Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Requested center of attention: France.

The French association was founded in the year 1919. There has been one French winner of the UEFA Champions League thus far, and that was Marseille in the 1992/93 season. There has also been one French winner of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, PSG in the 1995/96 season. On the other hand, French teams have won the UEFA Intertoto Cup a total of fourteen times, including consecutive years: Bordeaux won in '95, as did Strasbourg, Guingamp did in '96, Auxerre, Bastia, and Lyon followed in '97; Montpellier won in '99, PSG and Troyes did the same in '01, Lille accomplished it in '04, Lens and Marseille did it in '05 and Auxerre and Marseille won in '06. The French National Team has also won two editions of the European Football Championship, in 1984 and 2000, as well as the UEFA U-21 Championship once, in 1988, the U-17 Championship in 2004, and the French are two-time winners of the U-19 Women's Championship, in 2003 and 2010. They are also six time winners of the U-19 Championships in 1983, '96, '97, '00, '05, and '10. This season, the top ten teams in the French first division, Ligue 1, are only separated by a total of four points. LOSC Lille Métropole currently lead the pack with twenty-eight points while Paris Saint-Germain FC and Stade Rennais FC are tied in second with twenty-seven points apiece. Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais both have twenty-six points, Stade Brestois 29 have twenty-five, and FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Toulouse FC, Montpellier Hérault SC each have twenty-four points. Lyon and Marseille are currently in the Champions League while Auxerre will be joining PSG and possibly Lille in the Europa League. Finally, France have also won the World Cup, in 1998, as well as Championship titles in the Olympic Football Tournament Final in 1984, the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2003, the FIFA U-17 World Cup Final in 2001, and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Final in 2005. An interesting piece of information: FC Sochaux-Montbéliard was one of the founding clubs of the first division of French football. They have played the most seasons in Ligue 1, a total of 63 seasons, winning two Ligue 1 titles in the process, however their last was in the 1937/38 season. The top-scorer of the French league this year thus far is Moussa Sow, a Frenchman who plays for LOSC Lille Métropole, with thirteen goals to his name. SM Caen's Youssef El Arabi is second place with ten goals while PSG's Spaniard Nene is in third place with nine goals. Marvin Martin of FC Sochaux Montbéliard has the most assists in the league this far with seven, one more than Anthony Mounier has for OGC Nice. Please feel free to request any more information or stats, I'll do my best to post it as soon and as in depth as possible. Thanks!

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