Élite 1

Élite 1 Féminine (since 2018, known as Axa Élite 1 for sponsorship reasons) is the top national league for women's rugby union clubs in France. It was founded from the 1971–1972 season under the aegis of the French Women's Rugby Association before being taken over by the French Women's Rugby Federation, it has been organized by the French Rugby Federation since 1989. The first season was won by the ASVEL Rugby women's team.

Ten teams play each other in a double round robin, with 4 teams qualifying for the final phase, and 1 team being relegated to Élite 2.

As with the men's competition, the most successful club in France was Toulouse Fémina Sports, they subsequently merged with Avenir Fonsorbais women's rugby union club in 2014 and became Stade Toulousain Women. They have won nine French championship titles, in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 and 1985. Montpellier RC is the second most successful team with eight titles (2007, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019).^[1][2]

ASM Romagnat won the Élite 1 title in 2021.^[3] Stade Bordelais are the most recent champions, winning three consecutive titles (2023, 2024, 2025).^[4]

Having appeared occasionally in France between 1908 and 1924, women's rugby was permanently established in France in 1965 thanks to young high school and university students.

The first official French women's rugby club was Violettes Bressanes, founded in 1966 under the leadership of Andrée Forestier, followed by Coquelicots de Tournus the following year and Toulouse Fémina Sports the year after. Leaders of these pioneering clubs came together and created the French Women's Rugby Association. The first championship took place in 1972, and ASVEL Villeurbanne became the first champion, defeating RC Adour 10–8 in the final.^[5]

From 1984, the championship was organised with the approval of the Ministry of Sports.^[5] It subsequently came under the control of the French Rugby Federation from the 1989–1990 season.^[5]

In 2014, the French Rugby Federation (FRF) launched a major reform of women's rugby in France, causing anger among club officials and players who had not being consulted beforehand. The new championship saw a reduction in the number of elite clubs from 10 to 8. The championship was thus renamed the Top 8.^[6] A few days before the 2014–2015 championship final, the FRF unveiled the competition's first logo, which was created to strengthen its identity and visibility. Additionally, the final was broadcast live on television for the first time, with Montpellier Rugby Club defeating Lille Métropole RC Villeneuve 17–3. This allowed Montpellier to achieve a three-peat less than 10 years after Toulouges' victory, leaving the northern club disappointed, just as they had been two years earlier.^[7]

In 2018, the FRF reformed the women's competitions again. Four levels of competition were created, with a new format for the Women's First Division, combining the 8 teams playing in the Top 8 for the 2017–2018 season and the 8 teams that qualified for the Elite 2 Armelle-Auclair quarter-finals for the 2017–2018 season.^[8] The championship then changed its name to "Elite 1".

In 2020, the championship was interrupted mid-season due to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across Europe. For the first time since 1972, the French championship title was not awarded.^[9] No club's were relegated at the end of the season, although Ovalie Caennaise who were last in their pool, requested relegation in order to rebuild within the second division,^[10] thus giving its place to Rugby Club La Valette Le Revest La Garde Le Pradet, who were first in Elite 2. The 2020–2021 championship featured the sixteen teams in a new format consisting of 4 pools of 4 teams with play-offs, play-downs, and a final phase.^[11]

In the early 2020s, Elite 1 was a two-tiered competition, with professional and amateur players competing side-by-side. French internationals, paid by the federation, were concentrated in about half a dozen clubs, creating a significant disparity between "big clubs" and "small clubs." In the fall of 2021, the competition format was reduced from 16 to 14 teams, then to 12 teams in the fall of 2022, and finally to 10 teams in the fall of 2024, according to the plans of Brigitte Jugla, the Federation's vice-president in charge of women's rugby. It was during this period that two teams withdrew from the competition altogether: AS Bayonne in the 2021–2022 season, and Rugby Club Chilly-Mazarin in the 2022–2023 season. Compared to the English championship, the French championship lacked the financial support of an important partner.^[12]

On 24 February 2024, ASM Romagnat faced the reigning champions, Stade Bordelais (27–31), in front of 6,025 spectators, setting an attendance record for the competition during its regular season.^[13] The record was broken a week later during the match between Stade Toulousain and Blagnac, which drew 6,397 spectators to the Stade Ernest-Wallon.^[14]

For the 2024–2025 season, the competition format was revised: the championship reverted to a single pool, and the elite division was reduced from twelve to ten teams. Furthermore, to mitigate the imbalance caused by the concentration of international players in a handful of clubs, and to discourage clubs from recruiting international players, the federation deliberately scheduled overlapping matches. Thus, two matchdays took place during the 2024 WXV tournament, and two others during the Women's Six Nations Championship. On 2 November, for the first time, an Elite 1 match was broadcast live on Canal+,^[15] ASM Romagnat hosted Stade Bordelais in front of 12,500 spectators, setting a new attendance record for the competition.^[16]

Before the start of the 2025–2026 season, the FRF signed a naming rights contract with Axa for three years; the "Women's Elite 1" was then designated as "Axa Elite 1".^[17][18]

The championship used to take place in two phases: a so-called qualification phase, which is contested by all the teams, and a final phase which is played by direct elimination. From 2015 to 2018, the championship is referred to as the Top 8. From 2018 to 2024, the championship went from a single pool of 8 clubs to two pools of 16, with the 8 best clubs qualifying for the final phase; meanwhile two clubs would be relegated to Élite 2 at the end of the championship.

Beginning with the 2024–25 season, the format returned to a single pool of ten, playing in a double round robin, with 4 teams qualifying for the final phase, and 1 team being relegated to Élite 2. This ensured that the top teams would play each other more frequently, and the FRF believes will improve results for the national team Les Bleues.

2025–26 Élite 1 season teams:

• Current Élite 1 Féminine participating clubs indicated in bold

The first broadcasts of championship matches took place during the 2014–2015 season. Following the enthusiasm surrounding the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup hosted in France, three channels tested broadcasting matches from the women's championship in January 2015. Eurosport broadcast the Perpignan vs Montpellier match on 11 January. The following week, as part of the 24 Hours of Women's Sport, Canal+ featured the Lille vs Perpignan match on 24 January, and France 4 covered Montpellier vs Blagnac-Saint-Orens game.^[27]

The first televised broadcast of a French championship final, between Montpellier RC and Lille MRC Villeneuvois in Bourg-en-Bresse, took place a few months later on 3 May 2015 on France 4.^[27]

In March 2016, Eurosport acquired the rights to the championship with the broadcast of 4 matches throughout the year, and the semi-finals and final.^[28]

On the 14th and final day of the 2016–2017 Top 8 season, Eurosport 2 broadcast a live and exclusive multiplex. The four matches scheduled were as follows: Villeneuve d'Ascq vs Bobigny, Romagnat vs Caen, Montpellier vs Rennes, and Blagnac-Saint-Orens vs Toulouse.^[29]

In 2016, France Télévisions and the FRF signed an agreement for the broadcasting of matches of the French national teams. The agreement also included the live broadcast of the Elite 1 final, in co-broadcasting with Eurosport, until 2021.^[30]

Some regular season matches are occasionally broadcast on France 3 Régions channels.

In 2024, the French Rugby Federation, the National Rugby League and Canal+ reached an agreement to broadcast some Elite 1 matches around a Top 14 fixture featuring the same home club and played in the same stadium. Bordeaux, Clermont, Lyon, Montpellier and Toulouse were the five clubs with two teams in the first division at that time.

The Élite 1 championship is covered in the columns of Midi Olympique, a French bi-weekly newspaper specializing in rugby, and the daily newspaper L'Équipe, as well as in the sports pages of regional dailies, particularly in the South of France.

• Official site