Sport in France
Encyclopedia
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
.
Football
Football is the most popular sport in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
with 2,225,595 licensed players in 2009. Ligue 1
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 , is the French 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. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....
is the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
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
French football league system
The French football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in France. At the top two levels of the system is the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which consists of two professional national divisions, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Below that are a number of leagues run by the...
. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation
Promotion and relegation
In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...
with Ligue 2. The most successful club in the French first division history is AS Saint-Étienne
AS Saint-Étienne
Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire is a French association football club based in Saint-Étienne. The club was founded in 1919 and currently play in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. Saint-Étienne plays its home matches at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard located within the city...
with 11 championships (last one in 1981), followed by the 2010 champion, Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille is a French association football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, the club plays in Ligue 1 and have spent most of its history in the top tier of French football. Marseille have been French champions nine times and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times. In...
with 10 titles.
The Coupe de France
Coupe de France
The Coupe Charles Simon, commonly known as the Coupe de France , is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation...
is the premier knock-out
Single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
cup competition in French football. The Coupe de la Ligue
Coupe de la Ligue
The Coupe de la Ligue , known outside of France as the French League Cup, is a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel...
is the second major cup competition in France. The Trophée des champions
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 countries...
is played each July as a one-off match between the Coupe de France
Coupe de France
The Coupe Charles Simon, commonly known as the Coupe de France , is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation...
winners and the Ligue 1
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 , is the French 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. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....
champions.
Only one French club, Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille is a French association football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, the club plays in Ligue 1 and have spent most of its history in the top tier of French football. Marseille have been French champions nine times and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times. In...
, has won the UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
in 1993.
Motorsport
FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
holds an annual Ice racing
Ice racing
Ice racing is a form of racing that uses cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, All-terrain vehicles, or other motorized vehicles. Ice racing takes place on frozen lakes or rivers, or on carefully groomed frozen lots...
Championship at the end of each year, called the Andros Trophy
Andros Trophy
The Andros Trophy is the French national Ice Racing championship.-History:The idea of an Ice Racing series first became an idea when professional racer Max Mamers and the owner of the Andros company , Frédéric Gervoson met as rugby fans in 1985...
.
Handball
There are 392,761 licensed handball players in France as of 2009. The French National team is currently World Champion2009 World Men's Handball Championship
The 2009 World Men's Handball Championship took place in Croatia from 16 January–1 February, in the cities of Split, Zadar, Osijek, Varaždin, Poreč, Zagreb and Pula. Croatia was selected from a group of four potential hosts which included the Czech Republic, Greece and Romania.The opening game and...
and European Champion
2010 European Men's Handball Championship
The 2010 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was held in Austria from 19–31 January, in the cities of Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, Linz and Wiener Neustadt.-Venues:...
. They also won the 1995
1995 World Men's Handball Championship
The 1995 World Championship for men in team handball was the 14th World Handball Championship. It was held in Iceland.-Preliminary round:-Group A:-Group B:-Group C:-Group D:-Finals:-Final standings:# # # # # # # # # # # #...
and 2001 World Men's Handball Championship
2001 World Men's Handball Championship
The 2001 World Men's Handball Championship took place in France from January 23 to February 4, 2001.-Qualified teams:24 teams were qualified for the first round and dispatched into 4 groups.Group A : , , , , , .Group B : , , , , ,...
, the 2006 European Men's Handball Championship
2006 European Men's Handball Championship
The 2006 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was held in Switzerland from 26 January–5 February, in the cities of Basel, Berne, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zürich. France won the tournament, going through unbeaten after an early defeat to Spain...
and the 2008 Olympic Games Tournament
Handball at the 2008 Summer Olympics
thumb|left|240px|Gold medalists [[France]] collect their medals on August 24, 2008Handball competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9, to August 24, at the Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium and National Indoor Stadium. Medals were awarded for both Men's and Women's team...
.
The women won the 2003 World Women's Handball Championship
2003 World Women's Handball Championship
-Final ranking:-All Star Team:*Goalkeeper: *Left wing: *Left back: *Pivot: *Centre back: *Right back: *Right wing: -Top goalscorers:-References:...
.
Basketball
As of the , 18 French citizens have played in the NBANational Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
in the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Twelve are currently playing, most notably San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
point guard
Point guard
Point guard , also called the play maker or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that...
Tony Parker
Tony Parker
William Anthony "Tony" Parker is a French professional basketball player who currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA....
, with three NBA titles to his credit; Charlotte Bobcats
Charlotte Bobcats
The Charlotte Bobcats is a professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They play in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association. The Bobcats were established in 2004 as an expansion team, two seasons after Charlotte's previous NBA...
forward Boris Diaw
Boris Diaw
Boris Babacar Diaw-Riffiod, better known as Boris Diaw , is a French professional basketball player for JSA Bordeaux in France. He has also played in the National Basketball Association for the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, and Charlotte Bobcats...
; and Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
forward Joakim Noah
Joakim Noah
Joakim Simon Noah is a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association . Born in New York City to a Swedish mother and French father, he holds American, Swedish and French citizenship...
, also notable for his college
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
career at the University of Florida
Florida Gators men's basketball
The Florida Gators men's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Southeastern Conference...
in which he starred on a team that won two NCAA titles
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
with the same starting lineup.
The sport has overtaken rugby union in terms of licenced players, implying that basketball might have surpassed its popularity in France.
Rugby union
Rugby unionRugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
(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 around Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, the French Basque country
Northern Basque Country
The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country situated within the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country....
and Catalonia
Northern Catalonia
Northern Catalonia is a term that is sometimes used, particularly in Catalan writings, to refer to the territory ceded to France by Spain through the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659...
. Elite French clubs participate in the domestic club competition - the Top 14. Clubs also compete in the European knock-out competition, the Heineken Cup
Heineken Cup
The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...
. It is the ninth largest French team sport in the terms of licensed players with 262,000 licensed players (2007).
The national side
France national rugby union team
The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...
competes annually in the Six Nations Championship
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
. France has been to every Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
since its inception in 1987, and has been a runner-up on three occasions. France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Tennis
TennisTennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
is the twelfth most popular French sport in terms of the number of licensed players with 1,054,513 licensed tennis players in France (2005).
France holds the tennis Grand Slam tournament Roland Garros. France's current stars include Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet is a French professional tennis player. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. His highest ranking in singles is #7. His best achievements in tennis are reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2007 and later that year...
, Gaël Monfils
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils is a French professional tennis player. he was the highest-ranked French tennis player, ranked no. 7 in the world ATP rankings. He was the runner-up at the Paris Masters in 2009 and 2010 and a semifinalist at the 2008 French Open.-2002:In 2002, Monfils finished 24th at the...
, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....
, and Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï is an Iranian-French tennis player born in Saint-Étienne, France to Iranian parents. She is the current French No. 5 in women's tennis. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl...
. Other stars from the past include Yannick Noah
Yannick Noah
Yannick Noah is a former professional tennis player from France. He is best remembered for being the last French man to win the French Open in 1983, and as a highly-successful captain of France's Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams...
(father of Joakim Noah), Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
, and Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce is a French-American tennis professional playing on the Women's Tennis Association tour. She is a citizen of France, Canada, and the United States but plays for France in team competitions and the Olympics.Pierce has won four Grand Slam titles, two in singles and two in doubles...
.
Cycling
France holds the annual cyclingCycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
race Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
, which takes place each July and lasts for three weeks which has been won by 21 different French cyclists in its 96 year history.
Sailing
Professional sailingSailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
in France is centered on singlehanded/shorthanded ocean racing with the pinnacle of this branch of the sport being the Vendee Globe
Vendée Globe
The Vendée Globe is a round-the-world single-handed yacht race, sailed non-stop and without assistance. The race was founded by Philippe Jeantot in 1989, and since 1992 has taken place every four years....
singlehanded around the world race which starts every 4 years from the French Atlantic.
Pétanque
PétanquePétanque
Pétanque is a form of boules where the goal is, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet or jack. It is also sometimes called a bouchon or le petit...
is mostly played in the South of France. Pétanque is not considered as a sport by many northern Frenchmen though the international federation is recognized by the IOC. http://www.cmsboules.com/ http://www.arisf.org/members.htm.
Professional players play the very 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 (FFPJP). The FFPJP is the 4th largest sports federation in France.
Parkour
Developed in France, parkour ("art du déplacement") is a physical activity that is difficult to categorize. It is an art that resembles self-defenseSelf-defense
Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
and martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
. According to the founder David Belle
David Belle
David Belle is well known as the founder of Parkour. Belle founded Parkour based on his training and the teachings from his father Raymond Belle. The discipline has since spread around the world and now has adherents in virtually every country...
, the spirit of parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape" and "reach," that is, the idea of using quick thinking with dexterity to get out of difficult situations.
An important characteristic of parkour is efficiency. The basic meaning of this is that a traceur must not merely move as fast as he can, bur's unofficial motto is être et durer (to be and to last), efficiency also involves avoiding injuries, short and long-term.
Table football
Table footballTable football
Table football, also known as gitoni or foosball, is a table-top game and sport that is loosely based on association football.-Names:...
(babyfoot) is a very popular pastime in bars and in homes in France, and the French are the predominant winners of worldwide table football competitions.
Orienteering
OrienteeringOrienteering
Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...
is a reasonably popular sport in France; it is regulated by the Fédération Française de Course d'Orientation (FFCO)
.
Ice hockey
Ice hockeyIce hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
is a fairly popular sport in France, especially in the Rhône-Alpes
Rhône-Alpes
Rhône-Alpes is one of the 27 regions of France, located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the Rhône River and the Alps mountain range. Its capital, Lyon, is the second-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris...
region and in the cities of Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
and Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
. The governing body is the FFHG which administeres the national championship, Ligue Magnus
Ligue Magnus
-Former Teams:*Bisons de Neuilly-sur-Marne*Orques d'Anglet*Sangliers Arvernes*Corsaires de Dunkerque*Albatros de Brest*Jets de Viry-Essonne-Defunct Teams:*Diables Noirs de Tours*Hockey Club de Mulhouse*Séquanes de Besançon*Flammes Bleues de Reims...
(founded in 1907). The national team is currently ranked in the top 20 in the IIHF World Ranking
IIHF World Ranking
The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the national teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation.The system was approved by the IIHF congress in September 2003...
.
Cricket
CricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
is a developing sport is France. Some reports point 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 is said to take place just before the 2012 Olympics.