Coupe de France Overview

The Coupe de France is one of the most prestigious club team tournaments in France. A little less than seven thousand teams both professional and non professional compete for the title. The competition was founded in 1917, under the name Charles Simon Challenge, but was later renamed the Coupe de France. The winner of competition is presented a trophy by the French president. The current champion of the competition is Olympique Lyonnais, and Olympique de Marseille has the highest amount of wins (10) in the entire tournament.

The History of the French Cup

The Coupe de France was founded on January 15th 1917 by the name, Charles Simon Challenge, in honor of the football player that died during World War I. The first tournament included 48 club teams from all over France and was organized by the Interfederal Committee (IFC). Olympic Pantin became the first champions of the tournament, defeating the football club Lyon due the efforts of Fievet.

In 1920, the competition was reorganized by the newly founded French Football Federation (FFF). A total of 114 clubs joined the competition at the start of the tournament. The finals were held in Paris, with the club CA Paris defeating Le Havre by a score of 2-1, due to two goals from striker Henri Bard. For the rest of the decade Red Star and Olympique de Marseille dominated the tournament. Red Star won the tournament from 1921- 1923, becoming the first club to win three seasons in the row. They went through a 12 game winning streak, defeating teams such as Lyon and Le Havre AC. William Cornelius, Robert Joyaut and Marcel Naudin were the star players for the team all three winning seasons.

During the 1930s new club teams emerged and won the prestigious trophy. One of the teams being, FC Sète, who after being a runner up in 1923 and 1924, finally won their first championship in 1930. Galvanisés, Languedoc and Ivan Bek scored the two goals for the team, as it defeated RC Paris in the final 3-1. The first division one club team from Paris, RC Paris, who was heavily favored to win due its quality players, won the trophy in 1936. FC Sochaux also won its first Coupe de France in 1937, and was not able to win another one till 2007. RC Paris won its second trophy in 1939, right before the tournament was put to a halt due to the start of World War II.

The end of the great conflict resulted in football competitions resuming in France. RC Paris became the first club team to win the competition in 1945, defeating Lille OSC by a score of 3-0, with almost 50,000 spectators watching the game. Despite the record number of attendants, the stadium where the final was held, Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoi was still in need of rebuilding. The tournament was renamed the Coupe de France after the war. Lillie OSC dominated the tournament for the rest of the decade, winning the competition from 1946-48. Jean Baratte and Roger Vandooren were the superstars that helped the squad achieve its success.

During the 1950s Lille OSC and OGC Nice were the dominant teams, each winning the tournament twice. The youngsters Robert Herbin, Ben Tifour and Césari were superstar athlete for OGC Nice. The same superstars from the 1940s on Lillie shinned during the 1950s.

After winning the Coupe de France and finishing fourth in the league, the coming of age for AS Monaco came in 1960, as they established themselves to be an elite club in French football. The club took another trip to the finals in 1963, defeating Olympique Lyonnais in overtime. They became the number one team out of 1.209 to enter into the competition. However a year later Lyon came back to win the competition, defeating Girondins de Bordeaux, in Colombes, with 32 777 fans attending the final. The 1960s ended with Olympique de Marseille winning its seventh trophy its tenth trip to the finals of competition.

The 1970s started out with AS Saint-Étienne (the greens) defeating the heavily favored FC Nantes. The final of the competition was moved from Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir to Parc des Princ, a more modern stadium in 1972. The emergence of Lyon was a surprise in 1973, as the team was heavily un-favored, not being able to reach higher then 4th place in the tournament since 1955. A.S Saint-Étienne dominated the competition for the rest of the decade, winning it 3 out of 10 years. The decade ended with A.S Nancy winning its first ever competition in front of President, Valery Giscard-d'Estaing.

The 1980s started out as the first division team AS Monaco led by Jean Petit defeated the second division team U.S.Orleans in the finals, to win the club’s third trophy. Another club SC Bastia team emerged out of no where in the following year. Captained by Paul Marchioni, the club won its first and only championship after being the runner up nine years earlier. In next two years, Paris SG won the competition, with Brazilian Jose Toure showing of his skills for the squad. The rest of the decade was marked with back to back victories by Girondins de Bordeaux and the emergence of FC Metz.

Another unexpected team, the Division Two champions Montpellier HSC became the first club to win the Coupe de France during 1990. The captain Laurent Blanc was the proud recipient of the trophy. The competition was not held in 1992, due to a catastrophic event in Bastia, but was won by Paris SG for the third time in 1993, defeated FC Nantes. However, Nantes won the competition in both 1999 and 2000, under leadership of Olivier Monterrubio.

From the year 2000 till present day the competition has grown even more popular. More teams attempt to enter the tournament and higher amounts of people show up the games. The most recent champion of the competition is the Ligue 1 club team Lyon.

Trophy

Team Honours

Past Winners

Most Successful Teams

Important Links

References