French Ligue 1 Football History

The original of 1955-56 featured Real Madrid Stade de Reims-Champagne, finishing in a 4-3 victory for the Spanish side. In 1958-59, Reims and Real Madrid faced off once again, and once again the French side lost, this time by a score of 2-0.

After Stade de Reims-Champagne fell from prominence, Ligue 1 had trouble producing strong sides that could compete with the rest of Europe. However, in the 1975-76 European Cup AS Saint-Étienne defeated European powerhouses such as Rangers F.C. FC Dynamo Kyiv and PSV Eindhoven until they reached the final losing to defending champions Bayern Munich. The following year AS Saint-Étienne advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions Liverpool F.C..

AS Saint-Étienne entered a dry spell after a short period of dominance and the 1980s produced no significant French clubs ready to conquer Europe. Finally in 1990-91 Olympique de Marseille, with scoring phenomenon Jean-Pierre Papin, advanced all the way to the final before falling to Red Star Belgrade on penalties.

When the European Cup rebranded to the UEFA Champions League, Olympique de Marseille unleashed havoc on the competition. Les Olympiens won Group A and suddenly found themselves in the final against AC Milan. Basile Boli hit home the winning goal in the 44th minute, winning the Champions League for Marseille.

In 1996, Paris Saint-Germain won the second and last French European title, beating Rapid Wien in the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup with a Bruno N'Gotty's freekick.

The 2003-04 UEFA Champions League saw underdogs AS Monaco FC win their group over Deportivo de La Coruña, PSV Eindhoven and AEK Athens FC to advance to the Round of 16. Monaco did not stop there, triumphing over FC Lokomotiv Moscow, Real Madrid and Chelsea F.C. until they reached the final. F.C. Porto ended the run with a 3-0 victory.

In the past few years Olympique Lyonnais entered the European stage, which saw them reach the 1/8 final of the Champions League in 2006-07, 2007-08 and reach the quarterfinals in 2003-04, 2004-05 en 2005-06.

1932/33 – Olympique Lillois 1933/34 – FC Sète 1934/35 – FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1935/36 – Racing Club de Paris 1936/37 – Olympique de Marseille 1937/38 – FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1938/39 – FC Sète 1939 – 1945 – league interrupted due to World War II 1945/46 – Lille OSC 1946/47 – CO Roubaix-Tourcoing 1947/48 – Olympique de Marseille 1948/49 – Stade de Reims 1949/50 – Girondins de Bordeaux 1950/51 – OGC Nice 1951/52 – OGC Nice 1952/53 – Stade de Reims 1953/54 – Lille OSC 1954/55 – Stade de Reims 1955/56 – OGC Nice 1956/57 – AS Saint-Étienne 1957/58 – Stade de Reims 1958/59 – OGC Nice 1959/60 – Stade de Reims 1960/61 – AS Monaco FC 1961/62 – Stade de Reims 1962/63 – AS Monaco FC 1963/64 – AS Saint-Étienne 1964/65 – FC Nantes 1965/66 – FC Nantes 1966/67 – AS Saint-Étienne 1967/68 – AS Saint-Étienne 1968/69 – AS Saint-Étienne 1969/70 – AS Saint-Étienne 1970/71 – Olympique de Marseille 1971/72 – Olympique de Marseille 1972/73 – FC Nantes

1973/74 – AS Saint-Étienne 1974/75 – AS Saint-Étienne 1975/76 – AS Saint-Étienne 1976/77 – FC Nantes 1977/78 – AS Monaco FC 1978/79 – RC Strasbourg 1979/80 – FC Nantes 1980/81 – AS Saint-Étienne 1981/82 – AS Monaco FC 1982/83 – FC Nantes 1983/84 – Girondins de Bordeaux 1984/85 – Girondins de Bordeaux 1985/86 – Paris Saint-Germain FC 1986/87 – Girondins de Bordeaux 1987/88 – AS Monaco FC 1988/89 – Olympique de Marseille 1989/90 – Olympique de Marseille 1990/91 – Olympique de Marseille 1991/92 – Olympique de Marseille 1992/93 – No champion (Olympique de Marseille stripped of title) 1993/94 – Paris Saint-Germain FC 1994/95 – FC Nantes 1995/96 – AJ Auxerre 1996/97 – AS Monaco FC 1997/98 – RC Lens 1998/99 – Girondins de Bordeaux 1999/00 – AS Monaco FC 2000/01 – FC Nantes 2001/02 – Olympique Lyonnais 2002/03 – Olympique Lyonnais 2003/04 – Olympique Lyonnais 2004/05 – Olympique Lyonnais 2005/06 – Olympique Lyonnais 2006/07 – Olympique Lyonnais 2007/08 – Olympique Lyonnais

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Winning Years
AS Saint-Étienne	10	1957, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981
Olympique de Marseille	8	1965, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1995, 2001
FC Nantes	8	1937, 1948, 1971, 1972, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992
Olympique Lyonnais	7	2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
AS Monaco FC	7	1961, 1963, 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997, 2000
Stade Reims	6	1949, 1953, 1955, 1958, 1960, 1962
FC Girondins de Bordeaux	5	1950, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1999
OGC Nice	4	1951, 1952, 1956, 1959
Lille OSC	3	1933, 1946, 1954
Paris Saint-Germain FC	2	1986, 1994
FC Sète	2	1934, 1939
FC Sochaux-Montbéliard	2	1935, 1938
RC Lens	1	1998
AJ Auxerre	1
RC Strasbourg	1	1979
CO Roubaix-Tourcoing	1	1974
RCF Paris	1	1936