FM 2016 Competitions Preview: France

Hi guys, today we are going to show you a preview of the competitional system from France. The first football club was introduced to France in 1863, as described in a newspaper article by The Scotsman, which stated «A number of English gentlemen living in Paris have lately organized a football club. The football contests take place in the Bois de Boulogne, by permission of the authorities and surprise the French amazingly.» Modern football was introduced nine years later in 1872 by English sailors playing in Le Havre in 1872.

Top League & Continental Winners

Ligue 1: Saint-Étienne (10), Olympique de Marseille (9), Nantes (8), Olympique Lyonnais and AS Monaco (7), Girondins Bordeaux and Stade de Reims (6), PSG (5), Nice (4), Lille (3) and Montpellier HSC (1).

UEFA Champions League: Olympique de Marseille (1993). UEFA Europa League: none

Tier I: Ligue 1

• 38 games (teams play each other twice)
• Squad Registration: Maximum of 4 non-EU players
• Match Rules: Players under 16 are not allowed to play
• Continental Qualification: 3 places for CL, 3 places for EL
• Relegation: Bottom 3 teams are relegated

Ligue 1 (formerly known as Division 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. Ligue 1 is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked fifth in Europe behind the Spanish La Liga, English Premier League, the German Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A.

Ligue 1 Clubs (Ordered by Media Prediction)

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Tier II: Ligue 2

• 38 games (teams play each other twice)
• Squad Registration: Maximum of 2 non-EU players (4 for teams relegated from Ligue 1)
• Match Rules: Players under 16 are not allowed to play
• Promotion: 3 teams promoted
• Relegation: Bottom 3 teams are relegated

Ligue 2 (formerly known as Division 2) is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), the other being Ligue 1, the country’s top football division.

Ligue 2 Clubs (Ordered by Media Prediction)

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Penalties: Nimes Ol. (-8)

Tier III: French National

• 34 games (teams play each other twice)
• Squad Registration: Maximum of 3 non-EU players
• Match Rules: Players under 16 are not allowed to play
• Promotion: 3 teams promoted
• Relegation: Bottom 4 teams are relegated

French National was founded in 1993 by the French Football Federation and serves as a base league for clubs on the brink of becoming professional or falling to the amateur levels. The league is annually composed of professional, semi-professional, and amateur football clubs.

French National Clubs (Ordered by Media Prediction)

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The Cups

• Coupe de France — knockout tournament open to all clubs
• French Champions Trophy — single match between the Ligue 1 champions and Coupe de France winners
• Coupe de la Ligue — knockout tournament open to professional clubs from the top three football divisions

Next time we’ll take a quick look at some other playable nations in the game. Below are some of the conventions I took in order to show more information in a compact view in the tables. Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave any comments or feedback. Happy managing!

Table Conventions

• Under INT – CL, EL = Europe during first season / (p) = promoted club / (r) = relegated club
• Under Finance – asterisk sign (*) = club is under transfer embargo due to breach of financial regulations
• Under Estimated Value – loan debt is shown in parenthesis ().