Stats: the influence of French and foreign players this season
The last match of matchday 18 of Ligue 1 McDonald's, between Lyon and Brest, offered up two rare stats. At the Groupama Stadium, Les Gones put out an XI of foreign players to start the match for the first time in their history in Ligue 1 McDonald's, whilst Les Brestois became the first team to align 11 players that have France as their sporting nationality since SM Caen on 4th March 2012. And this coincidence brought about an unusual stat: this match was the first in the history of the league to oppose a team of solely French players against a team including none at kick-off. But what are the trends this season going club by club?
Brest overtaken by Lens, OM going the other way
Despite starting French players on 141 occasions this season, the equivalent of 71% of those that have started for the club in total, Brest are not the club who have used the most local players. One team ranks higher and they sit second in the league. With 74% of the players starting of French sporting nationality, they lead this category, whilst Rennes complete the podium with 70%.
Like Brest, Lyon are not the champion in the category of foreign players playing in Ligue 1 McDonald's. Les Rhodaniens are only third, despite 85% of their starting players this season being of foreign sporting nationality (169 players). It must be noted that the other Olympique ranks highly with 182 starts; that is 92% of the total starts. Marseille are, therefore, untouchable. They have only started 16 French players out of a possible total of 198 since the start of the season, with 12 for Benjamin Pavard alone. With 88% of those who have started being of foreign sporting nationality, Strasbourg seperate the Olympiques and sit in second place.
In total, players of foreign sporting nationality dominate with 2242 starts this season, compared to 1322 for French players. In terms of percentage, we are at 63% of starters being foreign players and 37% being French players.
Same proportions for goal contributions
The trend is similar regarding goal involvements this season. If we add up the goals and assists since the start of the season, 482 have been made by foreign players, compared to 282 by French players. The proportions are the same as for starts: 63% compared to 37%.
Logically, Lens are the club where French players contribute to the most goals (42), that is 79% of their goal involvements across the entire Ligue 1 McDonald's season. They are trailed by Nantes (68%) and then by Brest (67%) who close out the podium. In terms of volume, it is Rennes (32 goals and assists) and PSG (28) who complete the podium, behind Les Sang et Or.
Regarding players of foreign sporting nationality, in terms of percentages, it is Lyon who have the highest number of goals and assists (94%). Strasbourg (88%) take second place, just ahead of Marseille (87%). But in terms of volume, it is OM who have the best attack in the league (41 goals) who have had the most goal involvements from foreign players (67).
The most frequent 100% foreign player line-ups
To conclude, it is interesting to note that the 100% French starting line-ups are most rare in recent decades thans the 100% non-French starting line-ups. With its 100% French team on matchday 18, Brest succeeded SM Caen, the last team to have fielded an 11 of French players, from the start. The two before that came back in 2004, with Caen on 6th November 2004 (a 0-2 loss to Sochaux), whilst OGC Nice lost 1-3 against Nantes on 14th February in the same year.
Regarding starting 11s featuring no French players, that has happened a lot more often. This season alone, it has happened on nine occasions (five times for OM, three times for Strasbourg, and once for Lyon). Before OL, OM were the latest team to have used no Frenchmen in their starting line-up on 17th January 2026 (a 5-2 win over Angers). Les Phocéens succeeded Strasbourg, who did the same on 9th November 2025 and a 2-0 win over Lille and then again on 2nd November, a 4-1 defeat against Rennes.
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