The Fédérale 1 Championship

The Fédérale 1 Championship takes several phases to decide which two teams will be promoted to Pro D2, and which twelve teams will be relegated to Fédérale 2.

Preliminary phase: 48 teams are fomed into 6 pools. Each team plays the others in the pool both home and away, resulting in 14 matches for each team. At the end of the preliminary phase:

• The four best-placed teams in each pool qualify for the Trophée Jean Prat
  
  These 24 clubs are split into six pools of four teams, and each team plays the others in its pool both home and away. The top two teams in each pool qualify for the quarter final phase (with a single match played on a neutral pitch). The semi finals are played as home and away games with the winners being promoted to Pro D2 and playing a final match to decide the Fédérale 1 champions.
• The remaining teams continue with the second phase of the Fédérale 1 Championship. They are divided again into six pools of four teams (who have not previously played against each other in the championship) who play each other home and away. The bottom two teams in each pool are relegated to Fédérale 2. The remaining teams take part in a sudden-death knockout phase, the winner gaining a title but no promotion.