

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 Coupe de France is the premier knockout cup competition in French football. It is open to all amateur and professional football clubs in France, including clubs based in 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 Gambardella, 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.

• Marseille (1989–90 – Semi-finals, 1990–91 – Runners-up, 1992–93 – Champions, 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)
• Reims (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, 2023–24 – Semi-finals)
• Nantes (1995–96 – Semi-finals)
• Auxerre (1996–97 – Quarter-finals)

UEFA Women's Champions League

Main article: 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, 2023–24; Quarter-finals: 2020–21, 2022–23)
• Paris Saint-Germain (Runners-up: 2014–15, 2016–17; Semi-finals: 2023–24)
• Paris FC (Semi-finals: 2012–13; Quarter-finals: 2010–11)
• Montpellier (Quarter-finals: 2009–10, 2017–18)

National teams

Zinedine Zidane, member of the national team from 1994 to 2006.

See also: France national football team, France women's national football team, and France national youth football team

The France national football team represents France in international football. ^[17] France was one of the four European teams that participated at the inaugural World Cup in 1930 and are one of eight national teams to have won the competition, which they did in 1998 when they hosted the Cup, defeating Brazil 3–0 in the final. They won their second world title 20 years later, after defeating Croatia 4–2 in the final of the 2018 edition in Russia. France also won two European Championships in 1984 and 2000, and hosted the tournament on three occasions, including their victorious 1984 campaign. Following France's 2001 Confederations Cup victory, they became the first national team to win the three most important men's titles organised by FIFA: the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Confederations Cup, and the Olympic Tournament. This would be followed with Argentina and Brazil's victories at the Summer Olympics in 2004 and 2016. France additionally went on to win a UEFA Nations League title in 2021.

Eugénie Le Sommer, member of the national team since 2009.

The France women's national football team represents the country in international women's football. France initially struggled on the international stage failing to qualify for three of the first FIFA Women's World Cups and the six straight UEFA European Championships before reaching the quarter-finals in the 1997 edition of the competition. However, since the beginning of the new millennium, France have become a mid-tier national team and one of the most consistent in Europe, having qualified for their first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup in 2003 and reaching the quarter-finals in the last three consecutive European Championships. They also hosted the 2019 Women's World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals.

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 overseas department national teams act as feeder teams for the France national football team. 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

Lilian Thuram, from Guadeloupe, is the nation's second-most capped male football player.

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 overseas department players has been extremely beneficial for the France national team. Lilian Thuram and Bernard Lama, who were born in Guadeloupe and Martinique, respectively, were a part of the winning team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Also on the team were Thierry Henry and Bernard Diomède, who, though born in metropolitan France, were descendants of parents from overseas departments. Currently, Florent Malouda (French Guiana), William Gallas, Mikaël Silvestre, Michaël Ciani (Guadeloupe), Nicolas Anelka (Martinique), and Guillaume Hoarau and Florent Sinama Pongolle (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

Ligue 1

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 Féry 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	Pierre Ferracci Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company Allirajah Subaskaran Noah Football Group
Pau	Bernard Laporte-Fray
Quevilly	Michel Mallet
Rodez	Pierre Olivier Murat
Saint-Étienne	Kilmer Sports Venture
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

1. "Le budget et les chiffres clés". French Football Federation . Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.(the last successful archive is 2021 statistics: 1.9 million licensees, 1.8 million players and 15,000 clubs.)
2. "Popular sports in France". Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
3. "Sport in France". Topend Sports. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
4. TGM Research. "TGM Euro Survey in France 2024". TGM Research. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
5. "A French paradox: multicultural celebrities are popular, but so is Le Pen". The Independent. January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
6. "France's Aversion To Its National Soccer Team". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
7. The Scotsman newspaper, 22 December 1863, page 8
8. "History of Football". Ifhof.com. Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
9. "La place du sport dans les quartiers populaires". Impulsion. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
10. "Who Wins When France Claims the World Cup?". The Athletic. 19 July 2018. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
11. "Brazil breaks ranking record of exported players. France rank second, England fourth". 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
12. "Number of men's professional soccer players worldwide in 2021, by country of origin". 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
13. "In France Paris St. Germain Is A League Apart". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
14. Inti Landauro and William Horobin (25 October 2013). "Top French Soccer Clubs Call Tax Strike". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
15. WSC Daily. "When Saturday Comes – Victory for French fans over TV scheduling". Wsc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
16. "The Top 10 Most Supported Football Clubs in the World".
17. "France's Aversion To Its National Soccer Team". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2014.

External links

• Official website – FFF