Fédérale 1


The championnat de France de rugby à XV de 1re division fédérale, a.k.a. Fédérale 1, is a French rugby union club competition, it is the elite of amateur rugby in France. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Française de Rugby since 2000, when it replaced the B2 Group. The championship is contested between 48 teams and named in honor of the famous former FC Lourdes and French International player, Jean Prat.
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Format

The format has two phases with many steps. Before the 2015–16 season, the structure was even more complex.
Preliminary phase
A total of 10 teams compete on a double round-robin basis in each of the 4 groups. At the end of this phase, the teams are divided as follows:
  • At roughly the midpoint of the season, the French Rugby Federation announces a list of teams that will be eligible for promotion to the country's second level, Rugby Pro D2, in the following season. Six of these clubs will advance to a set of promotion playoffs, provided that they finish in the top four in their group. Should more than six eligible teams finish in the top four of their respective groups, the top six will be selected based on table points earned.
  • The next-best 4 teams from each group that did not advance to the promotion playoffs move into the championship playoffs.
  • The bottom 2 teams from each group are provisionally relegated to Fédérale 2. However, it is not uncommon for a team that would be otherwise relegated to be reprieved due to the financial troubles or complete demise of a higher-placed club.
Second phase
  • Promotion playoffs
  • Championship playoffs
Starting in 2017–18, only one team will be automatically promoted from Fédérale 1 to Pro D2, namely the league champion. This will presumably be accomplished by playing the promotion playoffs through a final. Through the 2019–20 season, two teams will continue to be promoted each season, but the second promotion place will go to a "wildcard" club selected by Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which operates the Top 14 and Pro D2. The "wildcard" club must be located north of a line running roughly from La Rochelle to Lyon, and show itself to be capable of transitioning to fully professional rugby.

Teams

For the 2019-20 season, there are 48 teams in Fédérale 1, divided into four pools of twelve teams.
The top four teams in each group will take part in promotion play-offs for two promotion places to Pro D2.