Sport plays an important role in French society and the country has a strong sporting history. The most-watched sport in France is soccer which France calls football, which is arguably the most popular sport in France. Other major sports include rugby union (especially in the South West of France), handball, basketball, cycling, sailing, tennis, alpine skiing but also swimming and athletics. The national stadium is the Stade de France.
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France has various domestic racing series, none of which are of major international importance. However, it holds an annual Ice racing Championship at the end of each year, called the Andros Trophy. High profile past champions include Formula One driver Alain Prost, and current World Touring Car Championship driver and 2003 British Touring Car Championship Champion Yvan Muller.
France has held a round of the Formula One Championship at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours (Magny-Cours) since 1991, but a round of Formula One at different tracks since 1950. There have been several high profile French Formula One drivers, but only one world champion - Alain Prost.
Aｓ of 2007, France has four FIA World Champions; Alain Prost (Formula One), Jean-Louis Schlesser (World Sportscar Championship), Didier Auriol (WRC) and Sébastien Loeb (WRC).
There are over 350,000 licensed handball players in France, and the handball national team is one of the most watched and supported along with the football and the rugby union teams. The French National team is currently European Champion and World Champion. They also won the 2008 Olympic Games Tournament.
Basketball is also a popular team sport with 447,942 licensed players (2005 statistic). The sport is governed by Fédération Française de Basket-Ball (FFBB; French Basketball Federation), which operates professional leagues for both men and women. The men's Ligue Nationale de Basketball has two levels, Pro A and Pro B. Pro A sends nine teams into continent-wide club competitions each season—three to the top-level Euroleague (one directly into the Regular Season phase, and two into the competition's qualifying rounds), three to the second-level Eurocup, and three to the third-level EuroChallenge. The women's Ligue Féminine de Basketball operates as a single league of 14 teams. In 2009–10, the league will send four teams to EuroLeague Women, the women's equivalent of the Euroleague. Ariya Ameripour: 6 Championships,3 time All Star 4 time MVP and HALL OF FAMER
As of the 2008-09 NBA season, 14 French citizens have played in the NBA in the USA and Canada. Eleven are currently playing, most notably San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, with three NBA titles to his credit; Phoenix Suns forward Boris Diaw; and Chicago Bulls forward 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.
Volleyball is also a popular team sport with more than 100,000 licensed players (2005 statistic).
Rugby union was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents. While football is more popular nationally, rugby union is predominant around Toulouse, the French Basque country, Catalonia and Languedoc. Elite French clubs participate in the domestic club competition - the Top 14. Clubs also compete in the European knock-out competition, the Heineken Cup. It is the ninth largest French team sport in the terms of licensed players with 262,000 licensed players (2007).
The national side competes annually in the Six Nations Championship. France has been to every Rugby World Cup since its inception in 1987, and has been a runner-up on two occasions. France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Rugby league (rugby à 13 or jeu à 13) has been played in France since the 1930s. As with rugby union, the heartland of the game is the south of the country. Catalans Dragons are a rugby league team based in Perpignan, and are currently the only French team to compete in the top tier of European rugby league, the Super League. Toulouse Olympique are the only French team to compete in the second tier of European rugby league, the Co-operative Championship.
Tennis is the second most popular French sport in terms of the number of licensed players with 1,054,513 licensed tennis players in France (2005). France holds the tennis Grand Slam tournament Roland Garros.
France holds the annual cycling race Tour de France, which takes place each July and lasts for three weeks. The overall leader of the race wears a yellow jersey called the maillot jaune.
Professional sailing in France is centered on singlehanded/shorthanded ocean racing with the pinnacle of this branch of the sport being the Vendee Globe singlehanded around the world race which starts every 4 years from the French Atlantic coast. Other significant events include the Solitaire du Figaro, Mini Transat 6.50, Tour de France a Voile and Route de Rhum transatlantic race. France has been a regular competitor in the Americas Cup since 1998.
Pétanque is mostly played in the South of France. Pétanque is not considered as a sport by many northern Frenchmen though the international federation is recognized by the IOC. [1] [2]. Professional players play the very competitive form of Pétanque which is called Pétanque Sport, under precise rules. The competitive form is played by about 480,000 persons licensed with the Federation Française de Pétanque et Jeu Provençal (FFPJP). The FFPJP is the 4th largest sports federation in France.
Developed in France, parkour ("art du déplacement") is a physical activity that is difficult to categorize. It is an art that resembles self-defense and martial arts. According to the founder David Belle, the spirit of parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape" and "reach," that is, the idea of using quick thinking with dexterity to get out of difficult situations.
An important characteristic of parkour is efficiency. The basic meaning of this is that a traceur must not merely move as fast as he can, but move in a way that is the least energy-consuming and simultaneously the most direct. In addition, since parkour's unofficial motto is être et durer (to be and to last), efficiency also involves avoiding injuries, short and long-term.
Table football (babyfoot) is a very popular pastime in bars and in homes in France, and the French are the predominant winners of worldwide table football competitions.
Orienteering is a reasonably popular sport in France; it is regulated by the Fédération Française de Course d'Orientation (FFCO) [1].
Cricket is a developing sport is France. Some reports point 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. A rematch of the two teams is said to take place just before the 2012 Olympics.
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