Sports in France

Sport in France plays an important role in French society, which is reflected in its popularity among the French people and strong sporting history. Various types of sports are played and followed in France, the most popular of which is association football.

Association football is the most popular sport in France, with 1,973,270 licensed players in the leagues. The sport was imported from England at the end of the 19th century, under the name of association football. In its early days, the sport gained followers mainly in the Paris area and the Northern part of the country - Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Normandy were the first teams that were created outside Paris. In southern France, football's competitor, rugby football, was more favoured at the time. Established in 1919 from competing organizations, the Fédération française de football consists of 18,000 teams.

It is also one of only nine teams to have won the UEFA European Championship (1984 and 2000). France was also the 1984 Olympic Champion and the 1998 World Cup winner.

Ligue 1 is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Ligue 2. The most successful club in the French first division history is AS Saint-Étienne with 10 championships (last one in 1981), followed by Olympique de Marseille with 9 titles and FC Nantes with 8 titles. as of 2016, the current champions are Paris Saint-Germain.

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