The Championnat National U19 is the highest tier of under-19

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in France. Organized by the

French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governing body of football in France. It also includes the overseas departments ( Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the over ...

, it is contested by 56 clubs that are split into 4 groups.

History

In 2009, the ''Championnat National 18 ans'' of France was renamed Championnat National U19. Before the ''18 ans'' league, a U17 (''moins de 17 ans'' then ''17 ans'') league existed from 1990 to 2002. The Championnat National U19 became the continuation of the now-disappeared ''-17 ans'' and ''18 ans'' leagues. On the other hand, the

Championnat National U17 The Championnat National U17 is the highest tier of under-17 football in France. Organized by the French Football Federation, it is contested by 84 clubs that are split into 6 groups. History In 2009, the U18 youth championship of France was spl ...

is a continuation of the former ''moins de 15 ans'' league from 1990 to 2002 and ''16 ans'' league from 2002 to 2009.

Format

The Championnat National U19 is played annually and is contested by 56 clubs, with 55 coming from France and 1 from Monaco. The teams are divided into 4 geographically-determined groups of 14 teams. A season begins in the end of

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and ends in the following

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. In the league phase, every team plays each other twice (home and away) in their respective groups for a total of 26 games played per team. Afterwards, the first and second place teams of each group face off in a play-off phase. The winner of the final is crowned French under-19 champion.

European qualification

Since 2015, the winner of the Championnat National U19 has qualified for the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

. In a separate path, 2–3 youth teams of

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

clubs qualified for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualify for the Youth League as well.

Clubs

2021–22 season

For the 2021–22 season, 56 clubs participated in the Championnat National U19.

Performances by club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

have won the most Championnat National U19 titles, with four. They are followed by

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 ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, and

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, who all have three titles, while

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

and

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

both have two. The title was not awarded for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

References

External links

WebsiteChampionnat National U19
on Soccerway Football leagues in France Under-19 association football competitions Youth football leagues in Europe {{DEFAULTSORT:Championnat National U19 1990 establishments in France Sports leagues established in 1990