If you’re willing to venture off the beaten track, there’s a fascinating scene a little further down the French football pyramid that is well worth a watch. The Championnat National is the third division of French football, and it’s blend of down-on-their-luck professional clubs, semi professional and amateur outfits make for a fascinating spectacle.
A brief glance at the league’s 2025-26 standings reveals some of the most venerable names in French football. FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, famously set up as the factory club of Jean-Pierre Peugeot in 1928, were France’s first professional football club and one of the founder members of the original French first division. Topflight champions in 1934-35 and 1937-38, Les Lionceaux (‘The Lion Cubs’) last claimed silverware in 2007 with victory over Marseille in the Coupe de France final. However, relegation from Ligue 1 in 2014 signalled a dramatic decline for the grand old club, with dire financial problems leading to an administrative relegation to the third tier in 2023.
Other old aristocrats of the French game slugging it out in the French football basement are FC Rouen, Valenciennces and SM Caen, founded in 1899, 1914 and 1913 respectively. Relegated from Ligue 1 in 2019, Caen suffered relegation to the third-tier last season – a catastrophic outcome after Kylian Mbappé became majority owner of the club at the beginning of the season. Completing this unfortunate coterie of Ligue 1 stalwarts is Dijon, a less historic outfit born from a merger in 1998, until only recently Les Rouges enjoyed five consecutive seasons in France’s premier division between 2016-2021.
Unsurprisingly, these fallen heavyweights compete in stadiums with capacities well over 20,000 – Sochaux’s Stade Auguste-Bonal and Caen’s Stade Micel d’Ornano are two of the grand old homes of French football. All in sharp contrast to the humbler abodes of many of their counterparts in the league. Paris 13 Athletico, Aubagne (both with capacities of barely 1,000), Fleury (2,000) and Villefranche (3,500) are all tiny outfits in comparison. Yet, it’s to the enduring credit of the league that despite such stark discrepancies, it all counts for little on the field. Semi-pro Versailles, founded just 36 years ago, are currently second in the table, just a point off FC Rouen. Meanwhile, Caen, Sochaux and Valenciennes are currently spluttering in fifth, sixth and nineth respectively.
However, the peculiar wonder of the league may soon be a thing of the past. In January of this year it was announced by the Fédération Française de Football (FFF) that the 2026-27 season would be an entirely professional affair. It’s hoped that the transformation into ‘Ligue 3’ will encourage the league to become a pipeline for the two divisions above, while also bringing new money-spinning TV exposure, and fresh marketing opportunities. It remains to be seen whether the transition to a professional standard will be quite so smooth for those smaller clubs accustomed to operating a much more modest scale.
It’ll be intriguing to see how the proposed changes alter the competitiveness of this charming league. If they do materialise, it’s likely that the league’s weekly romance of David verses Goliath contests may never be quite the same again – so, let’s enjoy it while we can.