Sports
France hosts "the world's biggest annual sporting event", the annual cycling race Tour de France.[374] Other popular sports played in France include football, judo, tennis,[375] rugby union[376] and pétanque. France has hosted events such as the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups,[377] the 2007 Rugby World Cup,[378] and the 2023 Rugby World Cup.[379] The country also hosted the 1960 European Nations' Cup, UEFA Euro 1984, UEFA Euro 2016 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Stade de France in Saint-Denis is France's largest stadium and was the venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2007 Rugby World Cup finals. Since 1923, France is famous for its 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race.[380] Several major tennis tournaments take place in France, including the Paris Masters and the French Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. French martial arts include Savate and Fencing.
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France has a close association with the Modern Olympic Games; it was a French aristocrat, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who suggested the Games' revival, at the end of the 19th century.[381][382] Paris hosted the second Games in 1900,[383] and has hosted the Olympics on five further occasions: the 1924 Summer Olympics, the 2024 Summer Olympics both in Paris[382] and three Winter Games (1924 in Chamonix, 1968 in Grenoble and 1992 in Albertville).[382] France introduced Olympics for deaf people (Deaflympics) in 1924.[384]
Both the national football team and the national rugby union team are nicknamed "Les Bleus". Football is the most popular sport in France, with over 1,800,000 registered players and over 18,000 registered clubs.[385]
The French Open, also called Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. It is the premier clay court tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments.[386]
Rugby union is popular, particularly in Paris and the southwest of France.[387] The national rugby union team has competed at every Rugby World Cup; it takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship.