Farmers League
I've been messing about with league ladder tabs, like those you used to get in Match or Shoot Magazine, but these aren't made of paper, instead I'm using Excel spreadsheets.
Saint-Etienne v Nantes in 1977
It’s not quite the same as your regular advanced scouting data analysis tools (like the impressive Hudl or Wyscout), but still it provides a colourful history of who did what when, and in researching ‘every’ top major European league from start to this summer, it turns out in France, a league famed for being easy, well, it really isn’t that easy at all.
When comparing the French league to those in England, Germany, Spain, Italy, I found it to be aesthetically far more competitive at the top, yes PSG have recently won their twelfth title in fourteen years, but before that, they had won two in 42 years, Lyon, before the Qatar Sports Investments money changed the face of French football’s future forever were the dominant force, they won seven titles in a row during the early 2000’s but prior to that, had remarkably never ever won the top professional division, in all French football has seen 29 different champions (amateur or professional) and that compares with nine ‘different’ La Liga winners over 96 years in Spain, 16 in Italy, 24 different champions of England’s top flight since 1888 and 30 in Germany (this despite Bayern Munich winning 13 of the last 14).
Competitive? Prior to the rebranding of Ligue 1 in 2002 the Division Nationale saw 19 different winning clubs in 69 years, with all but one previous champion (PSG) suffering a post title winning relegation at least once since.
And whilst the league, like many in Europe, may have turned into a procession in recent years dominated by the money made mighty, I wanted to take a look at the nuances involved, in what has made the league so specially unique, since its inception, in 1932.
Sete v Red Star (Coupe de France Final) in 1923
Prior to Professionalism
The ‘amateur era’ in France began in 1894 (seven years after the first professional league appeared in England) but was only a month long competition involving just five teams won by Standard Athletic Club after beating the White Rovers in a round robin final match replay after a couple of knockout games.
Standard, a British Social Club based in Paris, would again beat White Rose (who were also based in Paris and founded by a Brit called Jack Wood) in the final 3-1 of an eight team tournament the next year, this having thumped United Sports Club 13-0 in the first round and Stade de Neuilly 18-0 in the semi-final.
In all, Standard would be the flag bearers for early French football taking five of the first eight titles with Club Francais and Le Havre seeing out the 19th century with silverware.
Roubaix would be the early twentieth century pace setters taking the 1902, 03 & 04 titles and in all winning six ahead of World War I, by which time Gallia Club Paris, Stade Helvetique, US Tourcoing, Saint-Raphael and Olympique Lillois had got in on the act too.
Post war, the Coupe de France was launched as the nations premiere knock out cup, before the professional era was introduced in 1932, a new league involving twenty teams in two groups, the first champions Olympique Lillois, who beat Cannes in a final match 4-3 after both sides had topped their respective tables after eighteen matches played.
Strasbourg v Sochaux in 1935
Changing Champions
The 1934 title was squeezed into one fourteen team division and was won by SC Sete (Who also beat Marseille in the Coupe de France final in Colombes) before later securing a second championship in 1939 ahead of the breakout of World War II.
By then, Sochaux (twice), Racing Paris and Marseille would also become champions and although the league took a break as Nazi Germany occupied the country during a sorry period of long bloodshed battles, the Coupe de France did carry on, ahead of the league returning to action in 1945/46, where Lille would do the double, formed only two years earlier, following a merger between 1932 champions Olympique Lillois and SC Fives, who were a team that appeared in all the opening six years of the National Division.
Lille were serial cup winners with three on the bounce, but Robaix-Tourcoing under former French National Team midfielder Jean Batmale, would win their first and only title in 1946/47, Marseille taking their third French championship a year later, beating Lille to the race by just a point, before Reims would begin a golden period that would twice see them beaten in the European Cup Final by Real Madrid.
Reims v Real Madrid (European Cup Final) in 1956
(Almost) Kings of Europe
Winning their first French title in 1949, Reims would go on to have five further successes in the next thirteen years with a star studded team that would include national side legends Roger Marche, Robert Jonquet, Just Fontaine and Raymond Kopa.
In 1956 they played out a fabulous first ever European Cup final in Paris against Real Madrid, which they lost 4-3, having lead in the opening ten minutes 2-0, having lead shortly after the hour 3-2.
They would again be beaten in the 1959 final, by the same opposition in Stuttgart, but by now, with France having also reached the semi-finals of the 1958 World Cup the summer prior, French football, was very much, known on the global map.
During that golden period under Albert Batteux, Reims would also twice win the Coupe de France, but there was another stylish team in Nice, who themselves secured four divisional titles, as well as a couple of cups along the way.
Nice had the lure of the Mediterranean coast to tempt Argentine stars Pancho Gonzalez and Luis Carniglia, as well as Swedish striker Par Bengtsson, and of course playing his part was a young Just Fontaine, before he made the move to European finalists Reims in 1956.
Elsewhere Lille were a team to be taken seriously still, they won a further title in the fifties ahead of Saint-Etienne and Monaco taking their first, and second championships of more to come, the Green Machine in particular, ready to conquer a new era of French football.
Bordeaux v Saint-Etienne in 1970
New Kids On The Block
Jean Snella lead Saint-Etienne to their first league title in 1957, he had to wait seven years for his second success, but by the time he won his third championship, three years later, he had already the wheels in motion of a dominant football force.
Le Verts would sandwich two title wins by Nantes in the mid sixties to win four championnat’s in a row, they were regular Coupe de France winners and reached a European Cup final by 1976, then a global force and a national treasure, taking 8 titles in 13 years, with players ever fondly admired as legendary stars, Bereta, Revelli, Farison, and of course, Michel Platini.
But although they were a collective and individual generational great, Saint-Etienne didn’t always get it their own way, in 1965, 66, 73, 77 and 80 Nantes were the unstoppable force, the first three of those championships lead to victory by their great Basque Manager Jose Arribas who enjoyed 16 years at Les Canaris.
Marseille were another team enjoying relative success, back to back titles in 71 & 72 were helped along by the goals of Yugoslav forward Josip Skoblar and Swedish team-mate Roger Magnusson. Olympique also winning the 69, 72 and 76 Coupe de France.
Data Sheets
As you can see, following the Saint-Etienne dominance we had quite a mix during the late 70’s & 80’s of league winners from Monaco and Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Paris Saint-Germain.
A relatively modern club, PSG were only founded in 1970 but since four years after their existence, have been a top tier team attracting star quality players and in 1986 they enjoyed their first ever title under Gerard Houllier, it would be eight years until their second (when Managed by Artur Jorge), and nineteen seasons before their third under the great Carlo Ancelotti.
Bordeaux had previously slipped under the radar as a solid if not spectacular top half team, winning their first professional title in 1950 they had to wait 34 years until their next, but like buses, their second came just a season later, during a great period for Girondins between 1983 & 87 thanks largely to the millions injected by their President Claude Bes.
The club won three titles and two Coupe de France under Aime Jacquet and included some greats like Jean Tigana and Bernard Lacombe, but the surprise of the era would be Strasbourg winning their single league championship in 1979, promoted two seasons before, they under Gilbert Gress pipped both Nantes and Saint-Etienne by just two points, whilst having a much inferior goal difference.
Marseille v Milan (European Champions League Final) in 1993
Tapie Tenure - The Rise & Fall of Marseille
A new president in 1986 would take sleeping giant Marseille to unprecedented levels of success, Bernard Tapie made his millions by buying bankrupt companies, and in 1988/89 a first of five successive championships (one of two under Gerard Gili) would come, a team of talented stars from all over the world would include some of the great French footballers of any era, Jean-Pierre Papin, Didier Deschamps, Basile Boli, Marcel Desailly, all joined by the likes of Uruguay’s Enzo Francescoli, Rudi Voller of West Germany, England’s Chris Waddle and more…
The titles would roll in, the Coupe de France just once, in 1989, but after failing in the final against Red Star Belgrade in 1991, they won the European Champions League in 1993, becoming the first ever French side to do so.
But that season didn’t all end in joy, Marseille had wrapped up their fifth domestic title prior to beating Milan in Munich, only to have it stripped away from them, after Bernard Tapie (by now the owner of Adidas) had asked Valenciennes to ‘go easy’ on them during a game that proceeded the Champions League final, the match ending 1-0 to Marseille, which resulted in the French Football Bribery Scandel.
The year after, Marseille finished second in the league behind Paris Saint-Germain but were relegated to the second tier, they have since won the title in 2010, but their scars of their celebrated era, remain today.
Lyon v Paris Saint-Germain in 2006
Leaping Lyonnais
There were moments after the Magical Marseille side that revolutionised slightly, French football. The 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships victory certainly helped shine light, Jean Tigana producing a brilliant young Monaco team that took the 97 title (with the likes of Thierry Henry, Manu Petit & David Trezeguet), this after an unlikely Nantes team won their seventh career title in 1995 with a team that included Christian Karembeu, Claude Makelele, the exciting Patrice Loko and more.
Auxerre won their first and only title in 96, Laurent Blanc, Taribo West, Stephane Guivarc’h just three renowned players to play for legendary long term Coach Guy Roux that year. Roux’s association with Las Ajaistes starting as a player way back in 1954, in three spells he first took the Auxerre job in 1961, then for a second spell between 1964-2000, finally retiring after 2,000 games after a third spell between 2001-05, before being tempted out of retirement aged 69 by Lens.
Lens themselves won their only title in 1998, before Bordeaux, Monaco, Nantes, then a rampant Lyon would roar into domination driven success.
It’s remarkable to think that Olympique Lyonnais would celebrate their first ever title in 2002, then back that up with not just one, nor two, but seven successive championships which had never been done before.
First, under Jacques Santini, then, under Paul le Guen (x3), also under Gerard Houllier (x2) and finally under Alain Perrin, Lyon would become the elite French team of the noughties, regularly challenging in Europe, with iconic players, from the free kick curling Juninho Pernambucano, to the one day Ballon d’Or winning striker Karim Benzema, but with it many unsung heroes, Sylvain Wiltord, Fred, Flourent Malouda, Eric Abidal, Cacapa, Patrick Muller, Gregory Coupet, to name a few.
Lyon’s dynasty ended in 2008/09 when Bordeaux won their sixth title under Laurent Blanc. What followed, the title changing hands a further four times, Marseille in 2010, Lille in 2011, Montpelier under Rene Girard in 2012, but since, domination by another, who we’ve now accepted is the best of the lot, the best in the world right now, and we still call it the farmers league???
Monaco v Paris Saint-Germain in 2021
PSG - Pretty Super Gorgeous
There’s folk out there that might not agree with how the Qatar Sports Investment, which purchased Paris Saint-Germain in 2011, does business, with claims of sports washing often highlighted against the Middle Eastern State, but I don’t want to go particularly into the politics of this, so let us stick to the football.
In truth, PSG have always been a sexy beast, they have always attracted investment, and Paris is I suppose, always the place in France to be?
When PSG first won the title in 1986/87 they had signed the likes of Joel Bats, William Ayache, Vahid Halilhodzic and somewhat earlier, Dominique Rocheteau.
They spent big to take the 1993/94 title with a team that included David Ginola, George Weah, and Brazilian internationals Rai, Ricardo Gomes and Valdo.
So when they really went for it under Nasser Al-Khelaifi and co, I suppose what happened, was to be expected.
You know the rest, pretty much, because we all seem to remember recent history than longer days past, PSG thanked the goals of Zlatan for their first title under Ancelotti, the Silky Swede obliged again for the next three years under Laurent Blanc.
Monaco, would win the 2017 title thanks largely to the goals (as well as Radamel Falcao) of a new teen superstar in Kylian Mbappe, so what did PSG do? They signed Mbappe from Monaco, to help them win the next season, or three.
Cavani, Neymar, Messi and more, would all feature under various elite managers but the machine ran out of steam in 2021, Lille would snatch a last day title win, and with that failure, a new man in Pochettino took charge, before Christophe Galtier, but winning domestic leagues wasn’t enough, enter Luis Enrique, exit Messi, Neymar, a year later Mbappe would go, but with the loss of superstar egos, a team centric ethic of a new breed, a Champions League winning breed, that has now only gone and won the last two.
Since the great AC Milan did so in 1989 and 1990, and following on from Real Madrid in 2016/2017/2018, no other team has won back-to-back Champions League titles, but Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain has!
Players of today, will forever be remembered as iconic cult hero’s of our generation, those players have made us gasp in awe of their quality, include current Balon d’Or winner Moussa Dembele, Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Joao Neves, Nuno Mendes, Achraf Hakimi, the best footballers of today, are playing for the best team on the planet, and every week, they are strutting their stuff, in what we quite astonishingly still sometimes call, the farmers league.
More Data Sheets…
And as I leave you with memories of players, managers, teams, seasons, some of the best bits along our journey, don’t forget to look through these DIY table charts brought to life by my colourful collab with Excel spreadsheets, the single very reason for me telling you about French Football, today.
As everyone knows, it always looks so much better, in colour.
theHEADscout.
I’m a sports DATA Analyst and PFSA associate scout with level two qualifications in talent identification and level one certificates in technical scouting & opposition analysis.