Coupe de France Féminine

Coupe de France Féminine

Founded	2001
Region	France
Number of teams	387 (2010–11 Season)
Current champions	Saint-Étienne (1st title)
Most successful club	Montpellier Lyon (3 times)
Website	FFF – Challenge de France
2010–11 Challenge de France

The Coupe de France Féminine (French pronunciation: [kup də fʁɑ̃s], French Cup) is a cup competition, exclusively for French women football clubs. The competition is open to all professional and non-professional women's teams in France. The inaugural edition of the competition was held in 2001. The final match of the competition is normally held at the Stade de France, however other venues may be used. The defending champions are Paris Saint-Germain, who defeated Montpellier 5–0 on 23 May 2010. From the 2011–12 season onwards, the competition will be played under the name Coupe de France Feminine after previously being played under the name Challenge de France.^[1]

History

The inaugural Challenge de France was first held during the 2001–02 season. The competition coincided with the inaugural edition of the UEFA Women's Cup, which is now known as the UEFA Women's Champions League. The cup competition is the only tournament in France reserved for senior women's players. Participation in the competition varies. Regional clubs participation is voluntary, however, clubs who participate in D3 Féminine on up participation is mandatory unless unforeseen circumstances prohibit their appearance.

The most successful clubs in the competition are Montpellier and Olympique Lyonnais, who have both won the competition on three occasions. Montpellier claimed their third title during the 2008–09 edition of the cup defeating Le Mans 3–1.

Final results

A list of all finals played so far:^[2]

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Result
15 June 2002	Toulouse	Olympique Lyonnais	2–1
15 June 2003	Olympique Lyonnais	Montpellier	4–3
12 June 2004[3]	Olympique Lyonnais	US Compiègne	2–0
15 May 2005	Juvisy	Olympique Lyonnais	1 – 1 5–4 pen.
12 June 2006	Montpellier	Olympique Lyonnais	1 – 1 4–3 pen.
12 May 2007	Montpellier	Olympique Lyonnais	3 – 3 3–0 pen.
3 June 2008	Olympique Lyonnais	Paris Saint-Germain	3–0
5 June 2009	Montpellier	Le Mans	3–1
23 May 2010	Paris Saint-Germain	Montpellier	5–0
21 May 2011	Saint-Étienne	Montpellier	0–0 3–2 pen.

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Winning Years
Olympique Lyonnais	3	2003, 2004, 2008
Montpellier	3	2006, 2007, 2009
Toulouse	1	2002
Juvisy	1	2005
Paris Saint-Germain	1	2010
Saint-Étienne	1	2011

References

1. ^ "Accréditations pour la finale, les modalités" (in French). French Football Federation. 11 May 2011. http://www.fff.fr/coup/challenge/actualite/537460.shtml. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
2. ^ "France - List of Women Cup Winners". RSSSF. http://rsssf.com/tablesf/fran-womcuphist.html. Retrieved 30 July 2011. 
3. ^ "Paris en route vers le doublé ?" (in French). lemeilleurdupsg.com. 23 My 2010. http://www.lemeilleurdupsg.com/article-12829-paris-en-route-vers-le-double.html. Retrieved 30 July 2011. 

External links

• Official site (French)