Ligue 1 is the French domestic men’s professional football league which is sometimes reefed to as La Championnat. Ligue 1 represents the top flight of French professional football and is one of a two tier system for professional association football in France.
The league is contested by 20 clubs and in line with the majority of professional football leagues across the world operates a promotion and relegation system with Ligue 2, the second tier of football in France.
Similar in format to the English Premier League, the club has 20 teams who play a total of 38 games across a season which runs from August to May each year and is in line with most European leagues. However, unlike many other rival leagues, Ligue 1 suspends games over the Christmas period for up to two weeks.
Formed way back in 1932 the inaugural French Association Football League for professional players was originally known as the National League before switching to Division 1 a year later. The French League is considered to be one of the top leagues in the world and the sixth in Europe behind that of Spain, England, Germany, Italy and Portugal.
The league has had its fair share of disgrace with corruption scandals in the 1930’s, 1950’s and more recently in 1993. However, the league was able to up hold its reputation in world football with swift and severe punishment for clubs breaking the rules and brining French football into disrespect.
Similar to leagues in Spain, England and Italy, Ligue 1 enjoys popularity in the Asian markets and clubs tap in to lucrative revenues streams through merchandising and television rights.