2020–21 Championnat Fédéral Nationale season

The 2020–21 Championnat Fédéral Nationale will be the third-level French rugby union club competition, behind the Rugby Pro D2 and Top 14, for the 2020–21 season.

2020–21 Nationale
Countries France
Date13 September 2020 – 30 May 2021
Official website
www.ffr.fr

Teams

Number of teams by regions
Teams Region or country Team(s)
4  Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesAubenas Vals, Bourgoin, Bourg-en-Bresse, Chambéry
 OccitanieAlbi, Blagnac, Narbonne, Tarbes
2  Île-de-FranceMassy, Suresnes
 Nouvelle-AquitaineCognac Saint-Jean-d'Angély, Dax
1  Bourgogne-Franche-ComtéDijon
 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurNice

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 Fédérale 1, 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 each semi-final earns automatic promotion to the next season's Pro D2 if they are eligible financially to do so. The bottom two are automatically relegated to Fédérale 1. The bottom two clubs of the Pro D2 and the top two of Fédérale 1 then enter Nationale for the next season.

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.[1][2]

France's bonus point system operates as follows:[3]

  • 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.

Promotion

Nationale to Pro D2

As noted above, both promotion places will be determined by play-offs, with the two finalists of the Nationale play-offs earning promotion.

Relegation

Normally, the teams that finish in 13th and 14th places in the table are relegated to Fédérale 1 at the end of the season. In certain circumstances, "financial reasons" may cause a higher-placed team to be demoted instead, or bar a Fédérale 1 team from promotion.

Table

The current table for the 2020–21 Championnat Fédéral Nationale is:[4]

2020–21 Championnat Fédéral Nationale season Table
Pos Club Pl W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1Bourg-en-Bresse650112890+380123
2Nice642014287+551023
3Suresnes7403144148–40119
4Dax54017770+70018
5Albi52129268+242216
6Narbonne6303107108–10216
7Tarbes722397138–410115
8Aubenas Vals630381146–650014
9Cognac Saint-Jean-d'Angély6213102112–100214
10Dijon7205116134–180414
11Bourgoin-Jallieu420210257+451213
12Chambéry6204111126–150313
13Blagnac620498123–250212
14Massy510410292+101310
Legend:
Pos = Position, Pl = Played, W = Won, D = Drawn, L = Lost, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, PD = Points Difference, TB = Try Bonus Points, LB = Losing Bonus Points, Pts = Points Total
Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final Promotion play-off places.
Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final Promotion play-off places.
Red background relegation to Fédérale 1.

Notes:
When two teams have the same points total, position is determined by head-to-head results before points difference.

See also

Notes

    References
    1. "Nationale : Le calendrier des oppositions" (Press release) (in French). French Rugby Federation. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
    2. "REGLEMENT DU CHAMPIONNAT DE FRANCE DE 1ERE DIVISION FEDERALE" (PDF) (Press release) (in French). French Rugby Federation. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
    3. "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain" et points de bonus" (PDF). Statuts et Reglements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2014/2015, Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif des championnats profesionnels (in French). Ligue Nationale de Rugby. p. 166. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
    4. "Classement NATIONALE". Fédération Française de Rugby (in French). Retrieved 10 September 2020.
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