The Coupe de France

The Coupe de France is open to eligible clubs registered within the French Football Federation structure — amateur and professional, mainland and overseas. Recent editions have involved more than 7,000 clubs, with regional preliminary rounds narrowing the field before the professional clubs enter later in the competition. This broad scope is one of the defining features of the tournament and gives it a similar character to the FA Cup in England.

The competition was founded in 1917 by Henri Delaunay, then secretary of the French Interfederal Committee — the predecessor of the modern French Football Federation. It was originally called the Coupe Charles Simon, in tribute to a French sportsman and football administrator who died in World War I. The Coupe de France name was adopted in 1919. The competition continued through the World War II period, although wartime conditions affected how it was organised.

The earlier rounds are organised regionally. The smallest clubs start in the first round, then higher-level clubs are added in stages as the field narrows. In the current structure, Championnat National 3 clubs join from the third round, Championnat National 2 clubs from the fourth round, Championnat National clubs from the fifth round, Ligue 2 clubs from the seventh round, and Ligue 1 clubs at the round of 64.

The draw is partly regionalised for much of the competition. The round of 64 is still drawn within groups set by the organising committee, before the draw becomes fully open from the last 32 onwards. Each tie is a single match, with no replays. From the first round to the semi-finals, a drawn match goes straight to a penalty shoot-out after 90 minutes; in the final, a drawn match has 30 minutes of extra time before penalties. The lower-ranked club normally hosts when the two clubs are at least two divisions apart, subject to ground requirements, which gives smaller clubs the financial and sporting benefit of playing big opposition at home.

The competition usually begins in late summer with regional qualifying rounds and ends with the final in May. The early regional rounds run through late summer and autumn. Ligue 2 clubs enter at the seventh round, usually in November, while Ligue 1 clubs enter at the round of 64, usually around December or early January depending on the season's calendar. The last 32, last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals then take place across the second half of the season.

The final has normally been held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis since the stadium opened in 1998, ahead of the 1998 World Cup, although the final venue is formally chosen by the French Football Federation and occasional exceptions can occur. Before the Stade de France era, the competition used various venues including the Parc des Princes in Paris and the Stade de Colombes. The President of France traditionally attends the final and presents the trophy to the winning captain, a custom associated with the competition since 1927.

The competition is one of the broadest in football by entry. Thousands of clubs across the French Football Federation's regional structure enter each year, from amateur clubs at the lowest tiers of the pyramid up to Ligue 1. Clubs from overseas territories such as Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, Mayotte, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon can also enter through their own qualifying routes before joining the national rounds.

The competition has produced regular giant-killing moments across its history. The most famous modern example is Calais RUFC, a fourth-tier amateur club that reached the 2000 final and lost narrowly to Nantes. Two second-tier clubs have won the Coupe de France in the professional era — Le Havre in 1959 and Guingamp in 2009. The single-match no-replay format, combined with the lower-ranked-club-hosts rule, makes the competition particularly attractive to smaller clubs and awkward for favourites.

Under the usual UEFA access list, the Coupe de France winner receives a place in the next UEFA Europa League. If the winner has already qualified for Europe through Ligue 1, the access list is adjusted so that France's remaining European places are allocated through the league table according to UEFA and domestic competition rules.

The Coupe de France winner also qualifies for the next Trophée des Champions, the one-off match between the previous season's Ligue 1 winner and Coupe de France winner. If the same club has won both competitions, the Trophée des Champions place normally goes to the Ligue 1 runners-up. The match is often staged at a neutral venue and has regularly been used by French football as an international showcase.

The Coupe de France was created on 15 January 1917 by the French Interfederal Committee, on the proposal of Henri Delaunay. The first edition was held in 1917-18, with Olympique de Pantin beating FC Lyon 3-0 in the final at the Parc des Princes in Paris in front of around 2,000 spectators. The first edition had 48 clubs entered. The competition expanded rapidly — by 1948 it had over 1,000 clubs, and recent editions have involved several thousand clubs from across France and the overseas territories.

The competition has continued through every season since its creation, including wartime editions that were affected by the conditions of World War II. The format has been refined across the decades, with today's single-match ties, regional early rounds, staged professional entry and penalty shoot-outs all helping to shape its modern identity. Paris Saint-Germain have dominated the recent era of the competition, reflecting their wider dominance of French football since the 2010s, but the Coupe de France remains defined by its open structure and its capacity for smaller clubs to share the same stage as the biggest teams.