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127-665: The Top 14 ( French pronunciation: [tɔp katɔʀz] ) is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the France National Rugby League , also known by its French initialism of LNR. There is promotion and relegation between the Top 14 and the next level down, the Pro D2 . The fourteen best rugby teams in France participate in

254-473: A salary cap in the Top 14 in the 2010–11 season. Under the provisions of the cap, team payrolls were limited to €8 million. This is in addition to an existing requirement that wage bills be no more than 50% of a team's turnover. However, the €8 million cap was 5% greater than the highest official wage bill in the 2009–10 Top 14, and was well above the English Premiership's then-current £4 million cap. For

381-496: A bankruptcy filing in 2009 by players agreeing to large wage cuts, and Brive , whose 2009–10 wage bill was €7.2 million, announced that they would cut their budget by 40% for the 2010–11 season. Following the 2009–10 season, Bourgoin were denied a professional licence by LNR due to their ongoing financial issues, but the French Rugby Federation (FFR) reversed this decision on Bourgoin's appeal. Montauban were relegated at

508-482: A combination of bad investments, careless spending, and a lack of non-athletic skills. The wear and tear of a career in professional sport, can cause physical and mental side effects (such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy , a condition that has seen a massive rise in public awareness in the 2010s) that can harm a former professional athlete's employability. In the United States, some of these problems are mitigated by

635-517: A company ( aircraft industry , food workers , tractor industry ) or organization ( KGB , Red Army , Soviet Air Force ) that sponsored what would be presented as an after-hours social sports society team for their workers . Christians in the Wesleyan-Holiness movement , which adheres to the position of first-day Sabbatarianism , oppose the viewing of or participation in professional sports, believing that professional sports leagues profane

762-515: A core of players like Marc and Thomas Lièvremont , Joe Roff and Dimitri Yachvili . But the team who benefited the most from professionalism was Stade Français. After experiencing success at the beginning of the sport, this club had long been stuck in the lower divisions of French rugby. Bought by Max Guazzini, the owner of the successful radio station NRJ, the club came back with a core of young and exciting players coached by Bernard Laporte to claim five titles between 1998 and 2007. Encouraged by

889-458: A force behind the revival of the modern Olympic Games . The tension between the two sporting practices and ideals dates from the inception of modern organized sports in the 19th century. The high political and financial stakes involved in sport have ensured that this tension has remained strong. Professional sporting organizations have often developed as "rebel" organizations in relation to established national and international federation, for example

1016-476: A great deal of money at the highest levels; for instance, in 2024 the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team is set to pay 70 million dollars to its highest-paid player, Shohei Ohtani . Per Forbes 2021 ranking, the highest-paid athletes include Cristiano Ronaldo , Lionel Messi , Naomi Osaka , Tiger Woods , Serena Williams and wrestler-turned-actor The Rock . The top ten tennis players make about $ 3 million

1143-591: A handful of small towns. Amid pressure from television networks that were threatening to offer the WHL a contract, the NHL doubled in size in 1967 , beginning a period of expansion that lasted through much of the 1970s. The last major challenger to the NHL's dominance was the World Hockey Association , which successfully broke the NHL's reserve clause in court, drove up professional hockey salaries, and continued to pressure

1270-555: A home undefeated streak lasting 11 years and 9 months, and five entire undefeated seasons (1961, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1978). In the mid-1970s, after being held in Toulouse, Lyon and Bordeaux, the final was fixed on a permanent basis to the newly reconstructed Parc des Princes in Paris. A former number eight of the club in the 60's, and a high school and university teacher, Daniel Herrero was named as head coach of RC Toulon in 1983. He transformed

1397-399: A kind of national amateur sport for all, by banning all professional sports in 1941, which dealt a terrible blow to association football and rugby league. In 1942, the rugby union league was reinstated, with Jean Dauger 's Bayonne, Puig-Aubert 's USA Perpignan and Albert Ferrasse and Guy Basquet 's Agen among the big team. Rugby union experienced a wave of growth after the war, thanks to

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1524-456: A native and lifelong resident of France, did not qualify because he switched from basketball to rugby too late in his youth. While the most visible critics of the change in policy were wealthy club owners such as Mourad Boudjellal of Toulon and Max Guazzini of Stade Français, concern had been growing in French rugby circles that some smaller clubs might fold completely. Bourgoin only avoided

1651-524: A play-off for another Champions Cup place. In 2013–14, the play-off involved said Top 14 club and the seventh-placed club in the English Premiership . Initially, plans were for the play-off in subsequent years to also include two sides from Pro12 in the Celtic nations and Italy. Due to fixture clashes with the Top 14 season, the play-off that followed the 2014–15 season involved only one Pro12 side. Because

1778-500: A repechage tournament for clubs knocked out in the first round of the Challenge Cup that was played for three seasons in 2003–05, was won by a French team each time. The following brands and companies sponsored the Top 14 for the 2022–23 season : Professional sports In professional sports , as opposed to amateur sports , participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to

1905-400: A season-ending four-team playoff. The single pool was retained for 2009–10, but the playoffs were expanded to six teams. The LNR uses a slightly different bonus points system from that used in most other major domestic competitions. Instead of a bonus point being awarded for scoring 4 tries in a match, regardless of the match result, a bonus point is awarded to a winning team that scores

2032-418: A seventh French team to qualify has changed from performance in the previous European season to a post-season playoff. For the inaugural Champions Cup in 2014–15, this playoff involved the seventh-place teams from both England and the Top 14; in future years, the same two sides will be joined by one Pro12 side. Previously in the first phase of the then-Top 16, the teams were divided into two pools of eight. This

2159-635: A significant profit, the second-highest American football league in the United States, the United Football League , consistently struggled to pay its bills and has continually lost money despite allotting its players only US$ 20,000 a year, and television networks made the league pay for television airtime instead of paying the league, making the league's business model unworkable. In the United States and Canada, most lower-end professional leagues run themselves as affiliated farm teams , effectively agreeing to develop younger players for eventual play in

2286-421: A strategic plan outlining its vision for French rugby through the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The plan includes significant changes to the top levels of the league system, although the changes were more dramatic for Pro D2 than for the Top 14. Changes affecting the Top 14 are: On 13 March 2017, the Top 14 was rocked by the announcement that Racing 92 and Stade Français planned to merge into a single club effective with

2413-475: A tour to New Zealand and South Africa . Although Béziers won their first championship in the 1961 season, it would be the 1970s which would bring a golden era for the club, under the command of the coach Raoul Barrière, as they would win ten championships between 1971 and 1984, as well as being runners-up in 1976. The club also established a lot of records : a 100–0 win against Montchanin in September 1975,

2540-544: A traditional object of criticism by proponents of the amateur philosophy of sport, according to which the central ethos of sport is competition performed for its own sake and pure enjoyment rather than as a means of earning a living. Examples of amateur philosophy include the muscular Christianity movement that informed the promotion of sports in the English public school system, and the Olympism advocated by Pierre de Coubertin ,

2667-535: A year on average. Much of the growth in income for sports and athletes has come from broadcasting rights ; for example, the most recent television contract for the NFL is valued at nearly US$ 5 billion per year. Women tend to earn considerably less than men in such sports as basketball, golf, football (soccer), softball and baseball. The exception is tennis where women tend to have salaries comparable to those of their male counterparts. The highest-paid female athlete in 2019

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2794-477: Is $ 70,250 for most players, and for players on the reserve roster (slots #25-28) the minimum salary is $ 56,250. In 1970, the average salary in Major League Baseball in the U.S. and Canada was $ 20,000 ($ 156,915 inflation-adjusted). By 2005, the average salary had increased to $ 2,632,655 ($ 4,107,103 inflation-adjusted) and the minimum salary was $ 316,000 (adjusted: $ 492,979). In 2012 the average MLB salary

2921-460: Is inconceivable." In 1871, the first professional baseball league was created. By the beginning of the 20th century, most large cities in the eastern United States had a professional baseball team. After several leagues came and went in the 19th century, the National League (founded in 1876) and American League (recognized as a major league in 1903) were established as the dominant leagues by

3048-578: Is nothing new. According to Cooky, female athletes need more visibility to ensure their access to necessary resources and financial security, which has an impact on their professional development. Outside the highest leagues, however, the money professional athletes can earn drops dramatically, as fan bases are generally smaller and there are no television revenues. For instance, while the National Football League 's teams can afford to pay their players millions of dollars each year and still maintain

3175-692: Is one of the historic clubs in French rugby, having won the French Championship eight times. Its home ground is the Stade Armandie and traditional club colours are navy blue and white. The club is renowned for its youth system and its academy structure. The club was established in 1900. They made their first championship final in the 1930 season, where they met US Quillan , and defeated them 4 points to nil in Bordeaux , and thus capturing their first championship title. The club experienced some success in

3302-570: The 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. That season, the Top 14 played on all of the Six Nations weekends and on some of the Heineken Cup weekends. The Top 14 is organized by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), which runs the professional rugby leagues within France (Top 14 and Pro D2 ). There is a promotion and relegation system between the Top 14 and Pro D2. Starting with the 2017–18 season, only

3429-551: The American Basketball Association . Professional basketball has the advantages of much smaller rosters than other professional sports, allowing the sport to be viable in smaller cities than other sports. Professional basketball leagues of varying caliber can be found around the world, especially in Europe and South America. Basketball mainly became popular in the early 1980s when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird joined

3556-560: The Coupe de l'Espérance was held, which involved mostly young boys who had not been drafted. The competition was held four times, but is not normally considered a full championship. The normal competition returned for the 1920 season, and Stadoceste Tarbais became the first post-war champions, defeating the Racing Club de France in the final. During the 1920s Stade Toulousain initiated its now famous rugby history, winning five Championships during

3683-622: The French Rugby Federation to protest against the abuses that had tarnished rugby union's image in the country. Despite a reintegration of those club in 1932, this event had deep consequences. The four British national teams decided after this incident to ban France from the Five Nations . Coupled with the effect of the economical crisis, the number of club affiliated to the FFR dropped, from 784 in 1930 to 558 in 1939. This crisis also quick-started rugby league in France, which went from no club existing in

3810-613: The Gallagher Premiership , Mitre 10 Cup , Currie Cup , and from 2009 to 2010 the Celtic League/Pro12 ), the Top 14 has traditionally held its semi-finals at neutral sites. Regardless of the playoff format, the top six teams had qualified for the following season's Heineken Cup in the final years of that competition, and since 2013–14 a minimum of six teams qualify for the European Rugby Champions Cup. Before

3937-785: The German Football League , Austrian Football League , the new European League of Football and the X-League . There are over 60 countries that have leagues throughout the world. The rise of indoor American football from the late 1980s allowed smaller-scale professional football to be viable. Baseball originated before the American Civil War (1861–1865). First played on sandlots in particular, scoring and record-keeping gave baseball gravity. "Today," notes John Thorn in The Baseball Encyclopedia, "baseball without records

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4064-696: The New England Patriots were accepted into the NFL in 1970); the NFL expanded coast-to-coast, the first of the four major leagues to do so, in 1946 with the Los Angeles Rams and admitted the San Francisco 49ers four years later; the NFL did not enter the Southern United States until admitting the Dallas Cowboys , Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints in the 1960s. A championship game

4191-519: The 1930s and Canada's entry into World War II, greatly reducing the league's player pool, led to the league's retrenchment to six markets: Boston, New York City, Chicago and Detroit in the U.S., and Toronto and Montreal in Canada. These Original Six cities were the only cities with NHL franchises from 1935 to 1967. During this time, the NHL was both stagnant and restrictive in its policies, giving teams territorial advantages, having teams with multiple owners in

4318-541: The 1950s with the evolution of the Canadian Football League . The CFL, despite losing all games in a series of contests against the NFL, was considered to be at least comparable in talent to the American leagues of the 1960s (its lone game against an AFL squad was a victory). Because Canada has a tenth of the population of the United States, the ability to make money from television was much lower, and although some of

4445-458: The 1960s. In 1962 they again became of the champions of France after defeating Béziers 14 points to 11 in the season final. The following season they won the Challenge Yves du Manoir, defeating Brive 11 points to nil in the final. Agen became the French champions on two more occasions during the 1960s, defeating Brive in 1965 and then Dax in 1966. The club had another successful run during

4572-420: The 1970s, starting with an unsuccessful Challenge Yves du Manoir final, losing to Toulon 25 points to 22. They were unsuccessful again in 1975 in the Challenge Yves du Manoir, losing to Béziers 16 points to 12 in the final. However they would then meet Béziers in the championship final of the 1976 season, and defeat them 13 to 10 to win their first championship since 1966. Agen went through period of success in

4699-412: The 1980s after winning the championship in 1982, defeating Aviron Bayonnais 18 points to 9 in the final. The following season they won the Challenge Yves du Manoir as well after defeating Toulon 29 points to 7. In 1984 they again contested the championship final, though they eventually lost it to Béziers. They unsuccessfully contested it again in 1986, losing to Toulouse 16 to 6. They were also runners-up in

4826-547: The 1987 Challenge Yves du Manoir, losing to Grenoble. However, in 1988 they again won the championship, defeating Stadoceste Tarbais 9 to 3 in the final. They contested the final again in the 1990 season, losing to Racing Club de France 22 points to 12. In 1992 they won the Challenge Yves du Manoir, defeating RC Narbonne 23 to 18. In 1998 they played in their first European cup final, the European Challenge Cup , losing to fellow French team US Colomiers 43 to 5 in

4953-510: The 2009–10 season, the seventh-place team also qualified if a French club advanced farther in that season's Heineken Cup than any team from England or Italy . While the European qualification system was changed for 2009–10 , the normal contingent of six Top 14 teams in the Heineken Cup did not change. The default number of French teams in the Champions Cup has remained at six, but the method for

5080-463: The 2009–2010 Bundesliga season. The highest-paid player for the 2010–11 Bundesliga season was Franck Ribéry of Bayern Munich who received a salary of €6.3 million after income tax. In the Italian top league, Serie A , the average salary was about €5 million for the 2010–2011 Serie A season, up from €1 million in the 2005–2006 Serie A season. The highest-paid player for the 2010–2011 Serie A season

5207-401: The 2010 season. The highest-paid player for the 2011 Chinese Super League season was Dario Conca of Guangzhou Evergrande who received an annual salary of ¥67.4 million ($ 10.5 million) after income tax, putting him among the highest-paid players in the world. The highest-paid player for the 2011–2012 Russian Premier League season was Samuel Eto'o of Anzhi Makhachkala , who at the end of

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5334-483: The 2011–12 season was expected to receive a total salary of RUB 900.2 million (£35.7 million) after income tax, making Eto'o the second highest-earning athlete in the world and the highest-paid footballer in the world followed by Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimović . The average salary of a player in the German Bundesliga was about €3.3 million (£2.5 million) for the 2010–11 season, up from €2.5 million in

5461-655: The 2011–2012 season, the LNR raised the salary cap to €8.7 million. Since then, the cap has risen still further, to €10 million starting in 2013–14 and continuing through 2015–16. Additionally, the cap now excludes youth players whose salaries are no more than €50,000. At the same time as LNR announced the salary cap, it also announced new rules requiring a minimum percentage of French players on club rosters. Players qualifying under these rules, referred to in French as JIFF ( joueurs issus des filières de formation , loosely translated as "academy-trained players"), must have been registered with

5588-508: The 2014–15 season, Top 14 teams compete in the new European club rugby competitions—the European Rugby Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup . The Champions Cup and Challenge Cup replaced the previous European competitions, the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup. Under the new structure, the top six teams on the Top 14 table qualify directly for the following season's Champions Cup. The seventh-placed team advances to

5715-447: The 2017–18 season. Stade Français players soon voted almost unanimously to go on strike over the proposed merger, and within days LNR held an emergency meeting to discuss the Paris clubs' plans. The clubs announced on 19 March that the planned merger had collapsed. The 1993 French Rugby Union Championship was won by Castres , who beat Grenoble 14–11 in the final, a match decided by an irregular try. A try by Grenoble's Olivier Brouzet

5842-541: The 59 players in the 2015–16 Clermont youth squad included 17 from nine countries outside of France. A more fundamental problem was identified in 2015 by Laurent Labit , at the time backs coach of the club now known as Racing 92 . In an interview with British rugby journalist Gavin Mortimer, Labit pointed out that France has no organized team sport in its educational system at the primary level—children must join an outside club in order to play sports. Only at age 15 do youths have

5969-467: The Caribbean states. Basketball was invented in 1891 and the first professional leagues emerged in the 1920s. The Basketball Association of America was established in 1946 and three years later became the modern National Basketball Association . The NBA was slower to establish dominance of the sport than other sports in the United States, as it would not do so until 1976, when it absorbed four teams from

6096-625: The Decatur Staleys moved to Chicago in 1921 and changed their name to the Bears the following year. Ten APFA players along with Carr are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, set up in 1963 not far from the Canton automobile dealership that gave birth to the NFL in 1920. The APFA, by 1922 known as the National Football League , has remained the predominant professional American football league in

6223-494: The Decatur club. As opposed to today's standard 17-game schedule, clubs in 1920 scheduled their own opponents and could play non-league and even college squads that counted toward their records. With no established guidelines, the number of games played—and the quality of opponents scheduled—by APFA teams varied, and the league did not maintain official standings. The inaugural season was a struggle. Games received little attention from

6350-480: The FFR for at least five years before turning 23, or have spent three seasons in an FFR-approved training centre before turning 21. Original plans were to require 50% JIFFs in 2010–11, but protests from leading clubs led to a reduction to 40% for that season. Initially, the 50% quota was to be met in 2011–12, and 60% in 2012–13, but a compromise with the clubs saw no change to the limit until 2013–14, at which time it increased to 55%. Additionally, effective in 2015–16, LNR

6477-405: The French government repealed the law known as DIC ( Droit à l'Image Collectif ) on 1 July 2010. This law had allowed all member clubs in French professional sports organisations to treat 30% of each player's salary as image rights. This portion of player salaries was thus exempt from France's high payroll and social insurance taxes. Second, to control the growth of club spending, the LNR introduced

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6604-767: The NBA and lead their teams to multiple NBA titles. They are considered two of the best players of all time usually underneath Michael Jordan . Michael Jordan also gained the NBA views with carrying the Chicago Bulls to six titles in the 1990s. In the 1920s some cricketers from the Caribbean played professional cricket in Britain. After World War II , professional cricketers from the Indian subcontinent were enlisted in British teams. Ice hockey

6731-403: The NFL instead allowed games to be televised nationwide, except in a team's home city ; the restriction was softened in the early 1970s, by which point the NFL had secured broadcast deals with all of the major television networks , another major factor in the inability of any competing league to gain traction since then. The related sport of Canadian football was eventually professionalized by

6858-554: The RCT, going unbeaten for seven years at home and appearing in three finals, winning in 1987. The club's main opponent was the resurgent Stade Toulousain, with a generation nicknamed "the gymnastics professor team", because of the job held by eight of them. Toulouse won the title in 1989, the tenth in its history. The first match of the 1990s went into extra time, as the Racing Club de France defeated Agen, winning their first Championship since 1959. Bègles , Toulon, Castres and Toulouse would win

6985-693: The Sabbath , compete with a Christian's primary commitment to God, exhibit a lack of modesty in the players' and cheerleaders' uniforms, are associated with violence and extensive use of profanity among many players, and encourage gambling, as well as alcohol and other drugs at sporting events, which go against a commitment to teetotalism . Laestadian Lutherans , who belong to the Pietistic Lutheran tradition, likewise teach that "Competitive sports are not acceptable, but we should maintain fitness through various forms of exercise." Professional sportsmen can earn

7112-628: The Spanish La Liga , the average salary for the players of Lionel Messi's club FC Barcelona was €6.5 million for the 2010–2011 La Liga season, up from €5.5 million for the 2009–2010 La Liga season. The average salary of a player in the English Premier League was about £2.6 million in the 2017–18 season, compared with about £1.2 million in 2007–08 and £676,000 in 2006–07. Even as early as 2010–11, top players such as John Terry and Steven Gerrard could make up to £7 million per year with

7239-458: The St. Paul Ideals 48–0. The first head-to-head battles in the league occurred one week later as Dayton topped Columbus 14-0 and Rock Island pasted Muncie 45–0. Forward passes were rare, coaching from the sidelines was prohibited and players competed on both offense and defense. Money was so tight that George Halas carried equipment, wrote press releases, sold tickets, taped ankles, played and coached for

7366-592: The Stade Français experience, other wealthy individuals invested in Top 14 : Mohed Altrad in Montpellier, Mourad Boudjellal in Toulon, assembled teams of star to compete for the title. Those rich newcomers, however, did not completely topple the traditional teams. Since 2010, Toulouse, driven by its powerful academy, have won five titles, while Clermont and Castres, the two other teams to have never been relegated in

7493-520: The Tarn department on the French rugby map, with double by Castres and a victory by US Carmaux, but above all the emergence of a new dynasty. With a core group of eight international players - Antoine Labazuy, Jean and Maurice Prat , Thomas Mantérola, Louis Guinle and Roger Martine - FC Lourdes contested 10 finals between 1945 and 1960, winning 7 titles. The 60's were highly contested, with 8 different winner, including three SU Agen titles. Lourdes were also

7620-517: The Top 14 was estimated to have risen, in 2010, to $ 153,700 (compared to $ 123,000 in the English Premiership). The wealth of the Top 14 clubs has led them to attract a large number of international players, and to build teams with more strength in depth (in 2011, Top 14 clubs could have as many as 45 players, compared to 33 for Leicester Tigers , 2010 Premiership winner). Two changes in regulation threatened to limit this economic growth. First,

7747-682: The United States, and, effectively, the entire world. The evolution from a haphazard collection of teams in big and small cities to the much more rigid structure it is in the present was gradual. With most of the small-market teams except the Green Bay Packers squeezed out of the NFL by the time of the Great Depression , multiple attempts at teams in the major cities of Washington , New York , Detroit , Cleveland, and Philadelphia failed before, eventually, their current representatives took root (though Boston proved particularly problematic until

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7874-708: The amateur rules of the International Olympic Committee to retain their amateur status and compete in the Olympics . The modern-day descendant of the Soviet league, the Kontinental Hockey League , is fully professional and has some teams outside Russia, to the point where it has the resources to sign NHL veterans. Other European countries including Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, and Austria have prominent professional leagues. Rugby union

8001-508: The champions of the 1968 season, but due to the May 1968 events , the final was played three weeks behind the normal schedule. At the end of regulation time the score was tied at 6–6, and then 9–9 after extra time. Lourdes were declared champions because they had scored two tries to Toulon's none and also because there was no time to schedule a third final as the France national team were about to leave on

8128-531: The championship which replaced the Heineken Cup after the 2013–14 season . The first ever final took place in 1892, between two Paris-based sides, Stade Français and Racing Club de France , which were the only teams playing the competition that year, with the latter becoming the inaugural champions. Since then, the competition has been held on an annual basis, except from 1915 to 1919—because of World War I—and from 1940 to 1942—because of World War II. Each year,

8255-498: The cities of Canada were comparable to the major markets of the U.S., teams in places such as Saskatchewan and Hamilton were in markets quite small compared to even the small markets of the NFL, thus the CFL pays significantly less than other major professional leagues, though enough to be considered fully professional. Europe, Japan, Mexico also have American football leagues of varying levels that sign professional players. The top leagues are

8382-402: The civilian population's desire to forget the horrors of the conflict, France's reintegration into the prestigious Five Nations and the return of clubs that had opted for rugby league before the war to the FFR fold, such as Béziers. The retention of a large number of teams in the championship (between 40 and 80 until 1991) also helped local identification with rugby. The 1940s saw the appearance of

8509-558: The coming years in the Challenge Yves du Manoir competition as well; winning it in the 1932 season and then becoming runners-up to Lyon OU in the 1933 season. Agen would have another successful run in the 1940s, beginning with the 1943 season when they defeated Stade Bordelais 11 to 4 to win the Coupe de France . That season they also made it to the championship final; though they were defeated by Aviron Bayonnais 3 points to nil at Parc des Princes in Paris. In 1945 they again won

8636-551: The competition, hence the name Top 14. The competition was previously known as the Top 16. The league is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe (along with the English Premiership and the United Rugby Championship , which brings together top clubs from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy and South Africa), from which the most successful teams go forward to compete in the European Rugby Champions Cup ,

8763-556: The country in 1934 to 225 in 1939, among them 14 fully professional. As during the First World War, the championship was suspended. Rugby union was one of the least affected sports by the German occupation, as it conformed to the amateur vision of sport cultivated by fascist ideology, and its location mainly in the unoccupied south meant that it was far removed from overly severe repression. The Vichy regime tried to turn rugby union into

8890-441: The decade (Stade's first feat took place in 1912 when they were crowned champions without losing a single game throughout the season: the team was nicknamed "la Vierge Rouge" — the Red Virgin , a reference to the club shirt color). USA Perpignan also won two championships (their 1925 final victory was actually a second match, as a previous final had ended in a nil-all draw). The 1930 Championship final, won by Agen over US Quillan,

9017-406: The domination of Stade Bordelais , who played 12 of the 13 finals between 1899 and 1911, winning seven of them. The club's reign was stopped by three consecutive eliminations in semi-finals, and other south-western cities' clubs, like Perpignan, Bayonne and Toulouse, took charge of the sport. Due to the war, league operations were suspended for a number of years. In its place, a competition known as

9144-470: The early 20th century. The most victorious team in each league was said to have won the "pennant;" the two pennant winners met after the end of the regular season in the World Series. The winner of at least four games (out of a possible seven) was the champion for that year. This arrangement still holds today, although the leagues are now subdivided and pennants are decided in post-season playoff series between

9271-417: The end of the same season after filing for bankruptcy. By the 2012–13 season, the internationalization of the Top 14 had reached such a state that Irish rugby journalist Ian Moriarty, who has had considerable experience covering the French game, asked the rhetorical question, "Has there ever been such a large disconnect between France's club teams and the international side they are supposed to serve?" He cited

9398-425: The equivalent of 3 tries more than its opponent (15 points). This system makes two scenarios that can be seen in the standard system impossible: For 2014–15, LNR further tweaked its bonus point system. The margin of defeat that allows the losing team to earn a bonus point was reduced from 7 points to 5. The Top 14 serves as the qualification route for French clubs in European club competition. Starting with

9525-524: The fact that the college sports system ensures most professional athletes receive a college education with no student debt, a legacy that provides them with a career path after their sports career ends. In the NFL average annual salaries by position in 2009 were: The average salary of a player in the Chinese Super League was about ¥ 10.7 million (£1 million) for the 2011 season, up from ¥600,000 in

9652-475: The fans, and even less from the press. According to Robert W. Peterson's book "Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football," APFA games averaged crowds of 4,241. The association bylaws called for teams to pay a US$ 100 entry fee, but no one ever did. The season concluded on 19 December. At the conclusion of the season there were no play-offs (that innovation, although New York's regional league had used it, did not arrive until 1933) and it took more than four months before

9779-503: The final. On June 8, 2002 they lost to Biarritz Olympique in the championship final. In recent years, one of their biggest stars has been Fijian winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca . He led the team in tries in 2005 and 2006, and led Pro D2 in that category during Agen's most recent promotion season in 2010. However, he would be dismissed from the team in September 2010 after failing to report to the team for preseason workouts (several weeks later, he would reemerge at Toulouse). The Agen squad for

9906-498: The following finals. The decade saw the league move increasingly toward professionalism, with a reduction of the number of teams authorized to play in the elite from 40 in 1995 to 16 in 2001. The 15 first years of the newly professional league were dominated by three teams. Including their 1994 and 1995 victories, Toulouse won four championships in succession, and three others in 1999, 2001 and 2008. Biarritz won in 2002 its first title since 1939, then two others in 2005 and 2006, with

10033-473: The following statistics from that season to make his point: While the JIFF policy worked on one level—the number of foreign players recruited into the Top 14 went from 61 for 2011–12 to 34 for 2014–15—clubs quickly found a way around the rules. Many clubs dispatched scouts to identify top teenage prospects in other countries, and then enrolled them in their academies to start the JIFF qualification process. For example,

10160-426: The fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations or teams can command large incomes. As a result, more sportspeople can afford to make sport their primary career, devoting the training time necessary to increase skills, physical condition, and experience to modern levels of achievement. This proficiency has also helped boost

10287-612: The game in 1892. Regional leagues in Chicago, Pennsylvania , Ohio and New York had coalesced in the 1900s and 1910s, most of which gave way to the American Professional Football Association in 1920. By 1920, pro football remained overshadowed by the college game. The first game involving an APFA team took place on 26 September 1920, at Douglas Park in Rock Island, Illinois, as the hometown Independents flattened

10414-640: The highest average salaries in 2017–18, with players for both Manchester United and Manchester City averaging over £5.2 million. Players in lower divisions make significantly less money. In 2006–07 the average salary of a player in the Championship (the second tier of the English football pyramid) made £195,750 while the average salary for League One and League Two (tiers 3 and 4) combined were £49,600. The highest salary in Major League Soccer in 2019

10541-719: The introduction of professionalism varied widely, and the highest-caliber league on the continent, the Soviet Championship League (proven to be at least equal to or better than the NHL in the 1970s), was officially populated with ostensibly amateur players who were actually full-time sportspeople hired as regular workers of a company ( aircraft industry , food workers , tractor industry ) or organization ( KGB , Red Army , Soviet Air Force ) that sponsored what would be presented as an after-hours social sports society hockey team for their workers. In other words, all Soviet hockey players were de facto professionals who circumvented

10668-465: The league before the NFL subsumed their operations. Minor league football, although their leagues' memberships were unstable, began to arise in the late 1930s and remained viable as a business model up into the 1970s. A major factor in the NFL's rise to dominance was its embrace of television early in the sport's history. As college football heavily restricted the rights of its teams to broadcast games (a policy eventually ruled to be illegal in 1984),

10795-468: The league emerged as an international force after World War II. NPB is considered to be the highest caliber of baseball outside the U.S. major leagues, and the best Japanese players often emigrate to the U.S. by way of the posting system . Other countries where the game is important include South Korea (where their league has its own posting system with Major League Baseball), Taiwan, Mexico, Latin America, and

10922-574: The league even bothered to crown a champion. Much as college football did for decades, the APFA determined its victor by ballot. On 30 April 1921, team representatives voted the Akron Pros, which completed the season undefeated with eight wins and three ties while yielding only a total of seven points, the champion in spite of protests by the one-loss teams in Decatur and Buffalo, who each had tied Akron and had more wins, thanks in part to Akron's owner presiding over

11049-439: The league. The 1898–99 season saw a change in the format of the championship. The champion of Paris now met in a final for the national title the champion of la province (the rest of France). That changed again in 1904 with the creation of 16 regional leagues, the champions of which were qualified for a round of 16. The championship, now truly on a national scale, saw the emergence of the first true dynasty of French rugby, with

11176-518: The lowest-placed club in the table after the regular season is automatically relegated to Pro D2. The playoff champion of Pro D2 is automatically promoted, while the next-to-last Top 14 club and the playoff runner-up of Pro D2 play each other to determine which club will be in Top 14, and which will be in Pro D2 the following season. Starting with the 2009–10 season, the Top 14 knock-out stages consist of three rounds. The teams finishing third through to sixth in

11303-487: The major leagues in 1947; until then black players had been restricted to the Negro leagues . Starting in the late 1950s, major league baseball expanded its geographical range. Western cities acquired teams, either by luring them to move from eastern cities or by forming expansion teams with players made available by established teams. Until the 1970s, because of strict contracts, the owners of baseball teams also virtually owned

11430-482: The major leagues in exchange for subsidizing those players' salaries; this is known as the minor league system and is most prevalent in professional baseball and professional ice hockey . Otherwise, the league may be required to classify itself as semi-professional , in other words, able to pay their players a small sum, but not enough to cover the player's basic costs of living. Many professional athletes experience financial difficulties soon after retiring, due to

11557-581: The meeting. The victors received a silver loving cup donated by sporting goods company Brunswick-Balke-Collender. While players were not given diamond-encrusted rings, they did receive golden fobs in the shape of a football inscribed with the words "World Champions." The whereabouts of the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup , only given out that one time, are unknown. The legacy of two APFA franchises continues. The Racine Cardinals now play in Arizona, and

11684-605: The northwestern U.S., and the National Hockey Association of central Canada, both of which competed for the then-independent Stanley Cup . The NHA's teams reorganized as the National Hockey League in 1917, and the West Coast circuit died out by the mid-1920s. By 1926, the NHL had expanded to ten teams in Canada and the northeastern and midwestern United States. However, the onset of the Great Depression in

11811-456: The older league into expansion. The WHA merged four of its remaining teams into the NHL in 1979, but had to give up most of its players, as they were still under NHL contract and had to return to their original teams. The NHL made its last pronounced realignment in the 1990s, moving most of the WHA teams out of their markets and establishing a number of new teams in the southern United States. In Europe,

11938-448: The opportunity to attend special sporting schools, but places in such institutions are limited. In turn, this means that most young French players are technically well behind their counterparts in many other countries, most notably Commonwealth members and Ireland . The Top 14 is contested by fourteen professional rugby union clubs throughout France. The domestic season runs from August through to June. Every club contests 26 games during

12065-537: The players of Premier League club Manchester City F.C. receiving an average salary of £2 million in that season. Premier League salaries have boomed in more recent years thanks to massive television deals and wealthy new investors in clubs. Terry's and Gerrard's 2010–11 salaries would not have placed them among the top 25 earners in 2017–18. In that season, more than 20 players earned more than £10 million, led by Alexis Sánchez (£21.5 million) and Mesut Özil (£20.9 million). The Premier League's two Manchester clubs had

12192-531: The players; the rules then changed so that players could become free agents within certain limits, free to sell their services to any team. The resulting bidding wars led to players becoming increasingly wealthy. Disputes between the players' union and the owners have at times halted baseball for months at a time (e.g., 1994–95 player strike ). A prominent professional baseball circuit known as Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) also developed in Japan. Founded in 1934,

12319-480: The popularity of sports. In most sports played professionally there are many more amateur than professional players, though amateurs and professionals do not usually compete. American football (commonly known as football in the United States) was professionalized in the 1890s as a slow, and initially covert, process; Pudge Heffelfinger and Ben "Sport" Donnelly were the first to secretly accept payment for playing

12446-499: The previous season's Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup. All Top 14 clubs that do not qualify for the Champions Cup automatically qualify for the Challenge Cup. This means that all Top 14 clubs will participate in European competition during a given season. The French clubs have had success in the European competitions. The inaugural Heineken Cup, held in the 1995–96 season, was won by Toulouse, which would eventually claim five more championships (2003, 2005, 2010, 2021 and 2024). Brive won

12573-473: The professional era, have each won two. The competition saw an enormous rise in popularity in 2005–06, with attendance rising to an average of 9,600, up by 25% from 2004 to 2005, and numerous sellouts. On 15 October 2005, Stade Français drew a crowd of 79,502 at Stade de France for their home match against Toulouse ; this broke the previous French attendance record for a regular-season league match in any sport (including football ) by over 20,000. That record

12700-484: The regular season – over 26 rounds of competition. For many years, the season was split into two-halves for scheduling purposes, with both halves scheduled in the same order, with the team at home in the first half of the season on the road in the second. However, this strict order has since been abandoned, although the season is still loosely divided into halves. Throughout the August–June competition there are breaks during

12827-488: The same family (thus allowing the best players to be stacked onto certain teams), and restricting its players' salaries through reserve clauses . This stagnation allowed other leagues to arise: the Western Hockey League soon became the de facto major league of the western states and provinces, and the second-tier American Hockey League emerged in a number of midwestern markets the NHL had neglected, in addition to

12954-548: The same time, rugby was also introduced via the port of Bordeaux to south-western France, and quickly merged with popular local traditions of ball games. Arbitrated by Pierre de Coubertin , the first title of French champion was decided by a single match, between the Racing Club de France and Stade Français, on 20 March 1892. Racing won the match 4–3. This embryonic league was played between only Parisian teams, and no more than six of them, until 1898. Stade Français won five titles, and lost one final to Olympique in this early stage of

13081-548: The schism which created the code of rugby league. Arguments against amateurism often appeal to the argument that amateurism in sport favors the classes who can afford not to be paid to play, and is thus a covert form of prejudice against lower classes. Another argument is that amateur players are often de facto professionals who retain their amateur status by earning allowances instead of salaries. For example, all Eastern bloc countries were populated with amateur players who were actually full-time athletes hired as regular workers of

13208-545: The season, as there are also European club fixtures (from 2014 to 2015, Champions Cup and Challenge Cup ) that are played during the rugby season, as well as the Six Nations Championship , in which many top French players are involved, as well as a few players from the other European powers. The schedule may be adjusted somewhat in World Cup years; this was especially true in the 2007–08 season , which ran up against

13335-655: The second edition in 1997, then Toulon won three times in a row in 2013, 2014 and 2015. La Rochelle finally won the trophy on two occasions in 2022 and 2023, both finals against Leinster. In addition to the French success in the Heineken Cup and Champions Cup, the clubs in the lower European competitions have achieved similar results. The first four finals of the European Challenge Cup (1997–2000) were all-French affairs. Since then, six French clubs (Clermont in 2007 and 2019, Biarritz in 2012, Montpellier in 2016 and 2021, Stade Français in 2017, Lyon in 2022, and Toulon in 2023) have won this competition. The now defunct European Shield ,

13462-412: The start of the 2015–16 European season ran up against the 2015 Rugby World Cup , the play-off was completely scrapped for that season, with the final Champions Cup place for 2016–17 instead awarded to the winner of the 2016 Challenge Cup. In the Heineken Cup era, a minimum of six French clubs qualified for the Heineken Cup, with the possibility of a seventh depending on the performance of French clubs in

13589-466: The support and appreciation of female athletes in professional sports. Female athletes struggle to obtain the same degree of visibility and sponsorship opportunities as male athletes, whose accomplishments frequently dominate mainstream sports coverage. According to Cheryl Cooky's TEDx talk, a professor in American studies, gender, and sexuality at Purdue University, the marginalization of female athletes in mainstream sports media and sponsorship opportunities

13716-663: The table play quarter-finals, hosted by the No. 3 and No. 4 teams. The winners then face the top two seeds in the semi-finals, whose winners then meet in the final at the Stade de France (although the 2016 final was instead held at the Camp Nou in Barcelona , Spain due to a scheduling conflict with France's hosting of UEFA Euro 2016 ). In previous seasons, only the top four teams qualified for semi-finals. Unlike many other major rugby competitions (such as

13843-449: The title of the French championship, defeating FC Lourdes 7 points to 3 in the final in Paris. The championship was one of two titles that season, as Agen also won the Coupe de France, defeating Montferrand 14 to 13. Agen featured in one more championship that decade, losing to Toulouse 10 points to 3. Agen were relatively quiet during the 1950s, though they again rose to prominence during

13970-529: The winners of each division. Baseball became popular in the 1920s, when Babe Ruth led the New York Yankees to several World Series titles and became a national hero on the strength of his home runs (balls that cannot be played because they have been hit out of the field). One of the most noteworthy players was the Brooklyn Dodgers' Jackie Robinson , who became the first African-American player in

14097-561: The winning team is presented with the Bouclier de Brennus , a famous trophy awarded from 1892. Toulouse is the most successful club in the competition with 23 titles. Football was introduced in France by British traders and workers around the 1870s. The first known club to have practiced a form of football was the Havre Athletic Club in 1872, playing an hybrid code called the "combination". The first true club to have played rugby union

14224-442: Was Serena Williams with a $ 29.2 million annual income; the highest-paid male player was Lionel Messi with a $ 127 million annual income. In association football, the average wage for women worldwide is $ 35,000, while for men it is $ 410,730. Attendances in women's leagues also tend to be lower than in men's, and there are fewer corporate sponsors, as well as less money from broadcasting rights. Widespread gender discrepancies hamper

14351-413: Was Zlatan Ibrahimović of A.C. Milan who received a salary of €25.9 million after income tax and which also includes Ibrahimović's bonuses and endorsements . Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona is the world's second highest-paid player receiving a salary of £29.6 million (over US$ 45 million) a year after income taxation and which also includes the incomes of Messi's bonuses and endorsements . In

14478-597: Was $ 3,440,000, the median salary was $ 1,075,000, and the minimum salary had grown to four times the inflation-adjusted average salary in 1970 ($ 480,000). In the Indian Premier League in 2019, players earn an average of $ 101,444, and a median salary of $ 72,450, per week. The top-paid players in international cricket in 2017 across the (at the time) 10 Test cricket nations earned anywhere from $ 90,000 to $ 1,470,000 (when looking only at contract and match fees). SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne Founded in 1908, Agen

14605-496: Was ahead of European peers. In the years to 2010 the Top 14 saw the economic strength of its clubs rise significantly. Aided by high attendance, large television rights contracts, public subsidies and the rise of the euro exchange rate, Top 14 clubs have seen their overall spending budget increase significantly. In 2011–2012, four clubs had a budget over 20 million euros: Toulouse (33), Clermont (24), Racing Métro [now Racing 92] (22), Stade Francais (21). The average salary of players in

14732-547: Was allowed to fine clubs that did not have a minimum of 12 JIFFs in their matchday squads. These regulations, however, do not consider eligibility to play for the France national team. For example, although the Armitage brothers ( Delon , Steffon and Guy ) all represented England internationally, they qualified as JIFF because of their tenure in Nice's youth setup. On the other hand, recent France international Jérôme Thion , despite being

14859-667: Was broken on 4 March 2006, when Stade Français drew 79,604 to a rematch of the 2004–05 final against Biarritz at Stade de France. It was broken again on 14 October 2006 with 79,619 as the same two opponents met, and a fourth time on 27 January 2007, with 79,741 for another Stade Français-Toulouse match. During the regular season 2010–2011, the average attendance per match reached 14,184. In 2011, Canal+ indicated that evening matches were being watched by between 800,000 and 850,000 viewers while afternoon matches were watched by around 700,000 viewers. In recent years, numerous foreign players have joined Top 14 teams. In August 2016, LNR released

14986-594: Was established in 1933, a draft was established in 1936, and schedules were standardized in the 1930s. A competing league has historically arisen to attempt to challenge the NFL's dominance every 10 to 15 years, but none managed to maintain long-term operations independent of the NFL and only two—the All-America Football Conference of the late 1940s and the American Football League of the 1960s—were strong enough to successfully compete against

15113-568: Was first professionalized in Pittsburgh , U.S. in the first decade of the 20th century. Because Canadians made up the vast majority of hockey players, early American professional leagues imported almost all of their players before Canadian leagues began to form in the wake of a mining boom, depriving the U.S. leagues and teams of talented players. Two distinct circuits formed: the Pacific Coast Hockey Association in western Canada and

15240-434: Was followed by a second phase, in which the eight highest-ranked teams played for semi-final spots and the bottom eight teams battled against relegation. In 2004–05, the top division consisted of a single pool of 16 teams, with the top four teams advancing to a knockout playoff at the end of the season to determine the champion. From 2005 to 2006 through 2008–09, the top division was run with a single pool of 14 teams, again with

15367-417: Was instituted, each team had one "Designated Player" slot with a salary cap charge of $ 400,000, but no limit on actual salary paid. Since then, the number of Designated Players per team has increased to three, with each counting for $ 530,000 of cap room in 2019. The league's average salary was about $ 283,000 per year in 2015, but the median salary was then closer to $ 110,000. MLS' minimum player salary in 2019

15494-529: Was ruled out and the decisive try by Gary Whetton of Castres was awarded by the referee, Daniel Salles, when in fact Grenoble scrum-half Franck Hueber had touched the ball down first in his try zone. This error gave the title to Castres. Salles admitted his mistake 13 years later. Jacques Fouroux , then coach of Grenoble, came into conflict with the French Rugby Federation after claiming the match had been fixed. As of 2024, Top 14 income from TV rights

15621-400: Was strictly an amateur sport throughout the 19th and most of the 20th century. In 1995, the game's international administrators allowed professionals to participate for the first time. The related sport of rugby league evolved directly out of rugby union's opposition to player payments; it has allowed professionalism in its game since its inception in 1895. Professional athleticism has been

15748-454: Was the $ 14 million paid to former Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimović , who played for the LA Galaxy in that season. Ibrahimović was signed to his 2019 contract under MLS' Designated Player Rule , which was instituted in 2007 for the express purpose of attracting international stars. Now-retired English star David Beckham was the first player signed under its provisions. When the rule

15875-737: Was the English Taylors RFC in 1877, followed by the Paris Football Club in 1878. In the idea to copy the British model of public school, a lot of students' clubs appeared as well to practice athleticism and rugby, like the Racing Club de France (creation of Lycée Condorcet students in 1882), the Stade Français (creation of Lycée Saint-Louis students in 1883) and the Olympique (creation of Lycée Michelet (Vanves) students in 1887). At

16002-475: Was the Union Sportive Quillan, a club of a village of 3,000 residents who managed to advance to three finals and win one of them, because Jean Bourrel, the owner of the village hat factory, offered paid positions in his factory to rugby players; he wanted to use the club as an advertisement for his product. On 24 January 1931, 14 rugby union clubs, amongst them seven former French champions, seceded from

16129-615: Was the first to go into extra time. The 1930s were dominated by the Biarritz Olympique (four finals and two championship titles) and the Lyon Olympique Université (three finals and two titles). However, those dominations were sour, because of extra-sportive turmoil that shook French rugby union in this decade. Brawls on the pitch and in the stand,s and disguised professionalism (nicknamed "brown amateurism") had become quite common. The most stunning example of brown amateurism

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