The 2011 Challenge de France Final was the 10th

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of France's female

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

cup competition. The final took place on 21 May 2011 at the Stade de la Pépinière in

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

and was contested between D1 Féminine clubs

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...

and

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. This was the last final under the ''Challenge de France'' name as the competition will be renamed to the ''Coupe de France Feminine'' for the 2011–12 season and onwards. In the match, Saint-Étienne recorded a historic upset defeating Montpellier 3–2 on penalties after the match ended 0–0 in both regular time and extra time. The title is Saint-Étienne's first Challenge de France in the club's history and its first major honour since joining the

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

in 2008.

News

Team backgrounds

Saint-Étienne made its debut in the ultimate match of the competition. In its run-up to the final, the club faced only one first division club,

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

in the quarter-finals, and defeated the club 1–0. Saint-Étienne also did not concede a goal in the competition having shut out all of its opponents. Montpellier made its fifth appearance in the final of the Challenge de France, which is only second to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, which has appeared in seven. Of its five appearances, Montpellier have won the Challenge de France three times; tied for the most titles ever won in the competition with Lyon. The club won its first titles in back-to-back seasons from 2006–2007 when it defeated Lyon two consecutive years on penalties. Montpellier won its last title in 2009. The club defeated Le Mans 3–1 in the final. The three-time champions only conceded one goal in the competition having outscored its opponents 22–1.

Road to the final

Match

Match details

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Challenge de France Feminine Final,2011 2010–11 in French women's football

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Association football penalty shoot-outs May 2011 sports events in France Sport in Poitiers