The market for amateur football clubs - France

1.2 The national market for amateur soccer clubs

The French sports market

In ****, the French sports market was worth ** billion euros, representing *.*% of GDP(***).

Economic weight of sport France, ****, in Source: ****

The soccer market

For the ****-**** season, soccer remains the sport with the most licensees, with over *.** million, ahead of tennis (***)[***]

For the ****-**** season, the French Football Federation will have nearly **,*** amateur clubs and ** professional clubs. Amateur soccer clubs therefore represent the vast majority of soccer clubs in France. For the same season, the Fédération Française de Football has earmarked a budget of **.* million euros for amateur soccer. [***]

It's difficult to pinpoint a precise market size for soccer in France, given the sheer size of the sector and the large number of players involved. Nevertheless, we can begin by considering the sales of the French Football Federation, which amounted to *** million euros at the end of the ****-**** financial year.

FFF sales France, ****-****, in millions of euros Source: ****

2.1 Who are soccer fans in France?

Generally speaking, soccer is one of the most popular sports in France. In fact, **% of French people say they are interested in the sport, **% follow it and **% have a good image of it. According to an Ipsos survey, it is especially among families that football has a good image (***).

French interest in soccer France, ****, in Source: ****

Soccer practice

As previously mentioned, soccer is a very popular sport in France: in total, almost **% of French people claim to play soccer at least once a week, with **% playing more than * times a week.

Finally, amateur clubs account for a very large proportion of soccer practice in France: indeed, among French people who say they play soccer, **% do so in a club or association. The second main form of practice is autonomous practice (***). [***]

Frequency of soccer practice France, ****, in % Source: ****

Form of soccer practice France, ****, as % of total Source: ****

2.2 FFF licensees

The FFF (***) is France's no. * federation in terms of the number of members, with **% of total licenses in the Olympic single-sport federations. In comparison, the tennis federation accounts for **.*% of French members, and horse-riding for *.*%.

Sports licenses (***) France, ****, in Source: ****

The number of FFF licensees has been rising almost continuously since the early ****s. In ****-****, buoyed by the World Cup effect, the number of FFF licensees saw its biggest rise of the decade, with a +*% increase in the number of licensees. [***]

Number of FFF members France, ****-****, in thousands Source: ****

Licensee profile

FFF licensees are mainly men or boys (***). Only *% are over **.

Distribution of licenses by gender France, ****, in millions Source: ****

2.3 The rise of women's soccer

Women's soccer, and in particular amateur women's soccer, has been growing rapidly in recent years, both in terms of interest among the population and the number of female licensees.

According to a study carried out by Odoxa in December ****, **% of French people have already watched a women's soccer match, whereas in ****, only **% of French people said they were interested. The image of women's soccer is also much better, with **% a positive image compared with **%.

Of the **,*** amateur clubs in France, *,*** have a women's team, an increase of +***% since ****-****. Women are also present in the management of regional leagues: at amateur level, in ****, there were *** women in regional and district management. [***]

Nevertheless, in the ****-**** season, the number of female licensees in France remained well below the number in Germany, and slightly below the figures for England, proof that amateur soccer among women can still make great strides forward.

Number of women licensees World, ****-****, in thousands Source: ****

In addition, French women's soccer is attracting more and more television viewers, which will in future encourage enrolment in amateur women's soccer clubs (***).

Audiences for the Blues at Euro **** France, ****, in millions of viewers Source: ****

3.1 Institutional players in French amateur soccer

The French Football Federation

In ****, the FFF will have **,*** amateur clubs and ** professional clubs (***), *** employees and ***,*** volunteers. At the end of the ****-**** financial year, its sales exceeded *** million euros, the majority of which came from partnerships and TV fees [***].

Breakdown of FFF sales France, ****-**** Source: ****

Source: ****

The Amateur Football League (***)

The Ligue de Football Amateur is an FFF-dependent body responsible for administering and organizing amateur soccer on a national scale.

The LFA itself is organized into several bodies:

The LFA Executive Bureau: this is the governing body, which manages the LFA. LFA colleges: Colleges of league presidents: headed by a *-member committee, it comprises the presidents and deputy presidents of the leagues (***). Colleges of district presidents: run by a **-member board and made up of district presidents (***). Collège des autres acteurs du soccer amateur: made up of ** members elected for * years and run by a *-person bureau.

Source: ****

Equipment manufacturers

Two brands, Nike and Adidas, share around **% of the French soccer market in terms of sales. In particular, Nike has a very strong presence among professional clubs, especially in Ligue *, with a **% market share in the championship, and a market share of over **% for footwear in Ligue * (***).

However, ...

3.2 Financing amateur soccer clubs

Amateur soccer is heavily dependent on the FFF for its funding, and on the subsidies that this central body grants to amateur clubs. 

The FFF's funding of amateur clubs is based on a number of levers:

An annual budget allocated by the Fonds d'Aide au Football Amateur (***). According to the FFF, this allocation amounts to around ** million euros. However, the LFA denounces the fact that this envelope still represents only *% of the FFF's total budget. [***] Ad-hoc plans according to the situation and current events in French amateur soccer.

For example, following France's victory in the **** Men's World Cup, the FFF set up the *nd Star Clubs plan, the aim of which was to enable amateur clubs to cope with a renewed enthusiasm for soccer, thanks to an exceptional envelope of ** million euros.

Other sources of funding for amateur clubs include the following:

Sponsorship Membership fees Internal club activities (***) Public funding

Breakdown of FFF funding for amateur soccer

Source: ****

4.1 Geographical distribution of clubs and members

Soccer in France is very much linked to the geography of the country, and some regions stand out in terms of club numbers. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region boasts the largest number of clubs, with *,*** , followed by the Grand Est (***).

Number of soccer clubs by region France, ****, in number of clubs Source: ****

The map above can be read by color intensity: the darker the color of the region, the higher the number of soccer clubs in that region.

The main regions in terms of number of licensees are Ile de France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Hauts de France. Each has over ***,*** licensees, and together they account for over **% of all French licensees.

Number of people practicing by region France, ****, thousands of players Source: ****

4.2 The cost to clubs and soccer fans

FFF license prices

The price of soccer licenses is set by each region. There is an imposed federal share, but it remains minimal: * euro for U*-U** categories, *.* euros for U**-U** categories, *.* euros for U** to senior/veteran categories. The Ligue de Bretagne has the lowest prices for almost all categories; conversely, Ile de France and Centre Val de Loire have the highest license prices.

Here are the price ranges by category in ****-****:

License price ranges by category France, ****-****, in € Source: ****

Cost to clubs

Soccer practice equipment France, ****, in € Source: ****

For an amateur club, the equipment needed to play footaball comes at a price: from €**** at the low end to €**** at the high end, according to the Prépa Physique website.

4.3 Diversified soccer

The term "diversified soccer" refers to all soccer variants. According to the latest FFF report, this officially includes futsal, beach soccer, company soccer and leisure soccer. Cécifoot and wheelchair soccer are also included. In ****, the FFF counted **,*** licenses nationwide.

Cécifoot : an official discipline since ****, cécifoot is now recognized by the IOC and FIFA. Cecifoot follows FIFA rules, with a few modifications (***) have a visually impaired team. Wheelchair soccer: in ****, France had around *** licensees(***), and the national wheelchair soccer team was crowned world champion in ****. Nevertheless, like cecifoot, wheelchair soccer still lacks a great deal of media coverage.

Wheelchair soccer requires the purchase of specialized equipment, such as a dedicated wheelchair (***)[***]

Company soccer: in ****, there will be *** company clubs in France, with **** licensees, according to figures announced by the FFF. According to theUNFE, corporate soccer has an under-exploited potential today, as the discipline counted over **,*** licensees ** years ago, i.e. four times the current figure. Leisure soccer: within the FFF, leisure soccer groups together categories that do not play competitively, and will have **,*** licensees in ****, according to the FFF. Futsal: please refer to the dedicated study available here

5.1 Transfer rules in amateur soccer

Transfers in amateur soccer are governed by the FFF's General Regulations. [***]

Transfers may concern all age categories from U** upwards.

The same player can change club up to * times in the course of a season. The soccer year is divided into * periods, each with its own transfer rules:

Normal period (***): players can change clubs freely, simply by registering with their new club. Out of period (***): transfers are governed by more specific FFF regulations. In particular, the player must obtain written consent from his home club before leaving it.

During matches, each club may only register * new arrivals on the match sheet, i.e. a maximum of * out of period. There are, however, a few exceptions to this rule, notably if one of the players leaves his club to sign for a professional club.

Finally, the regional leagues and districts are responsible for monitoring these transfers.

5.2 The sports code and regulations

The reference text in this field is the Sports Code, published between **** (***), regulating * aspects of sporting life:

Organization of physical and sporting activities Sports players Methods of practising sport, safety and hygiene of sports facilities Financing of sport and provisions applicable to overseas territories

The regulations have undergone significant changes for the ****-**** season for amateur clubs[***]

Procedural deadlines: Federal texts relating to procedural deadlines have been clarified, but without any change to the practice in force for many years. The articles of the general regulations have been amended to replace the term "four clear days" by "four calendar days", notably due to a refusal to qualify a player by a district commission, which considered that Saturday was not considered a clear day. This modification also applies to disciplinary regulations, the status of educators and that of referees, which will simplify matters.

Agreement: The League and its districts wish to modify the rules to allow a team in agreement committed for a given season to be authorized to enter the following season in regional competition if it obtains the sporting right and regularizes its administrative situation before the end of the current season. For example, a team in an agreement which ...

6.1 Player segmentation

National, National * and National * league equipment supplier rankings France, ****-****, in *Joma, Kipsta, Le Coq Sportif, Skita, Errea, hummel, Eldera, Erima, Ô Sports, Acerbis, Craft, Lotto, Luanvi, New Balance, SportsCo. Passion Source: ****

• Fédération Française de Football
• Macron
• Adidas
• Puma Groupe
• Basicnet Group Kappa
• Nike
• Kelme
• Errea
• Patrick
• Stanno (Deventrade Group)
• Acerbis
• Lotto
• Joma
• Spacefoot