The 2021–22

Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

is the fifth season of the fifth tier in the

French football league system The French football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in France and Monaco, and includes one Spanish side. At the top two levels of the system is the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which consists of two pro ...

in its current format. The competition is normally contested by 168 clubs split geographically across 12 groups of 14 teams, but this season will have 169 clubs due to the administrative relegaton of

Gazélec Ajaccio Gazélec Football Club Ajaccio ( co, Gazélec Football Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as GFC Ajaccio, GFCA, Gazélec Ajaccio or simply Gazélec (), is a French football club from Ajaccio, Corsica. Founded in 1960, Gazélec plays in the Champ ...

. The teams include amateur clubs (although a few are

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

) and the reserve teams of professional clubs.

Teams

On 15 July 2021, the FFF ratified the constitution of the competition, and published the groups. Due to the non-completion of the 2020–21 season, the FFF declared that there would be no regular promotion or relegation from the division, and that any vacancies to be filled would be done on the basis of finishing positions in the 2019–20 season. Changes from 2020–21 season are as follows, affecting groups C, D, H and K: * The reserve team of the newly formed

Bourges Foot 18 Bourges Foot 18 is a football club located in Bourges, France. It was created as a result of the merger between Bourges Foot and Bourges 18 in 2021. History In July 2020, the merger of the two most significant football clubs in Bourges, Bour ...

were placed in Group C. *

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

were administratively relegated from Group C for financial reasons, which was confirmed on appeal. *

were administratively relegated from

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

for financial reasons, a decision which was confirmed on appeal, and were placed in Group D. The group will have 15 teams this season. * Vitré 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 ...

(res) were promoted to fill vacancies in Championnat National 2 as best 14th placed teams in the 2019–20 season. They were replaced by

Trégunc Trégunc (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany, western France. Population Inhabitants of Trégunc are called in French ''Trégunois'' or ''Tréguncois''. Cultural heritage * Saint-Philibert's chapel (Trégunc): 16th- ...

and

Aigues-Mortes Aigues-Mortes (; oc, Aigas Mòrtas) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitania region of southern France. The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved. Situated on the junction of the Canal du Rhône à Sète a ...

Promotion and relegation

If eligible, the top team in each group is promoted to

. If a team finishing top of the group is ineligible, or declines promotion, the next eligible team in that group is promoted. Generally, three teams are relegated from each group to their respective top regional league, subject to reprieves. Extra teams are relegated from a group if more than one team is relegated to that group from Championnat National 2. In the case that no teams are relegated to a group from Championnat National 2, one less team is relegated from that group to the regional league. Reserve teams whose training centres are categorised as category 2B or lower cannot be promoted to Championnat National 2 by the rules of the competition.

League tables

Group A: Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Group B: Pays de la Loire

Group C: Centre-Val de Loire

Group D: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur-Corsica

Group E: Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Group F: Grand Est

Group H: Occitanie

Group I: Hauts-de-France

Group J: Normandy

Group K: Brittany

Group L: Île-de-France

Group M: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Top scorers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Championnat National 3, 2021-22

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Fra A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...