The Coupe Gambardella is a

French football Association football is the most popular sport in France. In 2024, 53% of people in France declared an interest in football, with 26% being very interested. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the natio ...

cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

(FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their skills in a national competition. A victory in the finals of the cup is as highly sought by players trying to start their career, as by clubs wishing to demonstrate their ability to train young talents. The current champion is

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

having defeated

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

in the 2025 final by a score of 3-2. The 2019–20 and 2020–21 editions of the tournament were cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...

History

The tournament is the modern day version of the Coupe nationale des juniors, which ran up until 1954. The competition was then renamed, in 1955, to honour Emmanuel Gambardella, president of the French Football Federation from 1949 to 1953, who died on 30 August 1953. In 2019, the competition switched from being an under-19 competition to an under-18 competition.

Format

The Coupe Gambardella begins in December, of the previous year of the final, at the regional level. Home advantage is given out randomly, until the semi-final stage when games are played at neutral venues. Games which are drawn after ninety minutes, go to a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

as opposed to

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

and then a shootout. The final is always played on the same day as the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

and have traditionally taken place at the

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

List of finals

Results by team

Teams shown in ''italics'' are no longer in existence.

References

{{Football in France Coupe Gambardella Football cup competitions in France Youth football in France Youth football competitions