Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2.
Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Ligue 2. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 38 games each totaling 380 games in the season. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played during weekday evenings. Play is regularly suspended the last weekend before Christmas for two weeks before returning in the second week of January. Ligue 1 is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked fifth in Europe behind the Spanish La Liga, English Premier League, the German Bundesliga and the Italian Serie A.
Ligue 1 was inaugurated on 11 September 1932 under the name National before switching to Division 1 after a year of existence. The name lasted until 2002 before switching to its current name. AS Saint-Étienne is the most successful club with ten league titles in France while Olympique Lyon is the club that has won the most consecutive titles (seven between 2002 and 2008).
FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and Olympique de Marseille hold the record for most seasons at this top level of French football, while FC Nantes holds the League record for longevity with 44 consecutive seasons (1963–2007). The current champions are Paris Saint-Germain, who won their sixth title in the 2015–16 season.
Currently, as determined by the UEFA coefficient, the top three teams in Ligue 1 qualify for the Champions League, with the top two proceeding directly to the group phase. The third-placed team enters in the third qualifying round. The fourth-placed team qualifies for the UEFA Europa League. The other two Europa League places are determined through the country's two domestic cup competitions, the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue. If both of the cup winners qualify for Europe through their league position, the fifth and sixth-placed teams in Ligue 1 will qualify for the Europa League. The league can also be awarded a European place based on their UEFA Fair Play ranking. The league operates a Fair Play table to determine the winning club if France turns out to be the winning nation based on their Fair Play ranking.
A total of 76 clubs have played in Ligue 1 from its foundation in the 1932–33 season to the start of the 2011–12 season. Currently, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice, and Rennes are the only founding members of the league to be playing in Ligue 1. Paris Saint-Germain and Gazélec Ajaccio are the only clubs to have not suffered points relegation. Paris Saint-Germain earned promotion to the first division for the 1974–75 season and has not faltered down since, while Gazélec made its debut in the league for the 2015–16 season. Paris Saint-Germain was administratively relegated by the league following its split from Paris FC in 1972, but returned to the top flight two seasons later.