Sport in France
Established in 1919 from competing organizations, the Fédération française de football consists of 18,000 teams.
The Coupe de France is the premier knock-out cup competition in French football.
Only one French club, Olympique de Marseille, has won the UEFA Champions League, in 1993.
Women's national professional competitions are supervised by the Fédération française de football.
In the UEFA Women's Champions League, OL have won a record eight titles (2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022) and have been runners-up twice (2010 and 2013).
San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker won four NBA titles to his credit; Spurs forward Boris Diaw once; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who won back-to-back NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2018 and 2019; and New York Knicks forward-center Joakim Noah, also notable for his college career at the University of Florida in which he starred on a team that won two NCAA titles with the same starting lineup.
The New York Knicks former GM Phil Jackson selected Frank Ntilikina in the 2016-2017 NBA Draft.
The France women's national basketball team has twice been European champion (2001 and 2009), and also claimed a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
There are 1,737 clubs in France and the number of licensed players has significantly increased over the recent years (up from 260,000 in 2000).
With a total of five medals, including three gold in 2008, 2012 and 2021, France is also the most successful handball team at the Summer Olympics.
The Tour de France also attracts a television audience of 3.5 billion people worldwide.
Some of the most notable French riders are multiple Grand Tour winners Lucien Petit-Breton, André Leducq, Antonin Magne, Louison Bobet, Jacques Anquetil (along with historic contender Raymond Poulidor, who was a favorite of the crowd), Roger Pingeon, Bernard Thévenet, Bernard Hinault and Laurent Fignon, and multiple Monument winners Maurice Garin, Lucien Lesna, Hippolyte Aucouturier, Octave Lapize, Gustave Garrigou, Henri Pélissier, Charles Crupelandt, Jean Forestier, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle and Laurent Jalabert.
French constructors have also been successful with Matra winning the Championships in 1967, 1968, and 1969, Automobiles Martini in 1975 and 1977, and Renault in 1976 and 1977.
France produced five champions in the International Formula 3000 championship, the successor to the European F2 series: Jean Alesi (1989), Érik Comas (1990), Olivier Panis (1993), Jean-Christophe Boullion (1994) and Sébastien Bourdais (2002), tying with Italy as the most successful nation in the formula.
France holds an annual ice racing championship at the end of each year, called the Andros Trophy.
France host the French motorcycle Grand Prix currently in Le Mans.
Also, in Superbike World Championship only two French riders have been champions: Raymond Roche in 1990 and Sylvain Guintoli in 2014.
The competitive form is played by about 480,000 persons licensed with the Fédération Française de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal (FFPJP).
Some current French high-level players include Gaël Monfils, Richard Gasquet, Lucas Pouille, Caroline Garcia, Alizé Cornet, and Kristina Mladenovic.
Other stars from the past include Henri Cochet, René Lacoste, Yannick Noah, Guy Forget, Henri Leconte, Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Amélie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce and Marion Bartoli.
Some prominent French track and field athletes include Alain Mimoun, Michel Jazy, Guy Drut, Sophie Duarte, Renaud Lavillenie, Marie-José Pérec, Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, Christophe Lemaitre, and Marie Collonvillé.
Some reports claim that cricket was invented in France, however, the sport is relatively unknown due to inadequate media coverage.
In fact, the 1900 Olympic games, the only one where cricket was played, featured bitter rivals England and France taking on each other.
[15] France has a notable presence in canoeing, with several accomplished athletes achieving success at national and international levels.
Some prominent French canoeists include Tony Estanguet, Denis Gargaud Chanut, Émilie Fer, Mathieu Goubel, and Sébastien Combot.
[16] Ice hockey is a fairly popular sport in France, especially in the Rhône-Alpes region and in the cities of Rouen, Amiens and Tours.
In recent years, numerous French ice hockey players have played in the NHL, the premier ice hockey competition on the planet based in the United States and Canada, including Stanley Cup winner Cristobal Huet and Vancouver Canucks forward Antoine Roussel.
The sport arguably achieved its height in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s when the France national team made it to World Cup finals and won test series against Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand.
Two French-based teams, Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique, participate in the British rugby league system,[17] which has helped boost the sport's profile and led to growth in player numbers.
And the France men's national volleyball team consecutively became double Olympic champion in 2021 and 2024, like the Soviets in the 1960s and the Americans in the 1980s.
