69 Essential French Sports Vocabulary Terms

By Frederic Bibard Published: June 21, 2019

3 min read

Looking for a list of French sports vocabulary? Check out this article for the general sporting terms in French.

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French Sports Vocabulary: Names of Different Sports Athletes/ Sports Players Sports Personnel and Fans

Learning French can be so much more fun if you inject your personal passions into it. So if you’re into sports and make it a point to check sports updates every day, why not try reading them in French? It will make communication and expressing your interest in sports in French easier!

This list of French sports vocabulary will help!

French Sports Vocabulary: Names of Different Sports

Names of common sports in French

le baseballbaseball
le basketball / le basketbasketball
le cricketcricket
le foot(ball)football, soccer
le football américainAmerican football
le golfgolf
le hockey (le hockey sur glace)hockey (ice hockey)
le hockey sur gazonfield hockey
le rugbyrugby
le rugby à treizeRugby League
le rugby à quinzeRugby Union
le tennistennis
le volley(ball)volleyball
le handballhandball
la courserunning
la boxeboxing
la dansedancing
la gymnastiquegymnastics
la luttewrestling
la musculationstrength training, weight training
la randonnéehiking
la voilesailing
l’alpinismemountaineering
l’athlétismetrack and field
l’avironrowing
le cyclismecycling
le joggingjogging
le parachutismeskydiving
le parapenteparagliding
le patinageskating
le patinage artistiquefigure skating
le patin à roulettesroller skating
le tennis de tabletable tennis
le tirshooting
le tir à l’arcarchery
le vélobiking
l’équitationhorseback riding
les arts martiauxmartial arts
les sports de combatcombat sports
l’escrime (f)fencing
l’haltérophilie (f)weightlifting
le skiskiing
le ski de fondcross-country skiing
le ski alpindownhill skiing
le ski nautiquewater skiing
la natationswimming
la plongéeunderwater diving

Athletes/ Sports Players

un joueura player (m)
une joueusea player (f)
un basketteura basketball player (m)
une basketteusea basketball player (f)
un footballeura football player, soccer player (m)
une footballeusea football player, soccer player (f)
un golfeura golfer (m)
une golfeusea golfer (f)
un hockeyeura hockey player (m)
une hockeyeusea hockey player (f)
un joueur de tennisa tennis player (m)
une joueuse de tennisa tennis player (f)
un volleyeura volleyball player (m)
une volleyeusea volleyball player (f)

Sports Personnel and Fans

l’arbitrethe referee
le coachthe coach
un coéquipiera teammate (m)
une coéquipièrea teammate (f)
le public / les spectateursthe spectators, the crowd
un sponsora sponsor
un supporter / un supporteura supporter, fan (m)
une supportricea supporter, fan (f)

Your turn!

Try using the vocabulary you learned above in a sentence.

Want to use this in real conversations?In the French Accelerator, a coach corrects you live, every week, until speaking feels natural.

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