LFH Division 1 Féminine

LFH Division 1 Féminine

Current season, competition or edition: 2022–23 LFH Division 1 Féminine
Sport	Handball
Founded	1951; 73 years ago (1951)
No. of teams	14
Country	France
Confederation	EHF
Most recent champion(s)	Metz Handball (2022–23)
Most titles	Metz Handball (25 titles)
TV partner(s)	Moselle TV (Metz) Tébéo (Brest)
Streaming partner(s)	Handball TV
Relegation to	Division 2 (D2F)
Domestic cup(s)	Coupe de France
International cup(s)	Champions League EHF European League
Official website	ligue-feminine-handball.fr

LFH Division 1 Féminine, known for sponsorship reasons as Ligue Butagaz Énergie, is the premier women's handball league in France. It is overseen by the Ligue Féminine de Handball (LFH), the governing body of French women's professional handball, under delegation from the French Handball Federation (FFHB). Founded in 1952, it is currently contested by twelve teams.

Metz Handball has dominated the championship in recent times with 25 titles between 1989 and 2023 including a 6-year winning streak, while US Ivry and Paris UC were the most successful teams in past decades with nine and five titles respectively.^[1]

As of 2022:

• Brest Bretagne Handball is the french club that went the furthest in the EHF Champions League: they were finalist in 2021.
• The EHF European League has been won by only one french club: Neptunes de Nantes in 2021.

Participating teams[edit]

2023–24 teams[edit]

Besançon

Brest

Chambray

Dijon

Mérignac

Metz

Nantes

Nice

Paris 92

Plan-de-Cuques

Saint-Amand

Saint-Maur

SATH

Toulon

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Location of the LFH Division 1 Féminine 2022–23 teams

Club	City	Region of France	Rank 2022-23
ESBF Besançon	Besançon	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté	6th
Brest Bretagne Handball	Brest	Brittany
Chambray Touraine Handball	Chambray-lès-Tours	Centre-Val de Loire	4th
JDA Dijon Bourgogne Handball	Dijon	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté	5th
Metz Handball	Metz	Grand Est
Mérignac Handball	Mérignac	Nouvelle-Aquitaine	13th
Neptunes de Nantes	Nantes	Pays de la Loire
OGC Nice	Nice	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	8th
Paris 92	Issy-les-Moulineaux	Île-de-France	7th
Handball Plan-de-Cuques	Plan-de-Cuques	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	9th
Saint-Amand Handball	Saint-Amand-les-Eaux	Hauts-de-France	11th
Stella Saint-Maur Handball	Saint-Maur-des-Fossés	Île-de-France	1st VAP (Division 2)
SATH (Strasbourg Achenheim Truchtersheim Handball)	Achenheim, Truchtersheim	Grand Est	2nd VAP (Division 2)
Toulon Var Métropole Handball	Toulon	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	12th

Personnel and kits[edit]

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
ESBF Besançon	Sébastien Mizoule	Pauline Robert	Le Coq Sportif
Brest Bretagne	Pablo Morel	Jenny Carlson	Craft
Chambray Touraine	Mathieu Lanfranchi	Jovana Stoiljković	Kappa
JDA Dijon	Christophe Mazel	Sarah Valero Jodar	Erreà
Metz HB	Emmanuel Mayonnade	Chloé Valentini	Kempa
Mérignac HB	Christophe Chagnard	Julie Dazet	Craft
Neptunes de Nantes	Helle Thomsen	Tamara Horacek	Craft
OGC Nice	Clément Alcacer	Ehsan Abdelmalek	Hummel
Paris 92	Yacine Messaoudi	Méline Nocandy	Le Coq Sportif
Plan-de-Cuques	Angélique Spincer	Aurélie Goubel	Puma
Saint-Amand HB	Edina Borsos Szabó	Romane Frécon-Demouge	Kempa
Stella Saint-Maur	Rémi Sanson	Pauline Plotton	Puma
SATH	Jan Bašný	Dalila Abdesselam	Erima
Toulon	Joël da Silva	Manon Loquay	Hummel

Notes :

• Bourg-de-Péage Drôme Handball got dissolved in the middle of the 2022-23 season (financial insolvency).
• HBC Celles-sur-Belle ranked 10th at the end of 2022-23 and thus earned the sports right to keep playing in Division 1. However FFHandball's financial audit board relegated the club to Division 2 administratively.
  • Mérignac Handball, which ranked last (13th) and was relegated to Division 2, applied to take HBC Celles-sur-Belle's place in Division 1. Despite also suffering from financial problems, their appeal to be saved from relegation was accepted late by the federation, on Day 3 of the season.^[2]

Squads of previous seasons

2022-23 Teams Club City Region of France Rank 2021-22 ESBF Besançon Besançon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté 4th Brest Bretagne Handball Brest Brittany HBC Celles-sur-Belle Celles-sur-Belle Nouvelle-Aquitaine 13th Chambray Touraine Handball Chambray-lès-Tours Centre-Val de Loire 6th JDA Dijon Bourgogne Handball Dijon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté 8th Metz Handball Metz Grand Est Mérignac Handball Mérignac Nouvelle-Aquitaine 10th Neptunes de Nantes Nantes Pays de la Loire 5th OGC Nice Nice Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur 7th Paris 92 Issy-les-Moulineaux Île-de-France Handball Plan-de-Cuques Plan-de-Cuques Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur 12th Saint-Amand Handball Saint-Amand-les-Eaux Hauts-de-France 1st VAP (Division 2) Toulon Var Métropole Handball Toulon Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur 11th Bourg-de-Péage DHB (dissolved) Bourg-de-Péage Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 9th

Competition format[edit]

All 14 teams play each other twice during the season (home and away matches – 26 competition days). At the end of the season, the best ranked team is declared "Champion de France" and is granted a spot in the EHF Champions League's group stage.^[3]

The last ranked team (14th) is relegated to the lower echelon of women's handball Division 2 Féminine (D2F) and replaced by the top-ranked D2F team that possesses the VAP status.

Teams receive three points for a win, two points for a draw and one point for a loss.

European qualification[edit]

Currently the Champion of France is granted a spot in the EHF Champions League's group stage.^[3] Runner-up is qualified for the EHF European League but is able to apply for a wildcard (upgrade) to participate in the Champions League. The winner of the Coupe de France is qualified for the EHF European League. If a qualified team declines to participate in the European League, the next best-ranked team in the league can apply to take their place. A number of the league's other top teams are eligible to participate in European competitions.

The number of teams per national federation qualified for European competitions (EHF Champions League and EHF European League) is determined by a federation's EHF coefficient and EHF rank. Each year, the EHF publishes a ranking that announces the place attribution for the following season (number of teams for each Federation in the various competitions).

For the 2023/24 season, the system changed.^[4] The coefficients and ranks were not determined by the overall performance of a federation, as it used to be. The performances are separated by competitions (e.g.: good performance by french teams in the Champions League would not allocate more places for french teams in the European League). Thus, the new system includes separate rankings for the Champions League and the European League.

Place distribution for 2023/24 Women's EHF Club competitions - France's place attribution:^[5]

• EHF Champions League (EHF CL): 1 place
• EHF European League (EHF EL): 3 places

The Champions League has 7 other spots open for clubs that are not national champions but have qualified for the European League (1 spot for the best seeded Federation of the EHF EL and 6 spots open for upgrades).^[5] The EHF European League has 8 spots open in for upgrades.

A club needs to fulfill set technical and organizational or administrative requirements to be able to play in European competitions (finances, adequate playing hall, etc.).

List of champions[edit]

Performance by club[edit] Rank Club Titles Winning seasons 1 Metz Handball 25 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 & 2023 2 US Ivry 9 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1969, 1970, 1974 & 1977 3 Paris UC 5 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980 & 1981 4 ES Colombes / CSA Molière 4 1957, 1965, 1966 & 1968 USM Gagny 1985, 1987, 1991 & 1992 ES Besançon 1988, 1998, 2001 & 2003 6 École Simon-Siégel 3 1952, 1953 & 1954 Bordeaux EC 1955, 1962 & 1983 Stade français Issy-les-Moulineaux 1956, 1984 & 1986 10 Brest Bretagne Handball 2 2012 & 2021 11 Stade Nantais UC 1 1961 Stade Marseillais UC 1967 Stella Saint-Maur 1971 Stade Pessacais UC 1972 ASUL Vaulx-en-Velin 1973 Troyes OS 1979 US Dunkerque 1982 Toulon Saint-Cyr Var HB 2010 CJF Fleury Loiret Handball 2015 - not awarded 1 2020 Total 73 1951-2023 Legend : 10 titles won Bold indicates clubs that are still playing in the top league

Medal table[edit] Team Gold Silver Bronze Metz Handball 25 6 3 US Ivry 9 8 1 Paris UC 5 8 0 ES Besançon 4 7 6 USM Gagny 93 4 5 1 ES Colombes 4 2 0 Stade français Issy-les-Moulineaux 3 3 5 École Simon-Siégel 3 3 1 Bordeaux EC 3 2 3 Brest Bretagne Handball 2 5 1 ASUL Vaulx-en-Velin 1 3 5 Fleury Loiret Handball 1 2 2 US Dunkerque 1 1 0 SNUC Atlantique 1 0 2 Toulon Métropole Var Handball 1 0 1 Troyes OS 1 0 1 Stade pessacais UC 1 0 1 Stade Marseillais UC 1 0 0 Stella Saint-Maur 1 0 0 Le Havre AC 0 5 1 Paris 92 0 3 5 PLM Conflans 0 2 1 CA Saint-Fons 0 1 1 OGC Nice Handball 0 1 0 Stade béthunois 0 1 0 JDA Dijon Bourgogne HB 0 0 5 HBC Nîmes 0 0 2 Sun A.L. Bouillargues 0 0 2 Mérignac Handball 0 0 2 Neptunes de Nantes 0 0 1 Fémina Sport 0 0 1 Racing Club de France 0 0 1

Media coverage[edit]

Free[edit]

• Moselle TV (local TV channel) broadcasts a few of Metz Handball home matches.
• Tébéo (local TV channel) broadcasts a few of Brest Bretagne Handball home matches.

Pay-to-watch[edit]

"Handball TV": For the 2022-23 handball season, the French Federation of Handball launched its own subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service:

• It re-broadcasts the live feeds of free TV channels (that broadcast matches).
• it also broadcasts live some exclusive matches produced by the platform and TV channel BeIN Sports (since 2023-24, the channel broadcasts the biggest fixture of a match day).
• VODs (replays) of most broadcast matches.

Free TV channel Sport en France used to broadcast some matches (BeIN Sports took the official broadcaster slot since 2023-24).

Notable foreign players[edit]

List of foreign players who previously played or currently play in the LFH Division 1 Féminine. Bold indicate players currently playing in the league (2023/2024).

EHF league ranking[edit]

EHF League Ranking for 2022/23 season:^[18]

• 1.  (1) Nemzeti Bajnokság I (157.67)
• 2.  (5) Ligue Butagaz Énergie (118.50)
• 3.  (2) Russian Superleague (114.50)
• 4.  (3) Bambusa Kvindeligaen (109.00)
• 5.  (6) REMA 1000-ligaen (102.77)
• 6.  (4) Liga Națională (94.50)

See also[edit]

• Coupe de France
• LFH Division 2 Féminine, the lower echelon French women's league
• LNH Division 1 (Liqui Moly Starligue), the corresponding men's competition
• LNH Division 2 (ProLigue), the corresponding men's competition
• List of handball clubs in France
• Women's sports

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website