About Ligue 1
Ligue 1 History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage
Ligue 1 is the top tier of mens professional football in France. After being founded in 1930, it began play in 1932 as National before the leagues name was changed to Division 1 the following year. In 2002 it was again rebranded as Ligue 1. The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) has been the organizing body of Ligue 1 since 1944.
As is the case with many other European leagues and others around the world, Ligue 1 operates on a relegation-promotion format. The 2023/24 season saw some changes to the leagues structure - namely the number of teams being reduced from 20 to 18. In general, the season starts in August and finishes in May, with each team playing each other twice (both at home and away).
Based on the Ligue 1 current UEFA coefficient, there are generally five spots allocated for Ligue 1 teams in UEFA club competitions. The winner and runner-up qualify directly for the UEFA Champions League, while the team that finishes in third secures a spot in the qualifying rounds. The fourth and fifth placed teams qualify for the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League respectively.
In addition, the winner of the Coupe de France also earns a spot in the UEFA Europa League; thus, depending on that team’s position, Ligue 1 can sometimes have as many as six teams featuring in Europe, especially if the Coupe de France winner already qualified for the UEFA Europa League based on league standing.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is one of the most successful teams in Ligue 1 history, alongside Saint-Etienne, Olympique de Marseille (Marseille), Monaco, Nantes, and Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon).
Canal+ has been the primary broadcaster of Ligue 1 in France since 1986. In 1995, TF1 also secured TV broadcast rights to Ligue 1, before beIN Sports also acquired rights in the 2010s to show matches on TV as well as live-stream them online. In the 2020s, Amazon Prime Video also became the latest to acquire live-streaming rights to Ligue 1 matches.
In the USA, beIN Sports has been the primary provider of TV broadcasts and live-streaming coverage of Ligue 1 matches since 2011. Additional live-streaming providers that carry beIN Sports include fuboTV, Fanatiz and Sling TV.
