Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

is the biggest and most popular sport in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, in terms of participants, spectators, economy, and media coverage.

History

Racing Club de France Racing Club de France, also known as RCF, is a French multi-sport club that was founded on 20 April 1882 under the name Racing Club. Racing Club changed its name to Racing Club de France (RCF) on 21 November 1885. The club is located at the Bois ...

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

, CA Paris, and

Club Français Club Français was a French association football club based in Paris which was founded in 1890. Club Français won the 1896 USFSA Football Championship and the 1931 Coupe de France. In 1900 the USFSA elected players from Club Français to r ...

were all founding members of the 1932–33 Division 1, and the most successful club in the city is

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

. 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 ...

is the home ground of the

France national football team The France national football team () represents France in men's international Association football, football. It is controlled by the French Football Federation (FFF; ), the governing body for football in France. It is a member of UEFA in Euro ...

, and has hosted 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 ...

final since the stadium's inauguration in 1998.

Derbies

The last local derby in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

was the Paris derby in the 1989–90 season between

and

Racing Paris Racing Club de France Football, commonly known as Racing Club de France (), is a French Association football, football club based in the Paris suburb of Colombes. The club was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline sports club, and is one of ...

. In total, the clubs met regularly for 5 seasons, in the 1984–85 season and from the 1986–87 to the 1989–90 seasons continuously. In the 21st century, most derbies have been played between

Créteil Créteil () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, dep ...

Paris FC Paris Football Club (French pronunciation: Help:IPA/French, aʁi futbol klœb, commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris, France. They will compete in Ligue ...

, and

in the second and third tiers. When Paris FC was finally promoted to Ligue 1 for the 2025–26 season, it marked the first time in 35 years that a Paris derby was played in the top division. In women's football, the Paris derby (also known as the Parisian derby) is a major rivalry in the

Première Ligue The Première Ligue ( ; sponsor name Arkema Première Ligue) is a professional women's association football league at the highest level of the French football league system, and is run by the Ligue féminine de football professionnel (LFFP). ...

(formerly known as the Division 1 Féminine), the top division of

women's football in France Women's football in France is run by the French Football Federation. As such the national team are eligible to play in the World Cup and the European Championship, whilst clubs can enter the UEFA Women's Champions League. The earliest known women ...

. It is contested between

and

(PSG).

Players

A large number of professional players grew up in Paris and began their career playing local football.

History

Derbies

Players

Clubs

Men's clubs

Women's clubs

Academies

See also

References