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 1933–2002.Gilles Gauthey, ''Le football professionnel français'', Paris, 1961, p.18. Éditée et diffusée par l'auteur. 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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the creation and success of the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

, which had quickly become the country's national competition. 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. The first champions of French football were Standard Athletic Club, who defeated

The White Rovers The White Rovers, also known as White Rovers Paris, was a French amateur football club based in Paris which existed between 1891 and 1899. The club was founded in 1891 by Englishman Jack Wood, who had formerly played football in his home country ...

2–0 in Courbevoie on 6 May 1894. The initial championship match was held on 29 April but finished 2–2, so the match was replayed. Standard went on to win the French championship four more times over the next seven years before

RC Roubaix Racing Club de Roubaix was a French association football team that played in Roubaix, Nord. History The team was founded in 1895 and was very successful before the establishment of professionalism in France. In 1933, after losing twice in a ...

took control of the league becoming the first French club to win three straight titles beginning in 1902.. 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 Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

with

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

eventually winning the last amateur title in 1929. The first French football champions of the professional era were

Olympique Lillois Olympique Lillois was a French association football club from the city of Lille. Founded in 1902 they merged with SC Fives in 1944 to form Lille OSC. Honours Championnat de France *Champion: 1914, 1933 *Runner-up: 1936 Events Jan ...

, a predecessor of

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, who defeated

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

4–3 on 14 May 1933 at the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir in Colombes. Sète were crowned champions the following season and, in 1939, became the first professional club in France to win two titles. Following the conclusion of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Saint-Étienne became the model club of the country winning four consecutive titles from 1966 to 1970. 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 Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

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 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 prefect ...

eclipsed them winning their sixth title. Saint-Étienne, Marseille and

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 the most titles in French football, with ten each. The majority of Saint-Étienne's titles came during the 1960s and 1970s when the club was led by

managers Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Jean Snella Jean Snella (9 December 1914 – 20 November 1979) was a French association football midfielder and a manager. He mostly coached AS Saint-Etienne. He also coached France national football team along with José Arribas after the FIFA World Cup ...

, Albert Batteux, and Robert Herbin. Marseille has nine professional league titles and one amateur title which they won in the 1928–29 season. 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 The Ligue de Football Professionnel (, ''Professional Football League''), commonly known as the LFP, is a French governing body that runs the major professional football leagues in France. It was founded in 1944 and serves under the authority o ...

(LFP) that the club's

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Bernard Tapie Bernard Roger Tapie (; 26 January 1943 – 3 October 2021) was a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Minister of City Affairs in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy. Life and career Tapie was bor ...

had bribed the opposition's players. Tapie was later found guilty of bribery and sentenced to two years in prison. In the 2009–10 season, Marseille equalled Saint-Étienne's number of titles, amateur or professional. Paris Saint-Germain won seven of their ten titles in a ten-year span from 2013 to 2022. Nantes and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

are fourth with eight titles each, while Lyon has seven.

List of champions

Amateur era (1893–1929)

Professional era (1932–present)

Morocco vs Gabon, Alain Giresse, March 28 2009

Didier Deschamps France international player

Performance

Performance by club in Amateur Era and Professional Era

Notes: *Bold indicates clubs currently playing in Ligue 1. * Lille OSC is the legal heir of

. * Toulouse FC is not the successor to

Toulouse FC (1937) Toulouse Football Club was a French association football team playing in the city of Toulouse, Haute-Garonne. The team was founded in 1937 and disappeared in 1967, in a merger with Red Star Olympique. Even though this team held the same name ...

Performance by club in Professional era

Notes: *Clubs in bold are competing in

2021–22 Ligue 1 The 2021–22 Ligue 1 season, also known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, was a French association football tournament within Ligue 1. It was the 84th season since its establishment. It began on 6 August 2021 and concluded on 21 May ...

. *

were stripped of their title by the LFP after being found guilty of bribery in 1992–93 French Division 1. No winner was declared for that season.

Performance by club in Amateur era

Notes: *

RC Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spor ...

and

are the only teams who managed to win in Amateur era and also in Professional era.

Notes

References

External links

History of Football in France
{{DEFAULTSORT:French football champions

Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...