The amateur championship of France was created in 1993 under the name National 3, replacing the former
Division 4. The league's debut coincided with the creation of the
Championnat National, the third division of French football, which is commonly known as National. For the first three years of the competition, an amateur champion was crowned in France regardless of whether the club was amateur or a reserve team. In 1998 the competition was renamed Championnat de France Amateur 2 as part of a restructuring of Amateur football. In this guise, the competition saw 112 clubs participate, split into eight parallel groups of 14 with their group affiliation being based on the
regional location of the club. The league became open to reserve teams in France and amateur clubs in France and both were eligible for promotion to the Championnat de France Amateur.
2017 to 2023 format In 2017 the FFF reorganised amateur football along the lines of the 2016 reorganisation of the
Regions of France, creating
Championnat National 2 and Championnat National 3 to replace CFA and CFA2. For National 2 this was in effect just a change of name, whilst National 3 saw a major restructure. This new competition sees 168 clubs participating, in twelve parallel groups directly aligned to the thirteen new regions (
Corsica is merged with
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur to form a
Méditerranee-Corse group). The administration of the league is devolved to the regional leagues on a group by group basis, with the exception of the
Méditerranee-Corse group, which is directly managed by the FFF. During the course of a season, usually from August to May, each club plays the others in their respective group twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 26 games. Teams are ranked by total points. Ties between clubs with equal points are resolved by: a) points gained in games between the two (or more) clubs, b)
goal difference in games between the two (or more) clubs, c) overall goal difference, d) goals scored, e) best disciplinary record, f) drawing of lots. Standings of the 2019–20 season were finalised based on points per game, whilst the 2020–21 season was declared void.
Restructuring As part of the restructuring of the French football league system by the
French Football Federation between 2022 and 2026, the league was gradually restructured over three seasons from the pre-2023 structure of 168 teams (12 groups of 14) to 154 teams (11 groups of 14) in 2023–24. Future seasons will see 140 teams (10 groups of 14) in 2024–25 and 112 teams (8 groups of 14) in 2025–26. This change in structure moved the competition away from groups that directly related to the regional leagues that feed Championnat National 3, and also brought the competition back under the direct control of the FFF. ==Performance==