Domestic football
French football
French football is built around Ligue 1 at the top of a tiered league pyramid, the Coupe de France as the main cup competition, and the Trophée des Champions as France's super cup. France has produced two clubs who have won the European Cup or Champions League — Marseille in 1993 and Paris Saint-Germain, who won their first title in 2025 and retained it in 2026 — and remains one of European football's major domestic systems.
What French football is
French football is built around Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, and the Trophée des Champions, with a wider pyramid extending below.
The top of the French football system is Ligue 1, an 18-club top division usually contested across a 34-game season from August to May. Below it are Ligue 2, the third tier relaunched as Ligue 3 from 2026-27, and a wider network of national, regional, and departmental divisions. Promotion and relegation connect the tiers, with two clubs going up to and two coming down from Ligue 1 each year, plus a promotion/relegation play-off involving clubs from Ligue 1 and Ligue 2.
Alongside the league competitions, French football runs the Coupe de France — France's main cup, created in 1917 and one of the oldest cup competitions in football — and the Trophée des Champions, a one-off super cup between the previous season's Ligue 1 champions and Coupe de France winners. The Trophée des Champions is often staged outside France as part of the league's international expansion efforts, and its date and venue can vary from season to season.
The French football pyramid
Ligue 1 sits at the top of a multi-tier system that extends down through the country's regional football.
Ligue 1 is the top division, with 18 clubs. Below it is Ligue 2, also with 18 clubs, run by the same governing body — the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The top two clubs from Ligue 2 are automatically promoted to Ligue 1 at the end of each season. Teams finishing third, fourth, and fifth in Ligue 2 enter play-offs, and the eventual winners face the 16th-placed Ligue 1 club in a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off. The bottom two from Ligue 1 drop down to Ligue 2.
From the 2026-27 season, Ligue 3 sits below Ligue 2 as an 18-club third tier run directly by the French Football Federation. As part of the same reform, the former National 2 and National 3 levels become National 1 and National 2. Below the third tier, clubs are organised into regional groups before the pyramid continues through regional and departmental leagues. The system covers football across mainland France, Corsica, Monaco, and the French overseas departments and territories.
The French league system
Ligue 1 sits above Ligue 2 and the lower divisions in the professional structure.
Ligue 1
The top division of French football, contested by 18 clubs across a 34-game season from August to May. The professional French championship began in 1932 and is the home of Paris Saint-Germain — France's most successful modern club — as well as Marseille, Lyon, Monaco, and Saint-Étienne. Paris Saint-Germain are the second French club to have won the Champions League, taking their first title in 2025 and retaining it in 2026.
Read about Ligue 1Ligue 2 and Ligue 3
The second and third tiers of French football. Ligue 2 is contested by 18 clubs across a 34-game season. From 2026-27, Ligue 3 sits below Ligue 2 as an 18-club third tier run directly by the French Football Federation. Ligue 2 feeds directly into Ligue 1 through promotion and relegation, while the third tier feeds into Ligue 2.
The cup competitions
French football runs the Coupe de France as its main cup and the Trophée des Champions as a one-off super cup.
The Coupe de France
France's main cup competition. Founded in 1917, it is one of the oldest cup competitions in football and one of the broadest in scope — open to eligible amateur and professional clubs across metropolitan France, Monaco and the French overseas territories. The final is usually held in May and has normally been played at the Stade de France since 1998, with the President of France traditionally presenting the trophy.
Read about the Coupe de FranceThe Trophée des Champions
A one-off super cup between the previous season's Ligue 1 champions and Coupe de France winners. If the same club have won both, the second slot usually goes to the Ligue 1 runners-up. The match is often treated as a season curtain-raiser, but its date and venue can vary, and recent editions have often been staged outside France.
How clubs qualify for European competition from France
French clubs reach continental competition through Ligue 1 finishing positions and the Coupe de France.
The top three Ligue 1 finishers usually qualify directly for the next Champions League league phase, while the fourth-placed club enter Champions League qualifying. The next league places normally feed into the Europa League and Conference League, but the exact allocation can change depending on UEFA access-list rules, titleholder places, and European Performance Spots.
The Coupe de France winners qualify for the Europa League. If they have already qualified through Ligue 1, France's remaining European places are adjusted through the league table. Under the usual current structure, seven French clubs can qualify for Europe, although the exact allocation can vary because of UEFA access-list rules, cup results, titleholder places, and European Performance Spots.
A short history of French football competition
French football's structure has evolved across more than a century of competition.
The Coupe de France was created in 1917 under the influence of Henri Delaunay, making it one of the oldest cup competitions in football. The competition was originally called the Coupe Charles Simon, in tribute to a French sportsman who died in World War I, before becoming the Coupe de France in 1919. Ligue 1 followed in 1932 with the introduction of professional football in France — the league was initially called the National before being renamed Division 1 in 1933 and finally Ligue 1 in 2002.
The league has been dominated across different eras by different clubs. Saint-Étienne were the dominant force in the 1960s and 1970s, winning ten titles between 1957 and 1981. Marseille took over in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning four in a row and the 1993 Champions League before a match-fixing scandal stripped them of their 1992-93 league title. Olympique Lyonnais won seven consecutive Ligue 1 titles between 2002 and 2008, a record streak in French football. Paris Saint-Germain have dominated since 2012 after the Qatar Sports Investments takeover, with their first Champions League win in 2025 completing their first continental treble before they retained the European title in 2026.
What to read next
Ligue 1 is the natural starting point for French football, with the Coupe de France as the alternative cup route.