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(June 2025) -- We have begun our coverage of the 2025 France national tournament -- click for details. The France national tournament will be hosted by Baseball Club Biterrois-Pirates in Béziers, Occitanie from August 22 through August 24. This tournament will determine France's representatives for 2026 Europe-Africa Region tournaments. (February 2025) -- We have added historical coverage of France Little League national tournaments to the Unpage site! Click on the left side of this page to explore past tournament results.
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Our coverage of the France national tournament launched on February 17, 2025. Click to contact the webmaster with any comments or questions about this site.
Baseball is a growing but still developing sport in France, with roughly 15,000 registered players across all youth and adult age divisions. The Federacion Francaise Baseball et Softball (FFBS) is responsible for the development of baseball and softball in France, assisting local organizations with equipment and providing general promotional support, including hosting a variety of tournaments. Little League Baseball is a noteable part of France's emerging baseball scene, with 13 chartered leagues that align with the boundaries of metropolitan France's administrative regions.
Little League's presence in France today is a return to the country's strong affiliation during the early decades of the international tournament. Little League first came to France in the 1950s, when the U.S. military operated eleven air force bases and deployed upwards of 70,000 active duty personnel at various facilities throughout the country. There were generally between 50 and 75 European-based chartered Little League programs during this era, with virtually all participants being the dependents of military personnel, international agency representatives, and embassy workers from the U.S. and other baseball-playing nations.
France was well-represented in this cluster of leagues, and was organized into as many as four districts during the early 1960s. Leagues were affiliated with U.S. military outposts throughout France, including Bussac, Chateauroux, Laon, Metz, Orleans, Paris, Poiters, and Verdun. France hosted the 1962 European Region tournament, which was held at the Camp Des Loges sports complex near Paris. Poiters Post Little League defeated South Ruislap (United Kingdom) Little League, 7-5, to win the tournament and become the only France-based league to participate in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Little League's presence in France soon went dormant. In March 1966, French President Charles de Gaulle announced France's withdrawl from NATO's military command structure, and required that any personnel not under French command leave the country by April 1, 1967. Following this, France had only occasional chartered leagues over the next quarter-century, and no French league participated in the international tournament for several decades.
France returned to the international tournament in 2003, when Roussillon Little League from Languedoc-Roussillon traveled to Kutno, Poland, and participated in the European Region tournament. Roussillon split four pool games in the tournament -- its 6-5 win over Doupnitza (Bulgaria) Little League on July 15 represented the first international tournament game involving a France-based league in 37 years, and the first-ever involving native French players -- and reached the quarterfinal round before falling to Kwazulu Natal (South Africa) Little League.
Roussillon's trip to Kutno provided a foundation for occasional participation in the international tournament by French teams: Ile-de-France Little League from Paris reached the quarterfinal round in 2004, and both Haute Normandie Little League from Rouen (2013) and Aquitaine Little League from Bon-Encontre (2014) also competed in Kutno.
France staged an Interligues national championship for its youth baseball clubs from 2005 through 2009, after which the tournament went on hiatus for several years. In 2015, though, the FFBS began hosting this competition on an annual basis. In subsequent years, this event has evolved into France's qualifying tournament for Little League Baseball region tournaments, and FFBS has partnered closely with Little League Baseball to foster further development of youth baseball in France.
Little League Baseball in France is organized into a single district, and each of the 13 administrative regions in metropolitan France is home to a league that serves participants in the region's boundaries.
France's championship tournament, which was rebranded as the 'Interligues Little League Tournament' in 2019, is held in August, and the top finishers earn the right to represent France in the following year's Europe-Africa region tournaments for the Little League Baseball and Intermediate divisions.
Ile-de-France Little League from Paris delivered France's strongest finish since native French players began participating in the tournament, finishing fifth in the 2017 and 2018 Europe-Africa Region tournaments. In 2018, Ile-de-France defeated a team of American expatriot players from Germany, as well as traditional European power Italy as part of its three wins in Kutno.
Ile-de-France also delivered a different milestone: after winning the 2016 France national tournament, the league elected to participate in the following year's Europe-Africa Region tournament in the Intermediate division. Ile-de-France won that tournament, and became the first team comprised of native French players to advance to a World Series tournament in any Little League baseball or softball age division.
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