Soccer in France

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Football enthusiasm in France (Paris SG versus Caen) in the Prinzenparkstadion

The most popular sport in France is soccer (French colloquial: le foot ). The French national football team , the Équipe Tricolore (based on the blue-white-red national flag) or Les Bleus (based on the traditional blue playing attire) are considered to be an identity-creating bond between the various social and ethnic groups in France . However, the popularity of football is relatively recent: rugby , boules , pétanque and cycling were in the French favor until well after the Second World War . Numerous football clubs played in the interior of cycle tracks (French: Stade Vélodrome ) until the 1990s .

Early years

The oldest French football club, the Le Havre Athlétic Club , was founded in 1872 , but operated the rugby version of the game until 1892; of association football (FA), however (which is what is now meant by football) first developed around 1900 on a broader basis. Football was initially limited to Paris, the heavily industrialized north (Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing), Normandy (Le Havre, Rouen) and some southern French (especially port) cities such as Marseille, Nîmes, Sète or Bordeaux was mostly run by people of British descent.

Association diversity instead of unity

The first French sports federation to also include FA clubs was the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), founded in 1887 , which represented France in the world football association FIFA from 1904 to 1908 . In 1894, the USFSA carried out its first "national championship round" ( Coupe Gordon Bennett , named after the founder of the cup and publisher of the New York Herald ) - with only six Paris clubs. To make the British-dominated game more interesting for the French, the USFSA also organized a second competition from 1897, the Coupe Manier , in which only teams with a maximum of three foreigners were allowed to participate. From the year 1898/99 a "national championship" was organized, which the three regional champions from Paris, Normandy and the north played. In 1911/12 only 22 teams took part in this competition called Championnat de France .

In addition to the USFSA, there were several other associations that also determined their French champions:

  • the Catholic Fédération Gymnastique et Sportive des Patronages Français (FGSPF, later FSGP) from 1905
  • the Fédération Cycliste et Athlétique de France (FCAF) from 1905
  • the Ligue de Football Association (LFA), a spin-off from the USFSA from 1910 and
  • the Fédération Athlétique Amateur (FAA) (only held its own championship in 1907; merged with the FCAF in 1908)

The number of football clubs organized in these associations was around 1911: USFSA 350, FGSPF 300, FCAF 50, LFA 36 (the latter exclusively from the Paris region), other sports associations 120.

In addition, in the very early years and only for a short period of time, there were organizations that organized games between professional footballers , for example the Union des Sports de France (1897–1899, in Paris) and the Union Athlétique Batignolaise (professional games 1905), but also the FASO im Southwest of the country. Although the capital's press in particular reported regularly about their games, this special chapter still needs to be systematically reviewed.

Up to four French champions in one year

To complete the confusion, the Catholic FGSPF and other small associations founded the Comité Français Interfédéral (CFI) as a joint umbrella organization in 1907, which spoke out vehemently against paid sport and was accepted into the international football association FIFA in 1908/09 instead of the USFSA. It was not until 1913 that the USFSA finally joined the CFI. However, the individual federations still held their respective championships (two 1904/05, three 1905 to 1910, four from 1910 to 1914). Although the CFI associations also determined their joint title holder ( Trophée de France ) between 1907 and 1912 , the clubs of the oldest association with the largest number of members were excluded from this before 1913. In 1914, the USFSA promptly provided Olympique Lillois as the common master of all associations under the umbrella of the CFI.
After all, in 1917/18, in the middle of the First World War , a nationwide cup competition Coupe Charles Simon was created, in which clubs from all associations were allowed to participate; since 1920 it has been called Coupe de France . But even under the unified French football association (FFFA, later FFF) founded on April 7, 1919 , it took until 1926/27 (determination of several champions per season), in fact until 1932/33, before an equivalent French championship (in a only national league, Division 1 , on a professional basis). And this development was interrupted again in 1940 by war and occupation.

That is why the FFF counts the French cup winners from 1918, the national champions only from 1933 to 1939 and again from 1946. A chronological list of all national champions in men's football since 1894 can be found in the article French football champions .

Fluctuating popularity

Unlike in many other countries, football in France is still not the undisputed number 1 sport. Rugby in particular is more popular in the south-west of the country. The interest in football is very much related to the performance of French teams at international level. The first boom came in the 1950s when Stade de Reims advanced to the final of the European Cup in 1956 and 1959 and the national team finished third in the 1958 World Cup . After that, interest waned again to flare up again with the respectable successes of AS Saint-Étienne in the European Cup in the 1970s; many French people rediscovered football for themselves. This surge in popularity was also one of the guarantees of the strong performance of the national team at the 1982 World Cup in Spain and 1986 in Mexico, as well as winning the title at the 1984 European Championship in their own country. Then the interest waned again, but strengthened with the successes in the early 1990s (including Olympique Marseille ) and lasted a long time since winning the title at the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship . Due to the negative events around the national team during the 2010 World Cup finals , there was another slump in the audience's favor, which in Ligue 1 meant that the audience average per game then slipped back below the 20,000 mark for three years. The reputation of the national team suffered even more in surveys - but also, with tangible material consequences, among the Bleus sponsors. In April 2014, a majority of French people rated the image of their own national team negatively, namely 54% of all football fans and almost two-thirds (63%) of all adult citizens. It was only with the subsequent rise in the FIFA rankings , especially since the 2014 World Cup , that public opinion was reconciled with the country's selection. After winning the 2018 World Cup , hundreds of thousands of French celebrated their national team on the Champs-Élysées .

Association and league system today

The Fédération Française de Football (FFF)

Today, French football is organized in the Fédération Française de Football , which is structured in a variety of ways internally and in many areas ( see below and Ligue 1 ) is more of an umbrella organization for semi-autonomous organizations.

The presidents

The league system

The clubs in the three top men's and top women's leagues in the 2015/16 season

Similar to the development in Germany, the FFF has divided itself into a professional division ( Ligue de Football Professionnel ) and an amateur division ( Ligue Fédérale Amateur ) in the men's game business . The FFF is responsible for the men's senior team. National match operations are currently handled in a three-tier league system: Ligue 1 , Ligue 2 and National 1 . Among them, the top of the amateur area is the National 2 and the fifth-class National 3 .
Together with 23 other national professional league associations, the Ligue de Football Professionnel is a founding member of the international World Leagues Forum , which was founded in Zurich in February 2016 , the aim of which is, among other things, to bundle the interests of the professional leagues and their common views in front of FIFA and other institutions from sport and politics.
In the third class National 1 , the clubs can decide whether they want to continue playing as amateurs or give themselves a professional statute, which is mandatory in L1 and L2 . The problem with National 1 is the low number of viewers combined with high travel costs in large-scale France; a typical tableau (11th matchday in October 2005) does not even produce an average of 1700 paying spectators per game (between 500 and 3300), and even the leaders' home game only wants 1750 to see it.

The reserve teams of the professional clubs take part in the amateur leagues and cannot be promoted higher than National 2. In the 2015/16 season, twelve reserve teams played in the four seasons of this top amateur league.
As a general rule, promoters must also prove their economic performance; A few years ago, for example, this meant that a second club from the Corsican capital Ajaccio (the Gazélec FCO Ajaccio , which played in the third division in 2005/06) was denied promotion to the professional sector because of the low, predominantly four-digit attendance figures below Ligue 1, the potential for two clubs from the same city (if it does not have at least 100,000 inhabitants) was rated as insufficient.

Below CFA 2, there is a wide range of gaming operations at the regional and departmental level ; their top division was for decades Division d'Honneur (DH) ("Ehrendivision") - from 2017 Regional 1  - and the annals of many amateur clubs adorn themselves with this (now only sixth class) title.

level League / Division
1 Ligue 1 (L1, D1 until 2002)
(20 clubs)
2 Ligue 2 (L2, until 2002 D2)
(20 clubs)
3
National 1 , until 2017 National
(18 clubs)
4th National 2 , until 2017 Championnat de France Amateur (CFA)
(16 clubs each in four regional relays)
5 National 3 , until 2017 Championnat de France Amateur 2 (CFA 2)
(14 clubs each in twelve regional relays)
6th Régional 1 , until 2017 Division d'Honneur (DH)
(at regional or partially at department level)
7th Regional 2 , until 2017 Division Supérieure d'Élite (DSE)
8th Régional 3 , until 2017 Division Supérieure Régionale (DSR)
9 Départemental 1 or District , until 2017 Division d'Honneur Régionale (DHR)
10-17
+ 		Including further league levels ( Départemental 2 , Départemental 3 , Interrégionale , Régionale , Promotion Interdistrict , Promotion de Ligue etc.)

National team

Didier Deschamps is currently the coach of the French national football team . After Brazil, Italy and Germany, it is one of the most successful national teams in football. France won the World Cup twice and the European Football Championship twice . France has been represented seven times at the European Championship finals and twelve times at the World Championships. In 2001 and 2003 won les Bleus also the Confederations Cup .
The main reason for the outstanding international position that French football has achieved since the mid-1980s is the talent promotion system, which, among other things, obliges all first division clubs to have a kind of sports boarding school ( Center de Formation ) and a second team for young players ( Reserve Pro ) to entertain; The French football association itself also operates such “talent centers” in the various regions of the country, as well as the Institut national de formation (INF) and the Center technique national Fernand-Sastre in Clairefontaine . In addition, football offers the descendants of the numerous immigrants from the French-speaking world in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific region one of the few opportunities for social recognition and social advancement. The downside of this football boom: for years, the vast majority of the players in the extended national team have no longer played in Lens, Nantes, Paris or Toulouse, but in the top leagues in Italy, England and Spain, and less often in Germany.

The amateur national team of France, however, despite winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1984 in the last quarter of the 20th century suffered a similar loss of importance as in numerous other western and central European countries. In terms of public perception, the U-21 team (Espoirs) has taken their place . Amateur footballers can only be active internationally to a very limited extent, especially with the selection teams of the French regional associations , the best of which the country represents in the UEFA Cup of Regions .

Participation in the European Football Championship

France hosted the European Football Championship three times, when it was first held in 1960, when it won its own title in 1984 and most recently in 2016.

Participation in the soccer world championship

France hosted the World Cup twice, in 1938 and 1998.

See also the list of French national football players .

French clubs in European competitions

Since most French stars traditionally move to financially stronger leagues such as the Premier League , Primera Division , Serie A or the Bundesliga very early on , the French successes at club level are not as impressive as those of the national team:

French championship

Ligue 1

The Ligue 1 (until 2002: Division 1 , short-D1) is the top division of the French men's soccer; in it the championship title is played out.

"Eternal table" (1932–1939 and 1945–2016)

(Points for the entire period according to the 3-point rule; clubs that play in Ligue 1 in the 2016/17 season are highlighted in pink, Ligue 2 clubs in yellow)

rank society Playing
times 		title Vice
mstr. 		Points For the first
time 		to-
last
01 Girondins Bordeaux 63 6th 9 3,649 1945/46 2015/16
02 Olympique Marseille x 66 9 11 3,647 1932/33 2015/16
03 AS Saint-Etienne 63 10 3 3,570 1938/39 2015/16
04th AS Monaco 57 7th 6th 3,367 1953/54 2015/16
05 Lille OSC y 63 4th 6th 3,246 1932/33 2015/16
06th FC Sochaux 66 2 3 3,209 1932/33 2013/14
07th Olympique Lyon 56 7th 5 3,199 1951/52 2015/16
08th RC Lens 58 1 4th 2,882 1937/38 2014/15
09 FC Nantes 48 8th 7th 2,825 1963/64 2015/16
10 OGC Nice 57 4th 3 2,804 1932/33 2015/16
11 Rennes stadium 59 - - 2,728 1932/33 2015/16
12 FC Metz 58 - 1 2,648 1932/33 2014/15
13 RC Strasbourg 56 1 1 2,614 1935/36 2007/08
14th Paris Saint-Germain 43 6th 7th 2,606 1971/72 2015/16
15th FC Toulouse z 47 - 1 2,287 1946/47 2015/16
16 Stade Reims 33 6th 3 1,846 1945/46 2015/16
17th AJ Auxerre 32 1 - 1,795 1980/81 2011/12
18th Olympique Nîmes 36 - 4th 1,759 1951/52 1992/93
19th SC Bastia 33 - - 1,567 1968/69 2015/16
20th Montpellier SO / HSC 34 1 - 1,547 1932/33 2015/16
21st Racing Paris 30th 1 2 1,504 1932/33 1989/90
22nd Valenciennes US / FC 33 - - 1,464 1935/36 2013/14
23 AS Nancy 29 - - 1,393 1970/71 2012/13
24 SCO Angers 24 - - 1,138 1956/57 2015/16
25th CS Sedan 23 - - 1.102 1955/56 2006/07
26th Le Havre AC 24 - - 1.011 1938/39 2008/09
27 AS Cannes 22nd - 1 932 1932/33 1997/98
28 FC Rouen 19th - - 860 1936/37 1984/85
29 FC Sète 16 2 - 705 1932/33 1953/54
30th SM Caen 15th - - 676 1988/89 2015/16
31 FC Nancy 15th - - 666 1946/47 1962/63
32 Stade Français Paris 15th - - 648 1946/47 1966/67
33 Stade Laval 13 - - 616 1976/77 1988/89
34 Troyes AS / ES 16 - - 607 1954/55 2015/16
35 Red Star Paris 16 - - 568 1932/33 1974/75
36 Armorique / Stade Brest 13 - - 567 1979/80 2012/13
37 FC Lorient 12 - - 549 1998/99 2015/16
38 SC Toulon 12 - - 529 1958/59 1992/93
39 AC Ajaccio 13 - - 522 1967/68 2013/14
40 CO Roubaix-Tourcoing 10 1 - 473 1945/46 1954/55
41 EA Guingamp 10 - - 448 1995/96 2015/16
42 Excelsior AC Roubaix 07th - - 271 1932/33 1938/39
43 SC Fives 07th - 1 268 1932/33 1938/39
44 Le Mans UC / FC 06th - - 264 2003/04 2009/10
45 Olympique Antibes 07th - - 238 1932/33 1938/39
46 FC Mulhouse 06th - - 188 1932/33 1989/90
47 FC Evian Thonon Gaillard 04th - - 171 2011/12 2014/15
48 Olympique Alès 06th - - 170 1932/33 1958/59
Tours AFC / FC 04th - - 170 1980/81 1984/85
50 Grenoble FC 04th - - 141 1960/61 2009/10
51 Limoges FC 03 - - 139 1958/59 1960/61
52 AS Angoulême 03 - - 123 1969/70 1971/72
53 Paris FC 03 - - 122 1972/73 1978/79
54 FC Martigues 03 - - 117 1993/94 1995/96
55 RC Roubaix 03 - - 98 1936/37 1938/39
56 SR Colmar 01 - - 43 1948/49 1948/49
Chamois Niort 01 - - 43 1987/88 1987/88
CA Paris 02 - - 43 1932/33 1933/34
59 Lyon OU 01 - - 42 1945/46 1945/46
60 FC Gueugnon 01 - - 38 1995/96 1995/96
61 Gazélec FC Ajaccio 01 - - 37 2015/16 2015/16
62 FCO Dijon 01 - - 36 2011/12 2011/12
63 AS Béziers 01 - - 33 1957/58 1957/58
64 FC Istres 01 - - 32 2004/05 2004/05
65 LB Châteauroux 01 - - 31 1997/98 1997/98
US Boulogne 01 - - 31 2009/10 2009/10
67 Olympique Avignon 01 - - 27 1975/76 1975/76
68 AS Aix 01 - - 26th 1967/68 1967/68
69 AC Arles-Avignon 01 - - 20th 2010/11 2010/11
70 Club Français Paris 01 - - 18th 1932/33 1932/33
71 FC Hyères 01 - - 16 1932/33 1932/33

x without the 75 P. from the season of the title revocation (1992/93)
y including 3 pts for the final of the group winners 1932/33
z This includes two clubs, which were both called Toulouse FC at times: the first existed from 1937 to 1967 (19 D1 seasons and 965 points), the second from 1970 (28 seasons so far, 1,322 points).

Champions de France

French championship titles won up to and including 2019:

  • AS Saint-Étienne - ten
  • Olympique Marseille - nine
  • AS Monaco, FC Nantes, Paris Saint-Germain - eight each
  • Olympique Lyon - seven
  • Stade Reims, Girondins Bordeaux - six each
  • OGC Nice, Olympique Lille - four each
  • FC Sète, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard - two each
  • Racing Paris, Club Olympique Roubaix-Tourcoing, Racing Strasbourg, AJ Auxerre, Racing Lens, HSC Montpellier - one each

Most successful goal scorers of each season

see the outsourced article Ligue 1 / Top Scorers

Club, player and coach records

see the statistics here (clubs) or here (players and coaches)

The doublé

Only twelve clubs have become champions as well as cup winners and thus winners of the doublé since 1932/33 in the same season , only four of them more than once:

  • FC Sète (1934)
  • Racing Club Paris (1936)
  • Olympique Lille (1946, 2011)
  • OGC Nice (1952)
  • Stade de Reims (1958)
  • AS Monaco (1963)
  • AS Saint-Étienne (1968, 1970, 1974, 1975)
  • Olympique Marseille (1972, 1989)
  • Girondins Bordeaux (1987)
  • AJ Auxerre (1996)
  • Olympique Lyon (2008)
  • Paris Saint-Germain (2015, 2016, 2018)

Cup competitions

French cup

The Coupe de France won the most up to and including 2019:

  • Paris Saint-Germain - twelve times in 17 finals
  • Olympique Marseille - ten times in 19 finals
  • AS Saint-Étienne - six times out of 9 finals
  • Olympique SC Lille - six times in 9 finals
  • Red Star Paris - five times in 6 finals
  • Racing Club Paris - five times in 8 finals
  • Olympique Lyon - five times in 8 finals
  • AS Monaco - five times in 9 finals
  • AJ Auxerre - four times out of 6 finals
  • Girondins Bordeaux - four times out of 10 finals
  • RC Strasbourg - three times in 6 finals
  • OGC Nice - three times in 4 finals
  • FC Nantes - three times in 8 finals
  • Stade Rennes - three times in 7 finals

League Cup

In 1991, the FFF introduced the Coupe de la Ligue , which initially only eked a shadowy existence: the larger clubs in particular did not take part or only sent their reserve team. It was only when the victory in this competition was upgraded with qualification for the UEFA Cup (1994/95) that it gained sporting value. The professional clubs of the top three leagues are eligible to participate, although the representatives from Ligue 1 do not have to intervene in the first rounds.

The winners

  • 8 tracks: Paris Saint-Germain (1995, 1998, 2008, 2014–2018)
  • 3 tracks: Girondins Bordeaux (2002, 2007, 2009), Olympique Marseille (2010, 2011, 2012), RC Strasbourg (1997, 2005, 2019)
  • 1 title: FC Metz (1996), RC Lens (1999), FC Gueugnon (2000, only winner from D2), Olympique Lyon (2001), AS Monaco (2003), FC Sochaux (2004), AS Nancy (2006) , AS Saint-Étienne (2013)

Supercup

From 1955 to 1986 - with interruptions - the national champions and cup winners, and occasionally the defeated cup finalists, determined the winner of the champions' challenge . This duel has been held as the Trophée des Champions since 1995 .

Coupe Drago

From 1952 to 1965 the Coupe Charles Drago was played as an additional competition for professional teams who were eliminated early in the national cup for the Coupe de France .

A youth cup

After the Second World War, a nationwide club cup competition for A youth teams was introduced, which has been called Coupe Gambardella since 1954/55 and which is an important stage in France for the clubs' youth work.

Personalities

In 2000, France Football magazine conducted a survey of all the surviving footballers of the year and the winners of the Étoile d'Or to determine the player, coach and team of the century.

Among the players, Michel Platini led the ranking ahead of Zinédine Zidane and Raymond Kopa . With very wide margin followed Laurent Blanc , Just Fontaine , Marius Tresor , Alain Giresse and Jean-Pierre Papin . A total of 27 players were named on at least one ballot.

Aimé Jacquet was the coach of the 20th century , followed by Albert Batteux , Michel Hidalgo , Arsène Wenger , Guy Roux , José Arribas , Jean Snella and Jean-Claude Suaudeau . The national team was represented three times among the best-placed teams : that of the big title wins (1998-2000) in first place, followed by that of the years 1982 to 1986 and finally the "Heroes of Sweden" (1958) in sixth place. In addition, there were three club teams in the ranks three to five: AS Saint-Étienne of the mid 1970s, Olympique Marseille (1989-1993) and Stade Reims (1955-1960).

Women's soccer

year Association
members
1970 2,170
1980 20,980
1998 31,760
2002 43,890
2006 56,890
2011 86.060
2016 100,000

Since the legalization of women's football by the French Football Association FFF (March 1970), there has been a slow but constant increase in the number of girls and women playing football (see table on the right). In 1974 the FFF hosted a championship for women's teams (French: Championnat de France de Football Féminin ), which also had a forerunner competition between 1918 and 1932 under the umbrella of a women's sports association. Since 1992, twelve women have been playing in Division 1 Féminine (D1F) (until 2002: Championnat National 1 A ) in a double round of points for the title; from 1999 to 2004 the top four teams in the table then determined the champions in a play-off round. The two bottom of the table are replaced by two (since 2011: three each) promoted team.
Around 86,000 French women of all ages belonged to a football club in mid-2011; the number of active players among them exceeded the 77,000 mark in December 2014. The FFF's ambitious plan to increase the number of female soccer players to 100,000 within four years (Féminisation de Football) became a reality in February 2016.

In addition to women's sports and amateur clubs in 2015/16, with Lyon, PSG, Montpellier, Guingamp and Saint-Étienne, five men's professional clubs were also represented in the top division; a year later, after the rise of Marseille, Bordeaux and Metz, their number had risen to eight. It was not until the end of 2009 that the FFF began to promote women's football much more intensively than before. At European level, the quality of French women is growing: in 2010 , with Montpellier HSC (quarter-finals) and Olympique Lyon (final), two club women were among the top eight on the continent; In 2011 the Juvisy FCF succeeded in doing so , and Lyon even won the European championship crown that season, which Olympique was able to defend the following year . Finally, in 2015, Paris Saint-Germain made it to the final.

A special feature was the former first division CNFE Clairefontaine . This was the club of the national football center ( Center National de Formation et d'Entraînement de Football Féminin or CNFE for short), in which young women (U16 to juniors) are trained for a few years; After this training, the Elevinnen return to their respective parent clubs. The CNFE was the basis for the beginning international upswing of the women's national team, as indicated at the 2003 World Cup and even more so at the 2005 European Championship.

The league system

The second division will be reduced to just two seasons of twelve for the 2016/17 season. From 2002 to 2010 there was a Division 3 (also in several regional groups), in which second teams of first division leaders were also eligible; before and after the Division d'Honneur was / is the third division.

Below the first and second divisions, the league system in France is not uniform until today (2014); the current pyramidal structure of the system is as follows:

level league
1 Division 1 (D1)

(12 clubs)

2 Division 2 (D2)

(24 clubs in two groups; ascent of the group leaders)

3 Division d'Honneur (DH)
One group per region (s) with i. d. Usually eight to ten participants. After completing the league rounds
in March, the top 24 women’s teams in all DH relays in six groups of four ( Championnat Interrégional ) play off the promoted players to the D2 (promotion of the six CI group leaders ), but without Ligue Corse clubs .
4th different designations (e.g. Promotion d'Honneur / PH , Division d'Honneur Régionale / DHR )
Leagues at the department or district level, in the area of ​​responsibility of the Ligue Méditerranée also across departments ; not all regional associations have a fourth (or even lower) division.
5 and below Names, spatial expansion, promotion regulations differ In Languedoc-Roussillon , for example, there is no promotion / relegation between regional and district leagues; Clubs can apply directly for a division of the regional association.
(e)The regional associations of Alsace / Lorraine and Maine / Basse-Normandie currently each operate a joint Division d'Honneur.

Title holders

FSFSF Championship (1918–1932)

For the history of this early period, see Fémina Sport Paris

  • Fémina Sport Paris (11 titles: 1919, 1923–1932)
  • En Avant Paris (2 titles: 1920, 1921)
  • Les Sportives de Paris (1 title: 1922)

FFF Championship (since 1974)

13 tracks

6 tracks

5 tracks

4 tracks

3 tracks

2 tracks

1 title

Cup

Since the 2001/02 season there has also been a national club cup competition for women’s teams ( Challenge de France féminin , from 2011/12 Coupe de France féminin ); the previous winners are Toulouse FC (2002), FC Lyon (2003, 2004), Juvisy FCF (2005), Montpellier HSC (2006, 2007, 2009), Olympique Lyon (2008, 2012-2017 and 2019), Paris Saint-Germain (2010, 2018) and AS Saint-Étienne (2011).

Women's national team

The first official international match of the women's national team (named after the men’s team les Bleues ) took place in 1971 against the Netherlands; this was also the first women's international game recognized by FIFA worldwide. The French selection has qualified for the European Championship finals five times (1997, 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013), also for the first time in 2003, then in 2011 and again in 2015 for a World Cup , with France finishing fourth in 2011 as the second best European women. In addition, the first participation in the Olympic women's football tournament came in 2012 , which France also finished fourth; The Bleues also qualified for the 2016 Olympics. In 2019, the country will host the World Cup itself.

The current coach is Olivier Echouafni , who replaced Philippe Bergeroo in 2016 . Currently (spring 2017) the French women are in third place in the FIFA world rankings .

The U17 selection became world champions in 2012, the U18 (now U19) national team in 2003 and 2013 European champions and the U20s in 2014 World Cup third.

See also the list of French national soccer players .

See also

literature

  • Xavier Breuil: Les femmes, le football et la nation. Le cas de la France de 1917 à nos jours. , in: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): Football et identité en France et en Allemagne . Presses Universitaires de Septentrion, Villeneuve d'Asq 2010, ISBN 978-2-7574-0156-9 , pp. 195–208 (on women's football; excerpt from Google Books )
  • Hardy Greens: Encyclopedia of European Football Clubs. The first division teams in Europe since 1885. Agon, Kassel 2002, ISBN 3-89784-163-0
  • Sophie Guillet, François Laforge: Le guide français et international du football éd. 2009. Vecchi, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-7328-9295-5 (with Supplément 2010 , Paris 2009)
  • Radovan Jelínek, Jiří Tomeš (ed.): Football World Atlas. Leagues, clubs, players; Maps, graphics, tables . Copress Sport, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7679-0651-1

Web links

Commons : Football in France  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Sources and Notes

  1. ↑ Representative survey from April 24 to 29, 2014, carried out on behalf of France Football by Ipsos , published in France Football on May 13, 2014, pp. 26/27.
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.presseportal.de
  3. ^ Article on the RSSSF website
  4. ↑ France Football of June 21, 2011, p. 14
  5. ↑ see the announcement of March 23, 2014 at footofeminin.fr
  6. ↑ Article 100,000 female players licensed from February 5, 2016 at fff.fr
  7. ^ Inform the association about its media campaign