The 2023–24 Championnat Fédéral Nationale was the third-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Rugby Pro D2 and Top 14, for the 2023–24 season.
Teams
Club City Stadium Capacity Previous season Albi Albi (Tarn) Stadium Municipal d'Albi 13,580 3rd Blagnac Blagnac (Haute-Garonne) Stade Ernest-Argelès 4,000 4th Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) Stade Marcel-Verchère 11,400 6th Bourgoin-Jallieu Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) Stade Pierre Rajon 9,441 5th Carcassonne Carcassonne (Aude) Stade Albert Domec 10,000 Relegated from Pro D2 (15th) Chambéry Chambéry (Savoie) Stade Mager 3 3,000 9th Hyères Hyères (Var) Stade André Véran 3,000 12th Massy Massy (Essonne) Stade Jules-Ladoumègue 3,200 Relegated from Pro D2 (16th) Narbonne Narbonne (Aude) Parc des Sports Et de l'Amitié 12,000 7th Nice Nice (Alpes-Maritimes) Stade des Arboras 3,000 8th Périgueux Périgueux (Dordogne) Stade Francis-Rongiéras 9,000 Promoted from Nationale 2 (1st) Suresnes Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine) Stade Jean-Moulin 11th Tarbes Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées) Stade Maurice Trélut 16,400 10th Vienne Vienne (Isère) Stade Jean-Etcheberry 8,000 Promoted from Nationale 2 (2nd)
Number of teams by regions Teams Region or country Team(s)5Albi, Blagnac, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Tarbes4Bourg-en-Bresse, Bourgoin, Chambéry, Vienne2Massy, SuresnesHyères, Nice1Périgueux
Competition format The regular season uses a double round-robin format, in which each team plays the others home and away.
There is relegation and promotion between both the Rugby Pro D2 and Nationale 2, the fourth-level competition. Nationale conducts a play-off system similar to the one currently used in Pro D2, with the top six teams qualifying for the play-offs and the top two teams receiving byes into the semi-finals. The winner of the play-offs earns the league championship and automatic promotion to the next season's Prod D2; the runner-up enters a play-off with the second-from-bottom Pro D2 team, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Pro D2.
There are 26 rounds in the regular season, with each team playing each other team home and away. The two halves of the season are played in the same order, with the away team in the first half of the season at home in the second half. The semi-finals and final take place in May, with the semi-finals being held over two-legs and the final taking place at a predetermined site. At present, 14 clubs compete in the competition.
France's bonus point system operates as follows:
4 points for a win. 2 points for a draw. 1 bonus point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. This replaces the standard bonus point for scoring 4 tries regardless of the match result. 1 bonus point for losing by 5 points (or less). The required margin had been 7 points or less until being changed in advance of the 2014–15 season.
Table
Relegation playoff The team finishing in 13th place faces the runner-up of the Nationale 2, with the winner of this match playing in the 2024–25 Nationale and the loser in the 2024–25 Nationale 2.
Promotion Playoffs
See also 2023–24 Top 14 season 2023–24 Rugby Pro D2 season
Notes
References
External links Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website Midi Olympique