LFH Division 1 Féminine


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, the governing body of French women's professional handball, under delegation from the French Handball Federation. Founded in 1952, it is currently contested by twelve teams.
Metz Handball has dominated the championship in recent times with 27 titles between 1989 and 2025 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.
As of 2025:
WWW ligue-feminine-handball.f...IG liguebutagazenergie

Participating teams

2025–26 teams

ClubCityRegion of FranceRank 2024-25
ESBF BesançonBesançonBourgogne-Franche-Comté5th
Brest Bretagne HandballBrestBrittany
Chambray Touraine HandballChambray-lès-ToursCentre-Val de Loire4th
JDA Dijon Bourgogne HandballDijonBourgogne-Franche-Comté
Metz HandballMetzGrand Est
Sambre Avesnois HandballMaubeugeNord14th
Le HavreLe HavreSeine-Maritime 1st
OGC NiceNiceProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur6th
Paris 92Issy-les-MoulineauxÎle-de-France19th
Handball Plan-de-CuquesPlan-de-CuquesProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur7th
Saint-Amand HandballSaint-Amand-les-EauxHauts-de-France12th
Stella Saint-Maur HandballSaint-Maur-des-FossésÎle-de-France13th
SATH Achenheim, TruchtersheimGrand Est8th
Toulon Var Métropole HandballToulonProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur11th

Personnel and kits

  • Bourg-de-Péage Drôme Handball got dissolved in the middle of the 2022-23 season.
  • 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 [LFH LFH Division 2 Féminine|Division 2 Féminine|Division 2] administratively.
  • * Mérignac Handball, which ranked last 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.
2022-23 Teams
ClubCityRegion of FranceRank 2021-22
ESBF BesançonBesançonBourgogne-Franche-Comté4th
Brest Bretagne HandballBrestBrittany
HBC Celles-sur-BelleCelles-sur-BelleNouvelle-Aquitaine13th
Chambray Touraine HandballChambray-lès-ToursCentre-Val de Loire6th
JDA Dijon Bourgogne HandballDijonBourgogne-Franche-Comté8th
Metz HandballMetzGrand Est
Mérignac HandballMérignacNouvelle-Aquitaine10th
Neptunes de NantesNantesPays de la Loire5th
OGC NiceNiceProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur7th
Paris 92Issy-les-MoulineauxÎle-de-France
Handball Plan-de-CuquesPlan-de-CuquesProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur12th
Saint-Amand HandballSaint-Amand-les-EauxHauts-de-France 1st
Toulon Var Métropole HandballToulonProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur11th
Bourg-de-Péage DHB Bourg-de-PéageAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes9th

Competition format

All 14 teams play each other twice during the season. 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.
The last ranked team is relegated to the lower echelon of women's handball Division 2 Féminine and replaced by the top-ranked D2F team that possesses the status.
Teams receive three points for a win, two points for a draw and one point for a loss.

European qualification

Currently the Champion of France is granted a spot in the EHF Champions League's group stage. Runner-up is qualified for the EHF European League but is able to apply for a wildcard 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 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.
For the 2023/24 season, the system changed. 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. 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:
The Champions League has 7 other spots open for clubs that are not national champions but have qualified for the European League. 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.

List of champions

Performance by club

  • 10 titles wonBold indicates clubs that are still playing in the top league

Media coverage

Free

Pay-to-watch

"": 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.
  • it also broadcasts live some exclusive matches produced by the platform and TV channel BeIN Sports.
  • VODs of most broadcast matches.
Free TV channel Sport en France used to broadcast some matches.

Notable foreign players

;Algeria
;AngolaStelvia de Jesus Pascoal
;Argentina
;Australia
  • Catherine Kent
  • Manon Livingstone
;Austria
;Belarus
;BelgiumNele Antonissen
;Brazil
;Cameroon
;Croatia
;Cuba
;Czech Republic
;Democratic Republic of the Congo
;Denmark
;EgyptEhsan Abdelmalek
;Germany
;Hungary
;Iceland
;ItalyIrene Fanton
;Ivory Coast
;Japan
;Montenegro
;Netherlands
;North Macedonia
;NorwayMari Finstad Bergum
;Poland
;PortugalCarolina Loureiro
;Republic of Congo
;Romania
;Russia
;Senegal
;SerbiaJovana BogojevićMarija Čolić
;SlovakiaAdriána Holejová
;Slovenia
;South Korea
;Spain
;SwedenHanna ÅhlénJenny Carlson
;SwitzerlandDaphne Gautschi
;Tunisia
;Ukraine

EHF league ranking

EHF League Ranking for 2022/23 season: