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Super XIII

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For the predecessor competition, see French Rugby League Championship.

Super XIII
Founded2002; 22 years ago (2002)
Country France
Number of teams11
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toElite 2
Domestic cup(s)Lord Derby Cup
Current champions AS Carcassonne (2023-2024)
Most championships FC Lézignan (5)
TV partnersviàOccitanie, Sport en France
WebsiteOfficial site
Current: Super XIII 2024–2025

Super XIII is the top level rugby league competition in France, sanctioned by the French Rugby League Federation. The season runs from September to April, which is in contrast to the majority of other major domestic rugby league competitions worldwide. The clubs play each other home and away then they enter into a play-off series culminating with a Grand Final. The competition was founded in 2002, as the Elite One Championship and renamed as Super XIII at the start of the 2024–2025 season. The competition is the continuation of the French Rugby League Championship, which began in 1934.[1]

History

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Logo for Elite 1 before the competition was renamed in 2024

Prior to the creation of Elite 1, the French Rugby League Championship was the top tier of the French rugby league system.

The competition was founded in 2002, as the Elite One Championship, following the splitting of the French Rugby League Championship into two divisions. The format stayed the same with teams playing each other home and away, before a play-off series would determine the Champions. The club finishing bottom would not be automatically relegated, it would be dependent on whether the club finishing top of Elite Two Championship either wanted to be promoted or their facilities were up to standard.

The 2002–03 season, the first of the Elite 1 championship, saw the defending champions of France, Villeneuve, up against Saint-Gaudens in the final. Villeneuve had won the league championship in 2000–01 and completed a league/cup double in 2001–2002. Having already won the Lord Derby Cup in 2003, they achieved a second consecutive double with a 31–18 win to retain the Max Rousié Trophy. Their opponents, Saint-Gaudens, had not won a championship since the early 1990s, but the following season they defeated Union Treiziste Catalane 14–10 to claim the title and in doing so prevent UTC from claiming the double.[2][3] That achievement would come for UTC the following year as they went undefeated throughout the 2004–05 season and beat Toulouse 66–16 in the championship final.[4] The following two seasons saw Pia claim consecutive doubles.[5][6] In the 2007–08 season Lézignan began a run of four consecutive title wins becoming only the second club, after Catalan in the early 1980s, to achieve this feat.[7]

The competition was renamed as Super XIII at the start of the 2024–2025 season.[8] In September 2024, the president of the French Rugby League Federation, Dominique Baloup, gave an interview published in La Dépêche in which he discussed plans to increase the number of teams in the Super XIII and the possibility of moving the season to run between February and September from 2026.[9]

Teams for 2024–25 season

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class=notpageimage|
Location of teams participating in Super XIII in the 2024–25 season[a]
Super XIII
Team Stadium Location
Albi Tigers Stade Mazicou Albi, Tarn
SO Avignon Parc des Sports (Avignon) Avignon, Vaucluse
AS Carcassonne Stade Albert Domec Carcassonne, Aude
FC Lézignan Stade du Moulin Lézignan-Corbières, Aude
Limoux Grizzlies Stade de l'Aiguille Limoux, Aude
Pia XIII Stade Daniel-Ambert Pia, Pyrénées-Orientales
Saint-Estève Catalan Stade Municipal Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales
Saint-Gaudens Bears Stade Jules Ribet Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne
Toulouse Olympique Broncos Stade des Minimes Toulouse, Haute-Garonne
Villefranche XIII Aveyron Stade Henri Lagarde Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Aveyron
Villeneuve Leopards Stade Max Rousie Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Lot-et-Garonne

Results

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For previous winners, see French Rugby League Championship.
Year Winners Score Runners-up Venue Attendance
2002–03 Villeneuve Leopards 31 – 18 Saint-Gaudens Bears Parc des sports et de l'amitié, Narbonne 8,000
2003–04 Saint-Gaudens Bears 14 – 10 Union Treiziste Catalane Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan 7,500
2004–05 Union Treiziste Catalane 66 – 16 Toulouse Olympique XIII Parc des sports et de l'amitié, Narbonne 5,000
2005–06 Pia XIII 21 – 18 Toulouse Olympique XIII Stade des Minimes, Toulouse 5,462
2006–07 Pia XIII 20 – 16 FC Lézignan Stade Michel-Bendichou, Colomiers 7,882
2007–08 FC Lézignan 26 – 16 Pia XIII Stade de la Mediterranee, Béziers 9,550
2008–09 FC Lézignan 40 – 32 Limoux Grizzlies Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne 11,263
2009–10 FC Lézignan 32 – 22 Pia XIII Altrad Stadium, Montpellier 6,612
2010–11 FC Lézignan 17 – 12 Limoux Grizzlies Parc des sports et de l'amitié, Narbonne 11,874
2011–12 AS Carcassonne 26 – 20 Pia XIII Parc des sports et de l'amitié, Narbonne 8,980
2012–13 Pia XIII 33 – 26 Saint-Estève Catalan Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan 6,732
2013–14 Toulouse Olympique XIII 38 – 12 FC Lézignan Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan 7,245
2014–15 Toulouse Olympique XIII 20 – 12 AS Carcassonne Stade Michel-Bendichou, Colomiers 5,800
2015–16 Limoux Grizzlies 26 – 24 AS Carcassonne Stadium municipal d'Albi, Albi 5,420
2016–17 Limoux Grizzlies 24 – 22 FC Lézignan Parc des sports et de l'amitié, Narbonne 8,270
2017–18 Sporting Olympique Avignon 30 – 28 Limoux Grizzlies Stadium municipal d’Albi, Albi 5,000
2018–19 Saint-Estève Catalan 32 – 24 AS Carcassonne Stadium municipal d’Albi, Albi 1,500
2019–20 Competition abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France[10]
2020–21 FC Lézignan 16 – 12 AS Carcassonne Stade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse 3,200
2021–22 AS Carcassonne 20 – 16 Limoux Grizzlies Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne 8,231
2022–23 Limoux Grizzlies 34 – 24 AS Carcassonne Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne 8,221
2023–24 AS Carcassonne 8 – 6 RC Albi XIII Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne 5,578[11]

Source: [1][6]

Winners

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# Club No. Year(s)
1 Lézignan Sangliers 5 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2020–21
2 Pia XIII 3 2005–06, 2006–07, 2012–13
AS Carcassonne 2011–12, 2021–22, 2023–24
Limoux Grizzlies 2015–16, 2016–17, 2022–23
5 Toulouse Olympique 2 2013–14, 2014–15
6 Villeneuve Leopards 1 2002–03
Saint-Gaudens Bears 2003–04
Union Treiziste Catalane 2004–05
SO Avignon 2017–18
Saint-Esteve XIII Catalan 2018–19

Media coverage

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Television

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Unlike, for instance, the BBC, France Television didn't offer any program to the French public about Rugby League.

Sport en France cover the Championship across their television platforms nationwide.[12] Coverage includes the match of the week and one match from each week of the playoffs including the Grand Final.

From 2020, some Elite 1 games are televised by a local channel ViàOccitanie; this is a free-to-air channel in the South of France but they are also available on the internet and via the triple play internet devices. Therefore, they offer, indirectly, free nationwide coverage of the domestic championship.[13]

Presently, French clubs have to fund the broadcast of their own games or to televise their own matches themselves via the social networks or YouTube.

Radio

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Radio Marseillette, a local Southern radio, has rugby league debate and news every Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00. They also have commentary on some Elite League games.

Press

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The French national mainstream media barely follow the game. Very occasionally, some articles about the sport are published in newspapers such as Le Monde, Le Figaro or the national Sport newspaper L'Équipe.

Nevertheless, there is undoubtedly a French specificity: the Weekly Rugby Union magazine Midi Olympique has a one-page section devoted to Rugby League. However, only two local newspapers genuinely cover the game; L'Indépendant ( based in the South of France) and la Dépêche du Midi (based in the South west of the country).

The British Rugby League press cover this championship; for example magazines like Rugby Leaguer & League Express offer a weekly report of the games. In Australia, the monthly publication Rugby League Review offer a few columns about the games as well.

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ All teams are located inside Occitania except Sporting Olympique Avignon and Villeneuve XIII RLLG which are just located outside the region.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Championnat Elite 1". Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII (in French). Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  2. ^ "All in Narbonne on May 25, 2003". www.ffr13.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2003.
  3. ^ "The Saint Gaudens surprise". www.ffr13.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2004.
  4. ^ "Historical". www.ffr13.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2005.
  5. ^ "Lord Derby French Cup Honours". Treize Mondial. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  6. ^ a b "France Elite 1 Championship: Charts". Treize Mondial. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  7. ^ "FC Lezignan double winners in France". European Rugby League. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  8. ^ "The Super XIII (Elite 1) season 2024-2025 calendar with 11 teams". Treize Mondial. 19 July 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  9. ^ "MAINTENANCE. Rugby League: Franco-English competition, matches of the France team, internal elections... The projects of the president of the federation". La Dépêche. 19 September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Coronavirus : la Fédération française met fin aux compétitions de rugby à XIII cette saison". lequipe.fr. Groupe Amaury. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Elite 1 : Carcassonne réalise le doublé!" (in French). FFRXIII. 26 May 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  12. ^ "Elite 1 - Finale hommes". Sport en France (in French). Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Rugby à XIII". viaoccitanie.tv. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
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