The Premier League returns, a pivotal season for French women's football
It's back to school. While the men's championship is on hiatus due to the international break, the professional women's footballers of France are back on the pitch. And from the first day of the Premier League (Arkema Première Ligue), the top division championship in France, the menu is mouthwatering. On Saturday, September 6, the Lyonnaises – renamed OL Lyonnes during the offseason –, the reigning champions, and their runners-up Paris welcome the newly promoted RC Lens and Olympique de Marseille to the top flight.
The eventful summer confirmed two opposing trajectories for the two championship powerhouses. At Lyon, a massive signing embodies the ambition to become untouchable again, including at continental level: Jonathan Giraldez, a two-time Champions League winner with Barça, has taken the reins, and Frenchwoman Marie-Antoinette Katoto and German Jule Brand join Ada Hegerberg and Kadidiatou Diani in attack, making OL a team built to aim for a ninth European title.
In Paris, the situation is more uncertain. The capital club lost Katoto and its former captain Grace Geyoro, who left for London City Lionesses in the final hours of the transfer window for a record sum in women's football of €1.65 million. To replace these departures, PSG is banking on Nigerian internationals Rasheedat Ajibade and Spanish international Olga Carmona. Its former player, Paulo Cesar, his fifth coach in five seasons, must stabilize a still-fragile project. It wasn't a restful summer at Olympique de Marseille either, who announced the dismissal of their coach Frédéric Gonçalves about ten days before the start of the season.
Boost the championshipOL Lyonnes and Paris Saint-Germain will meet on Matchday 3, September 27 in the Rhône, before a return match scheduled for Matchday 14 in Paris on January 31. The "classics" against OM – December 6 and March 11 – also promise to be a success, as do the derbies between PSG and Paris FC (December 20 and February 7), third in the last league and winner of the Coupe de France.
While the first day of the championship will see the clash between Lens and PSG on Saturday evening broadcast on Canal+ Foot, and between OL Lyonnes and OM on Sunday, free-to-air on Canal+, the other four matches will be shown in a multiplex on the League's YouTube channel . And "at least ten Second League matches" , the second division championship, will be broadcast for free on Sport en France , the YouTube channel of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, promises the Women's Professional Football League (LFFP).
A year after its creation, the body aims to pursue its goal of "making France the best European league for professional women's football." The French Football Federation (FFF) has rolled out a five-year commitment plan worth €70 million, of which €14 million was invested last season. The same amount will be invested this season, with the aim of boosting the championship. The Club License system is being strengthened with thematic labels allowing clubs to be financially rewarded according to the priorities they set (player training, visibility, fan experience, territorial commitment), and a progressive quota of locally trained players is to come into effect by 2028.
In May 2025, FFF president Philippe Diallo declared that "the LFFP [had] to find its economic autonomy as quickly as possible." On the sponsorship side, while French chemist Arkema has extended its participation until 2028, the women's elite concluded a new partnership , the amount of which has not been disclosed, with sports betting operator Betclic in July. The quest for revenue is as delicate as it is imperative in the French context, where the financial crisis linked to the reduction in broadcasting rights for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 is harming women's teams, which are still largely linked to their male counterparts.
