Sport in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

plays an important role in French society, which is reflected in its popularity among the French people and the nation's strong sporting history. Various types of sports are played and followed in France, notably

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

, and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

, which has earned France eight victories in world championships and five

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

medals. France is also the three-time European champion of handball.

Main sports

Basketball

The

France national basketball team The France men's national basketball team (french: Équipe de France de basketball) represents France in international basketball and is administered by the French Federation of Basketball. France is currently ranked fifth in the FIBA World R ...

has had good results in international competitions over the years, with the senior team winning their first title ever at the

EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France defeated Lithuania in th ...

. The team was runner-up at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ...

, EuroBasket 1949, the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

, the

EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted the 1939 ch ...

, and the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. France has also won medals at the

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

, and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. As of the , 22 French citizens have played in the NBA in the USA and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Ten are currently playing, most notably

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

Parker, with four NBA titles to his credit; Spurs forward Diaw;

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

center

Rudy Gobert Rudy Gobert-Bourgarel ( ; born June 26, 1992) is a French professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the French national team in their international competitions ...

, who won back-to-back NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2018 and 2019; and

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

forward-center

Joakim Noah Joakim Simon Noah ( ; born February 25, 1985) is an American-born French-Swedish former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Florida Gators, winning back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007. The Chicago B ...

, also notable for his

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

career at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in which he starred on a team that won two NCAA titles with the same starting lineup. The New York Knicks former GM Phil Jackson selected Frank Ntilikina in the 2016-2017 NBA Draft. Men's national professional competitions are supervised by the

Ligue Nationale de Basketball The Ligue nationale de basket (LNB; English: National Basketball League) is the governing body of men's professional club basketball in France. The LNB organises the first-tier Pro A and the second-tier Pro B. Additionally, the federation annu ...

. There are two divisions: Pro A (first division) and Pro B (second division).

ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne ASVEL Basket, commonly known as ASVEL or sometimes as ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, and also known as LDLC ASVEL for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional basketball team that is located in the city of Villeurbanne, which is a suburb of Lyo ...

is the most successful team in French first division history with 17 titles from 1949 to 2009. Limoges CSP is the only French team to have won the EuroLeague in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

. The

France women's national basketball team France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

has twice been European champion (

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

), and also claimed a silver medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

. Women's national professional competitions are supervised by the

Fédération Française de Basket-Ball The French Basketball Federation (FFBB) (french: Fédération Française de Basketball) is the governing body of basketball in France. It was founded in 1932 (and members of the FIBA since 1933). The Federation operates the France national teams ...

with the first division being the Ligue féminine de basket. Clermont Université Club is the most successful team in French first division history with 13 titles from 1968 to 1981. CJM Bourges (

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, and

) and

US Valenciennes Valenciennes Football Club (; commonly known as Valenciennes or USVA) is a French association football club based in Valenciennes. The club was founded in 1913 and currently play in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Valenciennes play ...

(

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

) have won the EuroLeague Women. Besides regular basketball,

3x3 basketball 3x3 basketball (pronounced ''three-ex-three'') is a variation of basketball played three-a-side, with one backboard and in a half-court setup. According to an ESSEC Business School study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee, 3x3 ...

has become increasingly popular in France.

Cycling

France hosts "the world's biggest annual sporting event" called the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

, a road cycling race, which takes place each July and lasts for three weeks. It is one of the three

Grand Tours In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...

, which are the most prestigious stage races in road cycling. The Tour has been won 36 times by French cyclists in its 110-year history. Cycling is very popular in France, evident from the fact that the race of

attracts more than 12 million people who travel to witness the race first hand. The

also attracts a television audience of 3.5 billion people worldwide. In addition, the north of France hosts the one-day race

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the ' Monuments' or classics of th ...

, known as one of the

cobbled classics The cobbled classics are four cycling classics held in March and April. Cobblestones, like mountainous terrain, are important elements in courses of cycling. Many classic cycle races in northwestern Europe contain cobbled sections. The two Monume ...

famous for the use of

cobblestones Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fr ...

setts A sett, also known as a block or Belgian block, is a broadly rectangular quarried stone used in paving roads and walkways. Formerly in widespread use, particularly on steeper streets because setts provided horses' hooves with better grip tha ...

as challenging terrain, and as one of the five "Monuments" which along with the road racing World Championship are the most important one-day

classic cycle races The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...

. Other high-profile races which are included as part of the top-level

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an ann ...

circuit include the stage races

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the Col d'Èze overlooki ...

and the

Critérium du Dauphiné The Critérium du Dauphiné, before 2010 known as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, is an annual cycling road race in the Dauphiné region in the southeast of France. The race is run over eight days during the first half of June. It is par ...

(often used as a warm-up race for riders competing in the Tour de France), and the one-day race

GP Ouest-France The Bretagne Classic, also called Bretagne Classic Ouest–France, is an elite cycling classic held annually in late summer around the Breton village of Plouay in western France. The race was originally named Grand–Prix de Plouay and, from ...

. Some of the most notable French riders are multiple Grand Tour winners

Lucien Petit-Breton Lucien Georges Mazan (18 October 1882 – 20 December 1917) was a French racing cyclist (pseudonym: Lucien Petit-Breton, ), known as the first two-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Plessé, Loire-Atlantique, a part of Brittany ...

André Leducq André Leducq (; 27 February 1904 – 18 June 1980) was a French cyclist who won the 1930 and 1932 Tours de France. He also won a gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics in the team road race event and the 1928 Paris–Roubaix. Career Ledu ...

Antonin Magne Antonin Magne (; 15 February 1904 – 8 September 1983) was a French cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1931 and 1934. He raced as a professional from 1927 to 1939 and then became a team manager. The French rider and then journalist, Jean Bo ...

Louison Bobet Louis "Louison" Bobet (; 12 March 1925 - 13 March 1983) was a French professional road racing cyclist. He was the first great French rider of the post-war period and the first rider to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 ...

Jacques Anquetil Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the ...

(along with historic contender Raymond Poulidor, who was a favorite of the crowd),

Roger Pingeon Roger Pingeon (; 28 August 1940 – 19 March 2017) was a professional road bicycle racer from France. Biography Growing up near the Jura Mountains, he was a cross-country skier as a teenager before taking up bicycle racing. He spent two ye ...

Bernard Thévenet Bernard Thévenet (; born 10 January 1948) is a retired professional cyclist. His sporting career began with ACBB Paris. He is twice a winner of the Tour de France and known for ending the reign of five-times Tour champion Eddy Merckx, though bo ...

Bernard Hinault Bernard Hinault (; born 14 November 1954) is a French former professional road cyclist. With 147 professional victories, including five times the Tour de France, he is often named among the greatest cyclists of all time. In his career, Hinault ...

and

Laurent Fignon Laurent Patrick Fignon (; 12 August 1960 – 31 August 2010) was a French professional road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984 and the Giro d'Italia in 1989. He is former FICP World No. 1 in 1989. He nearly captured ...

, and multiple Monument winners

Maurice Garin Maurice-François Garin (; 3 March 1871 – 19 February 1957) was an Italian then French road bicycle racer best known for winning the inaugural Tour de France in 1903, and for being stripped of his title in the second Tour in 1904 along with ...

Lucien Lesna Lucien Lesna (11 October 1863 – 11 July 1932) was a French racing cyclist. He won the 1901 and 1902 Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional road bicycle racing, bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of ...

, Hippolyte Aucouturier,

Octave Lapize Octave Lapize (; 24 October 1887 – 14 July 1917) was a French professional road racing cyclist and track cyclist. Most famous for winning the 1910 Tour de France and a bronze medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in the men's 100 kilometres, h ...

Gustave Garrigou Cyprien Gustave Garrigou (; 24 September 1884 – 23 January 1963) was one of the best professional racing cyclists of his era. He rode the Tour de France eight times and won once. Of 117 stages, he won eight, came in the top ten 96 times and ...

Henri Pélissier Henri Pélissier (; 22 January 1889 – 1 May 1935) was a French racing cyclist from Paris and champion of the 1923 Tour de France. In addition to his 29 career victories, he was known for his long-standing feud with Tour founder Henri Desgrange a ...

Charles Crupelandt Charles Crupelandt (23 October 1886, Wattrelos, Nord - 18 February 1955, Roubaix) was a French professional road bicycle racer. He won stages in the Tour de France, but his biggest successes were the 1912 and 1914 Paris–Roubaix. The last cobb ...

Jean Forestier Jean Forestier (born 7 October 1930) is a French former cyclist. He was a professional from 1953 to 1965. Forestier won the points classification in the 1957 Tour de France, and wore the yellow jersey for two days. He also won the 1955 Paris–R ...

Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle (born 25 August 1954) is a former French professional road racing cyclist who was a specialist at one-day classic cycling races. He raced from 1977 to 1995, one of the best French riders of a generation that included Bern ...

and

Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert (born 30 November 1968) is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Affectionately known as ''"Jaja"'' (slang for a glass of wine; when he continued drinking wine as a professional, the nickname stuck ...

. In women's cycling Jeannie Longo is one of the most successful competitors of all time, having won the Tour de France Feminin three times, nine gold medals in road racing and time trialling at the

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

, and the gold in the road race at the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Football

Football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

is the most popular sport in France, with 1,993,270 licensed players in the leagues. The sport was imported from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

at the end of the 19th century, under the name of association football. In its early days, the sport gained followers mainly in the Paris area and the Northern part of the country -

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais ...

and

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

were the first teams that were created outside

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. However, in

southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

, football's competitor,

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

, was more popular for a period of time. Established in 1919 from competing organizations, the

Fédération française de football The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governing body of association football, football in France. It also includes the Overseas departments and territories of France, overseas departments (Guad ...

consists of 18,000 teams. :fr:Sport en France Zinedine zidane wcf 2006-edit

France is also one of only ten teams to have won the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

(

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

). They also finished as runners-up when they hosted the tournament in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. France was also the 1984 Olympic Champion and the

and

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

winner, hosting the 1998 tournament. They finished as World Cup runners-up in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

is the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the

French football league system The French football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in France and Monaco, and includes one Spanish side. At the top two levels of the system is the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which consists of two pr ...

. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues ...

with Ligue 2. The most successful clubs in the French first division history are

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

and

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

with 10 championships each (the latter's last one in 1981), followed by

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club p ...

with 9 titles and

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as ...

with 8 titles. As of

, the current champions are Paris Saint-Germain. The

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

is the premier

knock-out A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking ...

cup competition in French football. The

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

is the second major cup competition in France. The

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

is played each July as a one-off match between the

winners and the

champions. Only one French club, Olympique de Marseille, has won the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, in

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2018. Reims plays home matches at the Stade Au ...

(

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

), Saint-Étienne (

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

(

) and Paris Saint-Germain (

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

) have been runners-up.

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastiais ( co, Sporting Club di Bastia, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a Corsican association football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of French f ...

(

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

FC Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde (de ...

(

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

) and Olympique de Marseille (

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

) have also been runners-up in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. The

France women's national football team The France women's national football team (french: Équipe de France féminine de football, sometimes shortened as Féminin A) represents France in international women's football. The team is directed by the French Football Federation (FFF). F ...

's main international achievement has been fourth place at the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the event ...

. They also hosted the 2019 Women's World Cup. Women's national professional competitions are supervised by the

. The first division is the Championnat de France de football féminin.

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

is the most successful team in French first division history with 26 national titles, including a streak of fourteen consecutive league titles from 2007 to 2020. In the UEFA Women's Champions League, OL have won a record eight titles (2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2011, 2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2012, 2015–16 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2016, 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2017, 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2018, 2018–19 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2019, 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2020 and 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2022) and have been runners-up twice (2009–10 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2010 and 2012–13 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2013).

Handball

There were 492,101 licensed handball players in France as of 2019. The France men's national handball team is the first handball team to have held all three titles twice (the Danish women's team also held all three in 1997), and the only national team in its sport to hold six world titles and a total of eleven medals at the World Men's Handball Championship. With a total of five medals, including three gold in Handball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008, Handball at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 and Handball at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2021, France is also the most successful handball team at the Handball at the Olympic Games, Summer Olympics. France was also recognized as the European champion of handball in 2006 European Men's Handball Championship, 2006, 2010 European Men's Handball Championship, 2010 and 2014 European Men's Handball Championship, 2014. The France women's national handball team, although less successful, won the Handball at the Olympic Games, Summer Olympics once (Handball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament, 2020), the World Women's Handball Championship, World Championship twice (2003 World Women's Handball Championship, 2003, 2017 World Women's Handball Championship, 2017) and also the European Women's Handball Championship, European Championship once (2018 European Women's Handball Championship, 2018). Men's national professional competitions are supervised by the Ligue nationale de handball with the top division being the LNH Division 1. Montpellier Handball is the most successful team in French first division history, with 14 titles from 1995 to 2012. With 8 titles between 2013 and 2021, Paris Saint-Germain Handball is the current top club. Nevertheless, Montpellier Handball is still the only French team to have won the EHF Champions League, in 2002–03 EHF Champions League, 2003 and in 2017–18 EHF Champions League, 2018. Women's main national professional competition is the LFH Division 1 Féminine. Metz Handball is the most successful team in French first division history with 23 titles from 1989 to 2019. One French team, Brest Bretagne Handball, has reached the final at the EHF Women's Champions League, in 2020–21 Women's EHF Champions League, 2021.

Ice hockey

Ice hockey is a fairly popular sport in France, especially in the Rhône-Alpes region and in the cities of Rouen, Amiens and Tours. The governing body is the Fédération Française de Hockey sur Glace, FFHG which administers the national championship, Ligue Magnus (founded in 1907). The France men's national ice hockey team, national team is currently ranked in the top 20 in the IIHF World Ranking. In recent years, numerous French ice hockey players have played in the NHL, the premier ice hockey competition on the planet based in the United States and

, including Stanley Cup winner Cristobal Huet and Vancouver Canucks forward Antoine Roussel.

Judo

Judo is the fourth most popular sport in France. Teddy Riner, with ten World Championship gold medals and three Olympic gold medals, is one of the most successful French judoka.

Motorsports

Motorsports are very popular in France, especially auto racing and motorcycle racing. Formula One has a strong connection with and long history in France, having roots in European Grand Prix motor racing, which traces its birth to the 1906 French Grand Prix. Many French circuits have been used since the foundation of the Formula One Championships: Reims-Gueux (1950–1966), Rouen-Les-Essarts (1952–1958), Circuit Charade (1965–1972), Bugatti Circuit (1967), Circuit Paul Ricard (1971–), Dijon-Prenois (1974–1984), and Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours (1991–2008). France is home of Formula One World's Constructors' Champions Equipe Matra Sports, Matra (1969 Formula One season, 1969) and Renault (2005 Formula One season, 2005 and 2006 Formula One season, 2006), and Formula One World Drivers' Champion Alain Prost (1985 Formula One season, 1985, 1986 Formula One season, 1986, 1989 Formula One season, 1989, and 1993 Formula One season, 1993). The most recent French Formula One race winner is Esteban Ocon, having won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix while racing for Alpine F1 Team, Alpine. Sébastien Loeb - 2005 Cyprus Rally

France is also home to the most Champions in Formula Two history with Jean-Pierre Beltoise (), Johnny Servoz-Gavin (), Jean-Pierre Jarier (), Patrick Depailler (), Jacques Laffite (), Jean-Pierre Jabouille (), and René Arnoux (). French constructors have also been successful with Equipe Matra Sports, Matra winning the Championships in , , and , Automobiles Martini in and , and Renault in and . France produced five champions in the International Formula 3000 championship, the successor to the European F2 series: Jean Alesi (1989 International Formula 3000 season, 1989), Érik Comas (1990 International Formula 3000 season, 1990), Olivier Panis (1993 International Formula 3000 season, 1993), Jean-Christophe Boullion (1994 International Formula 3000 season, 1994) and Sébastien Bourdais (2002 International Formula 3000 season, 2002), tying with Italy as the most successful nation in the formula. Romain Grosjean won the GP2 Asia Series in 2008 GP2 Asia Series season, 2008 and 2011 GP2 Asia Series season, 2011 and the main GP2 Series in 2011 GP2 Series season, 2011, whilst Pierre Gasly won the GP2 title in the series' final season in 2016 GP2 Series, 2016. Fabio Quartararo at the 2022 San Marino Grand Prix at Misano

Fabio Quartararo at the 2022 San Marino Grand Prix at Misano

Touring car racing, although less popular in France than Formula One, has a strong following, especially with four time World Touring Car Championship Drivers' Champion Yvan Muller (2008 World Touring Car Championship season, 2008, 2010 World Touring Car Championship season, 2010, 2011 World Touring Car Championship season, 2011 and 2013 World Touring Car Championship season, 2013). In Sports car racing, France is home to the 24 Hours of Le Mans the world's oldest sports car racing, sports car race in Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, held annually since 1923. Also, French auto racing team Hexis Racing is the current 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season, FIA GT1 World Team Champion. Rallying is very popular in France, with two World Rally Championship rallies being held there: Tour de Corse (1973–2008) and Rallye d'Alsace (2010-today). French drivers and manufacturers have been very successful in the World Rally Championship, especially since 2000, winning 14 championships in each competition. Champions include Didier Auriol (1994 World Rally Championship season, 1994), Sébastien Loeb (2004 World Rally Championship season, 2004, 2005 World Rally Championship season, 2005, 2006 World Rally Championship season, 2006, 2007 World Rally Championship season, 2007, 2008 World Rally Championship season, 2008, 2009 World Rally Championship season, 2009, 2010 World Rally Championship season, 2010, 2011 World Rally Championship season, 2011 and 2012 World Rally Championship season, 2012, an all-time record) and Sébastien Ogier (2013 World Rally Championship season, 2013, 2014 World Rally Championship season, 2014, 2015 World Rally Championship season, 2015, 2016 World Rally Championship season, 2016,2017 World Rally Championship season, 2017 and 2018 World Rally Championship season, 2018) for the drivers, and Alpine (car maker), Alpine (1973 World Rally Championship season, 1973), Peugeot (1985 World Rally Championship season, 1985, 1986 World Rally Championship season, 1986, 2000 World Rally Championship season, 2000, 2001 World Rally Championship season, 2001, and 2002 World Rally Championship season, 2002), and Citroën (2003 World Rally Championship season, 2003, 2004 World Rally Championship season, 2004, 2005 World Rally Championship season, 2005, 2008 World Rally Championship season, 2008, 2009 World Rally Championship season, 2009, 2010 World Rally Championship season, 2010, 2011 World Rally Championship season, 2011, 2012 World Rally Championship season, 2012) for the manufacturers.

holds an annual ice racing championship at the end of each year, called the Andros Trophy. Other types of auto racing (Stock car racing, Sports car racing, Drag racing, etc.) are more favoured. France host the French motorcycle Grand Prix currently in Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans. Fabio Quartararo is the first French to win the premier class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotogGP in 2021 MotoGP World Championship, 2021. Also, in Superbike World Championship only two French riders have been champions: Raymond Roche in 1990 Superbike World Championship, 1990 and Sylvain Guintoli in 2014 Superbike World Championship, 2014.

Orienteering

Orienteering is a reasonably popular sport in France; it is regulated by the Fédération Française de Course d'Orientation (FFCO) .

Pétanque

Pétanque is mostly played and highly popular in the South of France. Pétanque is not considered a sport by many northern Frenchmen, though the sport is internationally recognized by the IOC. Professional players play the competitive form of Pétanque, which is called Pétanque Sport, under precise rules. The competitive form is played by about 480,000 persons licensed with the ''Federation Française de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal'' (FFOJP). The FFPJP is the 4th largest sports federation in France.

Sailing

Professional sailing (sport), sailing in France is centered on singlehanded/shorthanded ocean racing with the pinnacle of this branch of the sport being the Vendée Globe singlehanded around the world race which starts every 4 years from the French Atlantic.

Skiing

Skiing is a popular sport in France. The best places for skiing are the mountainous areas in the south, center, and east of the country, where most French ski resorts are located. Émile Allais won four World Championship golds in the 1930s. Henri Oreiller won Olympic gold at the 1948 Winter Olympics. Jean-Claude Killy dominated alpine skiing in the late 1960s, winning all three alpine skiing golds on offer at the 1968 Winter Olympics on French snow in Grenoble. These events also served as the 1968 Alpine Skiing World Championships, and in addition, Killy won the World Championship Combined event in 1968 to add to golds in the Downhill and Combined won at the 1966 World Championships. He also won the first two overall Alpine Skiing World Cup titles. Marielle Goitschel won two Olympic golds, an additional five World Championship golds and three discipline World Cup titles in the 1960s. Guy Périllat was a double World Championship gold medalist in the 1960s. Fabienne Serrat won two golds at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1974, 1974 World Championships. More recently Luc Alphand won the overall World Cup in 1997 Alpine Skiing World Cup, 1997 and four discipline titles in Downhill and Super Giant Slalom. Jean-Baptiste Grange was Slalom World Cup champion in 2009 Alpine Skiing World Cup, 2009 and Slalom World Champion in FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2011 – Men's slalom, 2011 and 2015. In January 2017 Alexis Pinturault set a new record for World Cup wins by a French skier when he took his 19th victory in a giant slalom in Adelboden, breaking Jean-Claude Killy's record. French success in cross-country skiing has been somewhat more limited. However Vincent Vittoz did win a gold medal in the 15 km + 15 km double pursuit at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2005, 2005. He also finished as runner up in the Distance FIS Cross-Country World Cup, World Cup for three consecutive seasons from 2004/05 to 2006–07 FIS Cross-Country World Cup, 2006/07. Jason Lamy-Chappuis has been an extremely successful competitor in Nordic combined. He won a gold medal in the Individual normal hill/10 km competition at the Nordic combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Individual normal hill/10 km, 2010 Winter Olympics as well as four World Championship golds and three consecutive FIS Nordic Combined World Cups between 2009–10 FIS Nordic Combined World Cup, 2009/10 and 2011–12 FIS Nordic Combined World Cup, 2011/12. France has enjoyed success in Biathlon in recent years. Raphaël Poirée won seven Biathlon World Championship golds and four overall Biathlon World Cups. He is the joint second most successful male biathlete of all time in terms of winning overall World Cup titles, and scored 44 World Cup victories. Martin Fourcade has won 13 World Championship golds, 7 overall World Cup titles 1 silver medal in Biathlon at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, 2 gold medals in the Biathlon at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, and 3 golf medals in the Biathlon at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Games.

Rugby union

Rugby union (rugby à 15 or jeu à 15) was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents. While football is much more popular nationally, rugby union is predominant in the southern half of the country, especially around Toulouse, the French Northern Basque Country, Basque country and Northern Catalonia, Catalonia. Elite French clubs participate in the domestic club competition - the Top 14. Clubs also compete in the European knock-out competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup. It is the seventh largest French team sport in the terms of licensed players with 360,847 licensed players (2014). There are 1,737 clubs in France and the number of licensed players has significantly increased over the recent years (up from 260,000 in 2000). In 2010, the all-French final of the Heineken Cup between Toulouse and Biarritz in the Stade de France received 3.2 million viewers on France 2. In 2011, the final of the Top 14 gathered 4.4 million viewers on France 2 and Canal+ and the World Cup final between New Zealand and France gathered 15.4 million viewers on TF1, the highest audience on French TV since the start of the year. The France national rugby union team, national side is one of the tier 1 national teams. It competes annually in the Six Nations Championship, and won it outright 16 times. France has been to every Rugby World Cup since its inception in 1987, and has been a runner-up on three occasions, most recently in 2011 Rugby World Cup, 2011. France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Rugby league

Rugby league (''rugby à treize'') has been played in France since the 1930s, and is most popular, like rugby union, in the south of the country. The sport arguably achieved its height in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s when the France national team made it to Rugby League World Cup, World Cup finals and won test series against Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand. Two French-based teams, the Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique, participate in the Super League tournament, which has helped boost the sport's profile and led to growth in player numbers.

Tennis

Tennis is the second most popular French sport in terms of the number of licensed players with 1,111,316 licensed tennis players in France (2012). France holds the tennis Grand Slam tournament French Open, Roland Garros. As of February 20, 2017, the current male and female French no. 1 players are Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Caroline Garcia, respectively. Some other French current stars include Richard Gasquet, Gaël Monfils, Gilles Simon, Lucas Pouille, Alizé Cornet, and Kristina Mladenovic. Other stars from the past include Yannick Noah (father of Joakim Noah), Guy Forget, Henri Leconte, Amélie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce and Marion Bartoli.

Minor team sports

American Football

The Ligue Élite de Football Américain, founded in 1982, is the top level of American football in France.

Australian rules football

Australian rules football is a growing sport in France, with the first clubs forming in the 1990s. There are several clubs around the country forming a "Super League" and some other clubs playing in a developmental league. There is a national men's Australian Football team that has played international matches and competes in the Australian Football International Cup, which is essentially a World Cup for all countries apart from Australia.

Baseball

Baseball is a minor sport in France.

Cricket

Cricket is a developing sport in France. Some reports claim that cricket was invented in France, however, the sport is relatively unknown due to inadequate media coverage. In fact, the 1900 Olympic games, the only one where cricket was played, featured bitter rivals England and France taking on each other. A rematch of the two teams took place just before the 2012 Olympics.

Gaelic football

Though it is little known, Gaelic football is developing in France. There are currently 20 clubs across the country, with 80% of the players being French.

Lacrosse

The France national lacrosse team has qualified for the World Lacrosse Championship three consecutive times, in 2010 through 2018. At the most recent event (2018), it finished 33rd out of 46.

Beach volleyball

France's men's national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.

Main sports

Basketball

Cycling

Football

Handball

Ice hockey

Judo

Motorsports

Orienteering

Pétanque

Sailing

Skiing

Rugby union

Rugby league

Tennis

Minor team sports

American Football

Australian rules football

Baseball

Cricket

Gaelic football

Lacrosse

Beach volleyball

See also

References

Further reading