Sports

Léon Marchand during the final of the 400 m individual medley at the World Championships in Singapore, August 3, 2025. FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT / AFP In Lublin, Poland or Austin, Texas, the spotlight will swing between east and west this week for the performance analysts at the French Swimming Federation (FFN). While the French national team competes at the European Short Course Championships in Poland, Léon Marchand will return to racing on Thursday, December 4, at the long-course US Open in the Texas city where he has lived since April. This is the reality of French swimming today. Its biggest star, the four-time Olympic champion from the Paris 2024 Games, has spent several years training in the United States under American coach Bob Bowman, and often follow...

Nice's forward Mohamed-Ali Cho and defender Antoine Mendy (R) celebrate their team's first goal during the French L1 football match between FC Lorient and OGC Nice at the Stade du Moustoir in Lorient, western France on November 30, 2025. DAMIEN MEYER / AFP The Nice prosecutor on Tuesday, December 2, announced the opening of an investigation into aggravated assault after a confrontation between the Nice squad and the club's own supporters. Nearly 200 Nice ultras gathered outside the team's training center on Sunday to vent their anger at the players and coaching staff after a 3-1 defeat at Lorient in Ligue 1 earlier in the day. Two players subsequently lodged complaints with the police. The players told officers that when they...

Monaco's French midfielder number 8 Paul Pogba (C) runs next to Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian defender number 5 Marquinhos (2L) during the French L1 football match between AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the Stade Louis II in the Principality of Monaco on November 29, 2025. VALERY HACHE / AFP Japan's Takumi Minamino scored the only goal of the game as Monaco shocked reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 on Saturday, November 29, winning 1-0 in the principality. The 30-year-old Japanese international star, once of Liverpool, struck just past the midway point in the second half at the Stade Louis II to inflict a second domestic defeat of the campaign on PSG. Monaco held on through the closing stages, in...

Nicola Pietrangeli during the Davis Cup final between Italy and Spain in Milan, July 25, 1959. AFP Decades before Jannik Sinner, Nicola Pietrangeli was the darling of Italian tennis. The son of an Italian father who had emigrated to Tunis (then under French protectorate) and a Russian noblewoman who had fled the October Revolution, Pietrangeli, the first Italian tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament, died at the age of 92, Italy's tennis federation announced on Monday, December 1. With Pietrangeli's death, Italian sports is mourning one of the country's greatest champions. He embodied Italy, not only through his record of achievements, but also his style, his charm and the refinement of his game. "He was the only one (…) over the fortnight to show a ...

Raphaël Varane in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France, March 28, 2022. FRANCK FIFE / AFP Raphaël Varane did not come empty-handed to our interview in Paris on Friday, November 28. The former defender, who retired in September 2024, brought along a folder full of athletes' personal testimonies. All had experienced mental health struggles, just like Varane himself, who discusses the issue on a television documentary Têtes Plongeantes ("Diving Heads") alongside other members France's 2018 World Cup championship football team. According to the FIFPRO international players' union, 20% to 35% of footballers face such difficulties through the course of their careers. "At the time, we experienced incredible emotions, which we shared with millions of people in F...

Italy's Jannik Sinner celebrates with his trophy after winning the ATP finals against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in Turin, Italy, on November 16, 2025. GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE / REUTERS Jannik Sinner ended a turbulent season in the best possible fashion on Sunday, November 16, after seeing off Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, to retain his ATP Finals title in front of delighted fans in Turin. The Italian brought the house down by winning the championship match tennis fans wanted to see, adding the prestigious year-ending tournament to the Australian Open and a landmark triumph at Wimbledon this season. The 24-year-old also bounced back from a three-month ban that chopped out a large chunk of his season despite the World Anti-Doping Ag...

Franco Colapinto of Argentina driving the (43) Alpine F1 A525 Renault on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 20, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. MARK THOMPSON / AFP It was here, under the dazzling lights of Sin City, as Las Vegas is nicknamed, that Max Verstappen clinched his fourth Formula 1 (F1) world championship in 2024. The Las Vegas Grand Prix, on Saturday, November 22 (the race starts at 8 pm local time, 5 am Sunday in Paris), will likely not crown a new champion this time: British driver Lando Norris, who currently leads the drivers' standings, cannot mathematically secure the title in Nevada. From 2023 Subscribers only Miami Grand Prix: From Netflix to Las Vegas, how Form...

Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 22, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. HECTOR VIVAS / AFP Formula One world champion Max Verstappen produced a masterful drive to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, November 23, and his title hopes were boosted further with the McLarens of championship leader Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both being disqualified. Norris finished the race in second with Piastri fourth, but the skid blocks on both cars were found to be below the minimum depth after the race. The disqualifications mean that with two race weekends remaining, four-time defending champion Verstappen is now level on points with Piastri in...

Kylian Mbappé celebrates after scoring France's first goal during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, on November 13, 2025. FRANCK FIFE / AFP The bitter dispute between Kylian Mbappé and his former club Paris Saint-Germain reached the French Labor court on Monday, November 17, for a tense hearing in which the French striker claimed €263 million and the club responded by demanding he pay them €440 million. Both sides offered a long shopping list of grievances with price tags attached. PSG said they are basing their figure in part on a botched €300 million transfer to Saudi club Al Hilal, which the player refused in June 2023 and its aftermath. Mbappé, 26, initially filed a complaint in J...

France's midfielder Kheira Hamraoui, on February 16, 2022, in Le Havre, France. FRANCK FIFE / AFP Former Paris Saint-Germain women's footballer Kheira Hamraoui filed a €3.5 million claim against the club on Monday, November 17, alleging that she was forced out after she was brutally attacked with an iron bar. In November 2021, Hamraoui was attacked by two masked men after returning from a team dinner in a car with teammate Aminata Diallo. But after Diallo was detained and charged with instigating the attack on her teammate, Hamraoui was allegedly the victim of "moral harassment" by some of PSG's players. Two of those – Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani – refused to pass the ball to Hamraoui during games, the plaintiff's lawyer...