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List of French football champions

List of French football champions
Founded1893–94
CountryFrance (19 teams)
Monaco (1 team)
ConfederationUEFA
Number of teams20
Current championsParis Saint-Germain
(12th title)
(2023–24)
Most championshipsParis Saint-Germain
(12 titles)
Current: 2023–24 Ligue 1

The French football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in France, Ligue 1. Since the National Council of the French Football Federation voted in support of professionalism in French football in 1930, the professional football championship of France has been contested through Ligue 1, formerly known as Division 1 from 1933 to 2002.[1][2]

Prior to this, the first division championship of French football was contested through a league run by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), an organization that supported amateur sport. The USFSA's league run from 1894 to 1919 and awarded 22 league titles before being suspended in 1915 due to World War I and the creation and success of the Coupe de France, which had quickly become the country's national competition.[3] The USFSA returned in 1919 changing the league into numerous regional amateur leagues that awarded no league title. This system lasted from 1919 to 1926. In 1926, the first division's reins were handed over to the French Football Federation. The federation organized and ran a league composed of the regional amateur league champions called the Championnat de France amateur from 1927 to 1929 and awarded three titles before the league was converted to the professional league that exists today in 1932.[1]

The first champions of French football were Standard Athletic Club, who defeated The White Rovers 2–0 in Courbevoie on 6 May 1894.[4] The initial championship match was held on 29 April but finished 2–2, so the match was replayed.[4] Standard went on to win the French championship four more times over the next seven years before RC Roubaix took control of the league becoming the first French club to win three straight titles beginning in 1902.[5] Following Roubaix's success, the ownership of the amateur league title began rotating back and forth from the north of France to the south of France with Marseille eventually winning the last amateur title in 1929.[5]

The first French football champions of the professional era were Olympique Lillois, a predecessor of Lille, who defeated Cannes 4–3 on 14 May 1933 at the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir in Colombes.[5] Sète were crowned champions the following season and, in 1939, became the first professional club in France to win two titles.[5] Following the conclusion of World War II, Saint-Étienne became the model club of the country winning four consecutive titles from 1966 to 1970.[5] The club won all its 10 titles in a span of 25 years. Marseille repeated Saint-Étienne's feat of four consecutive titles from 1988 to 1992. It would take the club another 17 years to win another title. During the hiatus between Marseille's title in 1992 and the club's most recent in 2010, Lyon established themselves as a top club winning their first title in 2002. The title started a national record-breaking streak of seven successive league championships with the streak coming to an end following the 2008–09 season when Bordeaux eclipsed them winning their sixth title.[6][7]

Paris Saint-Germain have the most titles in French football, with 12, followed by Saint-Étienne and Marseille, with 10 each.[8][9] The majority of Saint-Étienne's titles came during the 1960s and 1970s when the club was led by managers Jean Snella, Albert Batteux, and Robert Herbin. Marseille has nine professional league titles and one amateur title which they won in the 1928–29 season.[9] The club initially equalled Saint-Étienne's number of titles won during the 1992–93 season, but the title was stripped after it was discovered by the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) that the club's president Bernard Tapie had bribed the opposition's players.[10][11] Tapie was later found guilty of bribery and sentenced to two years in prison.[12] In the 2009–10 season, Marseille equalled Saint-Étienne's number of titles, amateur or professional.[13][14] Paris Saint-Germain won 10 of their 12 titles in a twelve-year span from 2013 to 2024. Nantes and Monaco are fourth with eight titles each, while Lyon has seven.[15][16][17]

  1. ^ a b Gilles Gauthey, Le football professionnel français, Paris, 1961, p.18. Éditée et diffusée par l'auteur. OCLC 41613347
  2. ^ "Palmarès". Ligue 1. Ligue de Football Professionnel. Archived from the original on 8 October 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  3. ^ "French find recipe for success". Union of European Football Associations. 21 February 2010. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  4. ^ a b Pauron, Frédéric (24 April 2004). "France 1892–1919". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e Pauron, Frédéric (21 May 2010). "France – List of Champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 25 July 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  6. ^ "Lyon, France's enduring champions". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  7. ^ Lyttleton, Ben (1 June 2009). "Bordeaux claim Ligue 1 title to justify faith in Laurent Blanc". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 January 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  8. ^ "Palmarès". AS Saint-Étienne. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  9. ^ a b "L'OM... et le Championnat" (in French). Olympique de Marseille. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  10. ^ Baring, Louise (2 August 1992). "Un homme d'affaires: Bernard Tapie". The Independent. Independent News and Media. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  11. ^ Bidwell, Nick (13 July 1993). "Scandal leaves a stain on the white shirt of Marseille". The Independent. Independent News and Media. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  12. ^ Halpin, Padraic (8 January 2006). "Match fixing: a history". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
  13. ^ "Marseille 3–1 Stade Rennes". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 5 May 2010. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  14. ^ "L'OM champion de France !". Ligue 1 (in French). Ligue de Football Professionnel. 5 May 2010. Archived from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  15. ^ "L'histoire du FC Nantes" (in French). FC Nantes. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  16. ^ "Palmares" (in French). AS Monaco FC. Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  17. ^ "Le palmarès par compétitions" (in French). Olympique Lyonnais. Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2010.

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