RED STAR FOOTBALL CLUB 93
Founded: 1897
Honours:
Coupe de France (1921, 1922, 1923, 1928 et 1942), finalist (1946)
Coupe de la Ligue (semi finalist 2000)
Champion de France D 2 (1939), vice-Champion de France de D 2 (1974)
Colours : green / green / white
Away colours : white with blue trim / white / white
Office : 92, rue de Docteur Bauer 93400 SAINT-OUEN
Tel. +33 1 40 11 04 26 - Fax 01 40 12 48 17
Site : www.redstarfc93.fr
THE DIRECTORS
President RED STAR FC 93 : Patrice HADDAD
Sporting Director : Patrice LECORNU
Resident Genius (the bloke that cobbled this site together) : John
A BEGINNERS' GUIDE TO FRENCH FOOTBALL
This is the rough guide to the structure of French football. If it is unclear, or anyone has any questions, please mail us at : john@allezredstar.com
To briefly outline the structure of French football, Red Star
play at division four level at the time of writing (September 2006)
Firstly there is the L2, first division, made up entirely of professional clubs (PSG, OM, OL, Nantes, Bordeaux, Auxerre etc etc). There are twenty clubs, three of which get relegated at the end of the season.
Below is the L2, second division, which is also fully professional. The three top clubs get automatic promotion to L1. The three bottom clubs are relegated to the...
National, or third division. This is the equivalent of the Conference in the UK, a mix of pro clubs (recently relegated
from L2 and "amateur" clubs. In reality the amateurs are semi-pro outfits and can have a certain number of players on
contracts. Pro clubs normally have two years maximum in the National after which they revert to "amateur" status (or get
promoted back to L2 of course - see Toulouse). The bottom four clubs in the National are relegated. The top three go into L2. Clubs promoted to the L2 have to turn professional.
Then there is the CFA. (Championnat de France Amateur) where the mighty Red Star currently languish. This is divided into four divisions of equal number, roughly geographical NE, NW, SE and SW. The clubs here are a mix of "amateurs" and reserve teams (see Auxerre...). The "amateur" clubs have a strictly limited number of contract players, lower than the National.
The top club of each division is promoted into the National (unless they are financially unsound, but that's another
story). Note that reserve teams of pro clubs cannot be promoted to the National, in this case it is the best-placed
"amateurs" who are promoted. The bottom two clubs are relegated into...
the CFA2, divided into eight divisons, again more or less geographically. Some of the clubs here are pro club third strings, and cannot be promoted. Similarly, if, for example, Auxerres' second XI were to be relegated from the CFA, then the third team would also be relegated from the CFA2 as there can't be two representatives from one club in the same division. Logical, really. Again, if for example Auxerres' third XI were to be champions of their group of CFA2, they would not be promoted, the best "amateur" side would go up instead.
The bottom two or three are relegated, depending upon geographical factors.
After that football becomes regionalised. This is the Divsion d'Honneur (DH), where Red Star recently "escaped" from.
The Paris league is reputed to be one of the strongest DH groups around. At the end of the season, the top from all the
various DH groups (I think that there are around eleven) are promoted. Then, the best second placed teams, as well as some
of the worst CFA 2 clubs play end-of-season play-offs for promotion from the DH or to stay in the CFA 2. It's all a bit
messy, I'm afraid.
After the DH is the DSR (where Red Stars' reserves are), then the DHR, then PH, after that it depends upon the region, but it's more or less at parks level football.
The DH is a "dumping ground" for clubs that have gone broke (Red Star, Tours, Reims, Toulon have all passed by here
recently).