Paris (AFP) – French gaming startup Sorare, which offers users the chance to collect and trade virtual football stickers, said Tuesday it had raised a record $680 million (580 million euros) from investors, valuing the group at $4.3 billion. The amount of money raised in a single private fundraising round beat previous records and makes […]

Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – France replaced injured midfielders N'Golo Kante and Corentin Tolisso with Matteo Guendouzi and Adrien Rabiot on Wednesday for this month's three World Cup qualifiers. The French Football Federation said Chelsea's Kante has not "fully recovered" from a left ankle injury while Bayern Munich's Tolisso was suffering from "a muscular injury in […]

Paris (AFP) – It will be Prime time viewing or bust next season for French football after internet commerce behemoth Amazon won the rights to show games from the top two divisions. Armchair supporters will first off have to subscribe to Amazon Prime for 5.99 euros (£7.50) a month or 49 euros a year and […]

Paris (AFP) – Paul Pogba and Dimitri Payet scored as France fought back to beat Sweden 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier on Friday that was marked by tributes to the victims of last year's Paris terror attacks. Emil Forsberg had put Sweden in front from a free-kick early in the second half at the […]

Paris (AFP) – A minute's silence was held at the Stade de France on Friday to mark the first anniversary of the Paris terror attacks. A capacity crowd of 80,000 at the national stadium fell silent prior to kick-off in France's 2018 World Cup qualifier against Sweden, almost exactly a year on from the attacks […]

Paris (AFP) – Nathalie Boy De La Tour became the first female president of one of European football's big leagues when she took over the French Professional Football League (LFP) on a four-year term on Friday. Boy De La Tour, 48, who previously worked with the 'Football Foundation' which promotes the game in the community, […]

Versailles (France) (AFP) – One of the suspected blackmailers in the Mathieu Valbuena sex-tape scandal has been released from prison, his lawyer said on Friday. Mustapha Zouaoui was released on Thursday according to his lawyer Serge Money as French law prevents suspects being held in pre-trial detention for longer than four months. He was re-arrested […]

Paris (AFP) – Kevin Gameiro marked his first international start in almost five years with a brace as France came from behind to beat Bulgaria 4-1 and kick-start their World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday. On their first outing at the Stade de France since losing the Euro 2016 final to Portugal in July, France […]

Paris (AFP) – Nicolas Anelka has launched a scathing attack on his fellow former France international Lilian Thuram by comparing him to Samuel L Jackson's character in the violent Quentin Tarantino film "Django Unchained". On his public Facebook page, Anelka posted a photo of Thuram on top of one of Jackson playing the character Stephen […]

Bari (Italy) (AFP) – France coach Didier Deschamps is hoping to avoid a Euro 2016 hangover as his side prepare for their upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, starting with Thursday's friendly against Italy in Bari. French dreams of a third European Championship title crumbled following a 1-0 extra-time defeat to Portugal at the Stade […]

Paris (AFP) – Lyon duo Alexandre Lacazette and Nabil Fekir and Crystal Palace midfielder Yohan Cabaye have withdrawn from the France squad for upcoming matches against Italy and Belarus, the French Football Federation confirmed on Sunday. Lacazette came off with a knee injury in Lyon's 4-2 defeat at Dijon in Ligue 1 on Saturday while […]

Paris (AFP) – Lyon duo Alexandre Lacazette and Nabil Fekir have been recalled to the France squad as the Euro 2016 runners-up begin their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Belarus next month. Lacazette was not included by coach Didier Deschamps for the European Championship despite finishing last season in prolific form but […]

Paris (AFP) – The open-top bus for the victory parade was ready and President Francois Hollande said France's success at Euro 2016 was helping the country to heal from the Paris attacks, but the party fell flat. Authorities had braced for mass celebrations if France — a country still on high terrorist alert — won […]

Monaco (AFP) – Former French international star David Ginola was described as "awake and improving" after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass on Friday, Professor Gilles Dreyfus, who carried out the operation, told AFP. "He was very lucky," Dreyfus said, on hearing that French pop star Matt Pokora, a renowned amateur footballer himself, had performed a […]