Ligue 1
French professional league for men's association football clubs
Ligue 1 (French: [liɡ œ̃]; lit. 'League 1'), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de Football Professionnel, Ligue 1 is contested by 18 clubs and operates on a system of promotion and relegation from and to Ligue 2. Seasons run from August to May. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played during weekday evenings.
Ligue 1 was inaugurated on 11 September 1932 under the name National before switching to Division 1 after a year of existence. It continued to operate under that name until 2002, when it adopted its current name. Ligue 1 ranks fifth in the UEFA coefficient rankings as of 2025–26 based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons, behind England's Premier League, Italy's Serie A, Spain's La Liga and Germany's Bundesliga.
PSG are the most successful club, with 14 league titles, and the current defending champions as of the 2026–27 season.
History
Foundation
Professionalism in French football did not exist until July 1930, when the National Council of the French Football Federation (FFF) voted 128–20 in favour of its adoption. Prior to this, the first division of French football was contested between 1894 and 1929 through an amateur league run by the USFSA.
The founders of professionalism in French football were Georges Bayrou, Emmanuel Gambardella and Gabriel Hanot.
The public source identifies “Ligue 1” as french professional league for men's association football clubs. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ligue, French and professional.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13394. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932, 2002, 2025 and 2026.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ligue 1” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.