Guide · France

How to play pro basketball in France

Betclic Élite, Élite 2 and Nationale 1 are the three men's divisions under the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB) and the French Basketball Federation (FFBB). Betclic Élite is the first division. Élite 2 is the second. Nationale Masculine 1 is the federal division under them. This page is that ladder, the locally-trained and foreign-player rules the league and the federation have published, the 2026-27 dates they have actually printed, and where an American passport fits. It is for players outside France, including college players. It is not a tryout, and it is not a placement service.

The ladder, from Betclic Élite down

The names overlap, so start with the document that uses each one. The LNB's 2026-27 regulations say "first division" and "second division." The same season's marketing rules put a Betclic Élite logo on a first-division jersey and an Élite 2 logo on a second-division jersey. The public calendar for the first division uses the abbreviation PROA. The marketing rules still use the hashtag #PROB for the second division. Readers who search for Pro A or Pro B are looking at these two LNB divisions. Nationale 1 is the FFBB name, not an old name for the top league. LNB marketing rules, jersey logos (PDF) · LNB statutes and regulations

Start with the division that matches your film. The two LNB divisions are professional. None of them is an open tryout.

• Betclic Élite (men, LNB first division). Every club plays the others home and away. Places 1 to 6 go straight to the playoffs. Places 7 to 10 play a single-game play-in for the last two playoff spots. Quarterfinals are best of three. Semifinals and the final are best of five. The club in 16th at the end of the regular season goes down. The 15th enters the Élite 2 promotion playoffs and goes down if it does not win them. An interrupted-season section of the same regulations refers to the 16 teams of the first division. The administrative regulation allows a club seat in Monaco, which is why the index lists this division as France (+ Monaco). Our entry-friendliness estimate is 2/5. This is a job for players who already have a pro body of work.
• Élite 2 (men, LNB second division). Every club plays the others home and away. The LNB's calendar article for 2026-27 counts 20 clubs. The regular-season winner is champion of the second division and earns the sporting right to Betclic Élite, if it also passes the financial control and the LNB regulations for a first-division club. Places 2 to 6, the 15th of Betclic Élite, and the two play-in winners play the promotion playoffs. The finalist earns the other sporting right up. Places 19 and 20 go down to the federal championships. The FFBB writes the rules for who comes up from Nationale 1. Entry-friendliness on our index: 3/5.
• Nationale Masculine 1 (men). The third division, run by the FFBB, not the LNB. For 2026-27 only, the particular regulation organises 28 teams in two geographic pools of 14, home and away, then a second phase. Places 1 to 7 of each pool form Group A. Places 8 to 14 form Group B. The champion is the team that finishes first in Group A. That team, and the winner of the playoffs among places 2 to 9 of Group A, earn the sporting right to the second professional division if they have filed the intention letter, met the specification, and received a favourable opinion from both the FFBB and the LNB financial-control bodies. The last six of Group B go down to Nationale 2. From 2027-28 the same regulation sizes the division at 24 teams. The 31 July 2026 calendar article says 27 teams are entered for 2026-27, with pool A at 13 and one bye each round. This page does not rewrite the 28-team regulation to match that entry list. Entry-friendliness on our index: 3/5.
• Nationale Masculine 2 (men). The division Nationale 1 relegates into. This page does not copy an import number from a Nationale 2 regulation it has not quoted. Entry-friendliness on our index: 4/5.
• Outside that ladder. La Boulangère Wonderligue is the women's top league. Ligue Féminine 2 is the women's second division. The LNB and FFBB documents cited here do not print an import number for those two, so this page does not supply one. The Match des Championnes shares the Supercoupe weekend. It is not a women's roster rule.

Each of those has its own page in the league explorer. The rules index puts leagues side by side, including Betclic Élite rules, Élite 2 rules and Nationale 1 rules. The wider first-contract map, if France is one option among many, is where to get your first pro contract. LNB competition regulations 2026/27 (PDF) · FFBB Nationale 1 particular regulation (PDF) · FFBB regulations index

Who counts as locally trained, European, or a player from outside that list

The labels do different jobs. A passport that helps the Élite 2 count can still leave a JFL contract minimum empty. Nationale 1 uses licence colours for the same idea. The LNB does not use those colours.

Locally trained, in the LNB

Article 108 of the administrative regulation is the LNB definition. A locally trained player (joueur formé localement, JFL) was licensed, and played competitions, for at least four sporting seasons at a club affiliated to the FFBB between the ages of 12 and 21 inclusive. Age is taken on 1 January of the season, under the FFBB rule the article points to. The seasons are counted at the end of the previous season. The status is fixed on the day of the first licence request of the season. It applies only to competitions the LNB runs under delegation from the FFBB, and only to a player on an aspirant, trainee or professional contract. A player who has only a formation agreement is outside it. A season of AAU or US college basketball is not a season at an FFBB club. LNB administrative regulation, Article 108 (PDF)

Everyone else is not locally trained (JNFL). The regulation splits that group. A JNFL FIBA Europe Samoa ACP is a national of a state on the annex "Liste des pays FIBA EUROPE SAMOA ACP" who is not a JFL. That annex prints the 50 FIBA Europe federations, 77 Samoa signatories, and seven states with an association or cooperation agreement with the European Union. A JNFL who is in neither the JFL line nor that annex is the other JNFL. For 2026-27, a player who already held the old Cotonou status, and whose country has not ratified the Samoa agreements, is given the Samoa status. The United States is not on the annex. The country annex (PDF)

A narrow derogation exists, and it is not a second way to become a JFL. A French senior international who is not locally trained is left out of the JNFL count on the scoresheet if he has a 5-on-5 medal with France in a major competition, asks the federal bureau before any licence for the season, and receives a favourable opinion. The article says he is still not a JFL. A US college player is not this derogation.

Betclic Élite: six non-locally-trained players, five from outside the annex

When non-locally-trained players are on the scoresheet, Article 221.1 caps them at six. At most five of those six may be qualified with the sporting nationality of a state that is not affiliated to FIBA Europe and has not signed the Samoa agreements or an EU association or cooperation agreement, as listed in that annex. Everyone else on the sheet has to be locally trained, or a player who has only a formation agreement, or a non-locally-trained player who has the federal-bureau derogation. Listing a player on the sheet counts as participation, whether he plays or not. Article 221.1 (PDF)

A professional game also has to list at least 10 players and at most 12, present and in uniform. Unless there is force majeure, at least five of them are professionals. A US-only passport uses one of the five outside-the-annex places. It does not fill a JFL place. The five is a maximum, not a reserve of five jobs for Americans. Scoresheet size, Article 219 (PDF)

Separately, each first-division club has to hold, from the day before its first official game through the day before its last, at least 10 full-time professional contracts running to the end of the season, and at least four of those have to be full-time JFL contracts. A season is capped at 18 professional qualifications. Missing the contract minimum at an official LNB game is a 30,000-euro fine. Between games it is 1,000 euros a day. Those are fines. They are not a wage. Articles 15 and 17 (PDF)

Élite 2: four non-locally-trained players, two from outside the annex

Article 221.2 is the same shape with smaller numbers. At most four players on the scoresheet may be non-locally-trained. At most two of those four may hold a sporting nationality from outside the annex. The rest of the sheet has to be locally trained, or limited to a formation agreement or the reserve team, or covered by the federal-bureau derogation. The contract minimum is nine full-time professional contracts, still including at least four full-time JFL contracts, and the season cap is 16 professional qualifications. The same fines apply. A US-only passport uses one of the two outside-the-annex places. It does not count as one of the four JFL contracts. Article 221.2 (PDF) · Second-division contract minimum (PDF)

Nationale 1: yellow and orange licences

The FFBB does not use the LNB's JFL article. Article 407 of the general regulations sets licence colour from age, from years of FFBB competition licence, and from the country the player is a national of. The local-training test is the same four seasons, ages 12 to 21 inclusive. White is a minor. Green is a locally trained player. Yellow is a player who is a national of a FIBA Europe country, or of a country that has signed the Samoa agreements or an EU association or cooperation agreement, and who is not locally trained. Orange is a player who is a national of a country that is not affiliated to FIBA Europe, has no particular agreement with the EU, and does not meet the local-training test. The United States is not on annexes 5 and 6, which are the lists Article 407 points to. A US-only adult who did not play those four FFBB seasons is orange. FFBB general regulations, Article 407 (PDF) · Annexes 5 and 6 (PDF)

Nationale 1's particular regulation then caps the colours on the scoresheet. White and green are unlimited. The club chooses one of two lines: two yellow JN licences and no orange ON licence, or one yellow JN and one orange ON. JH and OH licences are forbidden in the division. Article 408 says JH and OH are the yellow and orange numbers limited to a level below pre-national, so the colours that can actually be used here are JN and ON. A home sheet lists 10 to 12 players. An away sheet lists 9 to 12. A US-only passport is the one orange ON. Choosing that orange line leaves one yellow place, not two. It does not create a second orange. Nationale 1 participation rules (PDF)

Nationality, at the LNB, is fixed on the day of the first licence request of the season. A change after that date does not change the season. What a second passport does and does not do is path via passport. Write the passport you hold today. An application a parent might someday make is not a JFL and not a yellow licence.

A realistic ladder for an American passport

Match the passport to the rule, then match the film to the division.

• US passport only, Betclic Élite. You use one of at most five outside-the-annex places, inside a scoresheet that can carry at most six non-locally-trained players. You do not fill one of the four full-time JFL contracts. The clubs at this level already have pro film to choose from. Our estimate is 2/5. Treat a Betclic Élite offer out of college as the exception.
• US passport only, Élite 2. This is the published pro spot under the top division: one of at most two outside-the-annex places, inside a maximum of four non-locally-trained players. You still do not count toward the four JFL contracts. Our estimate is 3/5. Two spots per club is the whole market for that passport.
• US passport only, Nationale 1. You are the one orange ON licence. The club that uses you can list one yellow JN beside you, not two, and cannot list a second orange. Our estimate is 3/5. The particular regulation does not publish a wage. Confirm housing and pay in the contract, because the federation has not published them in that text.
• A FIBA Europe passport, or a passport from a country on the Samoa or EU-agreement list, that is not also a JFL. In the LNB it takes you out of the five-player and two-player outside-the-annex count. It does not take you out of the six-player and four-player non-locally-trained count, and it does not fill a JFL contract. In Nationale 1 it is a yellow licence, not an orange one, and not a green one.
• Four FFBB seasons between 12 and 21, or a green licence the FFBB has already issued on that test. That is the JFL line in the LNB, and the green line in Nationale 1. College years in the United States are not this line. A nationality you have not been granted is not this line.

The same ladder, as one option among many countries, is playing overseas after college. Spain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Australia run on other calendars. A French winter is not a second season you add after any of them.

What the leagues pay

There is no salary table in the articles this page cites. Article 80 of the LNB administrative regulation says working conditions and pay for professional, aspirant and trainee players are set by the men's professional basketball collective agreement, negotiated in the presence of the LNB, and that respecting it is as binding as the LNB regulations. The LNB publishes the avenants to that agreement on its convention page. They are scans. This page does not transcribe a paycheck from a scan, does not invent a range, and does not convert euros into US dollars. Nationale 1's particular regulation defines a professional player by pointing at the national sports collective agreement and does not print an amount. The paycheck stays blank here on purpose. Article 80 (PDF) · LNB convention page

Several euro amounts in the LNB articles are easy to misread as pay, so they are named here as club charges and fines. A club that qualifies a non-locally-trained player pays the LNB 1,200 euros before tax, on top of what it pays the FFBB. That is a licence charge. It is not the wage. After round 1, a classic signing also triggers a recruitment charge, on a rising scale. In the first division the first, second and third classic signings through the end of February are 2,500, 10,000 and 15,000 euros. A classic signing from 1 to 31 March, when the club still has one of its three changes unused, is 15,000, then 25,000, then 30,000 euros. In the second division the February scale is 1,000, 5,000 and 7,500 euros, and the March scale is 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 euros. A medical replacement does not trigger the charge unless it is later converted into a classic contract. These are amounts the club pays into a pot the league redistributes. They are not the player's salary. Articles 93, 94 and 101 (PDF)

A reported range from a placement company or a dated survey is stored, and labelled as not official, on the league pages and in the salary table. Use it only with that label. It is not repeated here as a league fact. First-year salaries is the page for entry-level ranges in other countries. Women's ranges, where a source exists, are on women's salaries.

Two sentences change how you read an offer.

• Housing, a car and flights are contract terms. The rules cited here do not promise them. If the item is not in the contract, it is not in the deal. Contract checklist →
• US tax is a separate return. US taxes on an overseas salary is that page. This page does not state a French income-tax rate.

Our index tags housing as "usually" included on these French leagues. That tag is an editorial estimate. It is not a clause in the LNB or FFBB regulations.

The agent's commission is still a contract of its own. If an agent was involved in the LNB contract, the homologation file has to include the service agreement and the fee agreement between the agent and the club or the player. The cap on agent pay, under FIBA's regulations, is explained in agent fees. It is not a fee you wire before anyone offers. Agent documents in the file (PDF)

Season calendar

The season is a northern winter that runs into the spring. The LNB sports commission can still move a game, on 15 days' notice outside the playoffs and cases of force majeure. Plan off the dates the LNB and the FFBB have published, and recheck the league site before you book a flight.

A letter in November is a replacement conversation, if a club still has one of its three changes and your passport can fill an open spot. It is not the start of the season. From 1 July until 23:59:59 on the day before round 1, qualification is open. From round 1 through the last day of February, a club may qualify at most three more players, and that three includes medical replacements and loans. The complete file has to reach the LNB by 23:59:59 on the last day of February. From 1 March through the last regular-season round, the window is two medical replacements. If the club has not used its three changes, it may still make one classic signing, with the file in by 23:59:59 on 31 March. From the finals, no new player qualification. A first professional contract for a player already licensed at that club is a separate case and is not one of the three changes. A player who is licensed at a federal club during the current season cannot sign with an LNB club mid-season. Qualification windows, Articles 87 to 91 (PDF)

The tryouts and camps calendar does not list an official Betclic Élite, Élite 2 or Nationale 1 open tryout. If a camp sells "French league exposure," read when a tryout helps and the legit checklist before you pay.

The residence title, after a real offer

Paid basketball for a player who is not an EU or EEA citizen is work. For that player, the LNB homologation file has to include the residence title, or the application for a residence title, that authorises work. The club sends a copy of the letter and proof it was sent, or a copy of the email. The final title then has to reach the LNB before 31 December for a player signed in the off-season, before 31 March for a player signed between round 1 and the last game of the first half, and before the last regular-season game for a player signed between the first return game and the last day of February. A missing document can cost the club 250 euros per player. That fine is not a fee you pay a person to "get the visa." Residence title, Article 100 (PDF)

The wider sequence, including why a short visit is not a season, is the visa guide. We do not copy a government fee. The French league documents cited here do not print one either.

• The club is the employer on the file. The LNB asks the club for the contract and for the residence-title application. There is no honest way to hold the residence title first and shop it to clubs.
• A short stay is not the document these rules name. The document they name is a residence title that authorises work, or the application for that title.
• Do not wire a "visa fee" to a person. Any government charge belongs on the channel that country's official site names. An agent who invoices you for the visa, before or instead of a contract, is the problem described in agent fees.

A move from a foreign federation also needs the exit letter that federation issues. The LNB calls it a lettre de sortie and puts it in the qualification file. A FIBA Letter of Clearance is the basketball transfer document. It is not the residence title. The LNB articles cited here do not print a FIBA transfer fee, so this page does not invent one. Exit letter, Article 101 (PDF)

How to get seen

Clubs fill the spots above with film and a contract, not with a form on this website. The order that matches the calendar:

1. Pick the tier your last season supports. An outside-the-annex place on a Betclic Élite scoresheet is not a general tryout. Élite 2's two outside-the-annex places are the realistic pro rung for a US-only passport, and they are two spots. Nationale 1's one orange licence is the rung under that. If you are earlier than any offer, playing overseas after college is the wider page. Best countries is the comparison if France is only one idea.
2. Send the film package this site already describes. A short reel plus full games, in the form the highlight-reel guide sets, and a one-page player résumé with your real passport, your height in both units, and links that open with no login. Write the league you played. Write the passport you hold today. Leave "French eligible," "JFL" and "EU eligible" off the sheet unless the passport or the four FFBB seasons are already true.
3. Use an agent the file can name, or write to the club yourself. How to get an agent is the process. The agent directory is the public list on this site. If an agent is on the LNB contract, the homologation file names that agent. Check the licence on FIBA's directory before the name goes on your résumé. A short email to a coach, with the résumé linked, is the direct version. It is not a guarantee anyone writes back.
4. Time it off the dates above. The 2026-27 season is already open. A full-season conversation for the following year waits on the next registration window, which opens on 1 July. The three-change window runs through the end of February and is still a club decision. The free Pro Pathway Starter Kit is the short PDF of the league hierarchy and the first two Playbook chapters if you want the wider map in one file.
5. Read the offer before you book the flight. Currency, gross or net, housing, US tax, the exit, and who files the residence title. Contract checklist → What you spend before anyone offers, including a flight you should keep refundable, is what it costs to play overseas.

What to ignore

• A guaranteed Betclic Élite contract, a guaranteed outside-the-annex spot, or a camp that claims the league will attend because you paid.
• A salary quote that treats the 1,200-euro JNFL charge, a recruitment charge, or a 30,000-euro fine as your pay. Those articles do not publish a player salary.
• Anyone who says a US passport counts as locally trained, or that any European passport fills the four JFL contracts. The test is four seasons at an FFBB club between 12 and 21. A European passport is a different label, and it matters for the five-player and two-player caps.
• Anyone who says Betclic Élite and Élite 2 use the same import rule. Betclic Élite prints six non-locally-trained players, five from outside the annex. Élite 2 prints four, two from outside the annex.
• Anyone who says a US passport is a yellow licence in Nationale 1. Article 407 makes that passport orange, unless the four FFBB seasons are already true. Two yellow licences and one orange licence cannot be on the same sheet.
• Anyone who says AAU or college years make you a JFL or turn an orange licence green. The test is registration at an FFBB club in the years Article 108 and Article 407 name.
• Anyone who says you can sign with an LNB club in November because you are already playing in Nationale 1. A player licensed at a federal club during the current season cannot contract mid-season with an LNB club.
• A residence title arranged before the offer, or a plan to play the season on a short-stay visa. The visa guide is the line on that.
• An agent fee paid upfront to be "submitted to France." Once a real playing contract exists, the cap on agent pay is in agent fees. It is not a listing fee. The 1,200 euros and the recruitment charges are club payments to the LNB, not a commission.

FAQ

How do you play pro basketball in France?

The men's ladder is Betclic Élite, the LNB first division, then Élite 2, the LNB second division, then Nationale Masculine 1, run by the FFBB. On a Betclic Élite scoresheet, non-locally-trained players are capped at six, and at most five of those six may hold the sporting nationality of a country outside the LNB's FIBA Europe, Samoa and EU-agreement list. Élite 2 caps non-locally-trained players at four, and at most two of those four may come from outside that list. Nationale 1 allows either two yellow licences and no orange, or one yellow and one orange. A US-only adult passport is outside that list, and it is an orange licence in Nationale 1. There is no open tryout on this site. Clubs sign from film and an agent, after an offer.

How many foreign players can a French team sign?

Foreign is not one category. The LNB splits players into locally trained (JFL) and not locally trained (JNFL). A JNFL whose country is on the annex (FIBA Europe, a Samoa signatory, or one of seven states with an EU association or cooperation agreement) is a different spot from a JNFL whose country is not on that annex. The United States is not on the annex the LNB prints, and it is not on the FFBB annexes that use the same lists. Betclic Élite allows at most six JNFL on the scoresheet, five of them from outside the annex. Élite 2 allows at most four JNFL, two of them from outside the annex. In Nationale 1 the same American passport is one orange licence, and taking that orange spot leaves room for only one yellow licence.

What is the difference between Betclic Élite, Élite 2 and Nationale 1?

Betclic Élite is the LNB first division. The 2026-27 regulations relegate the 16th-placed club and send the 15th into the Élite 2 promotion playoffs, and an interrupted-season section refers to the 16 teams of the first division. Each club plays the others home and away. The top six go straight to the playoffs. Places 7 to 10 play a single-game play-in for the last two playoff spots. Élite 2 is the LNB second division. The LNB's 2026-27 calendar article counts 20 clubs. Places 19 and 20 go down to the federal championships. The regular-season winner is champion and earns the sporting right to Betclic Élite. A second club comes out of the promotion playoffs. Nationale 1 is the FFBB third division. For 2026-27 the particular regulation organises 28 teams in two pools of 14. The 31 July 2026 calendar article says 27 teams are entered, with pool A at 13 and a bye each round.

How much do players in the French leagues make?

The LNB administrative and competition regulations, and the FFBB Nationale 1 particular regulation, do not print a player salary, a salary cap, or a minimum wage in the articles. Article 80 of the LNB administrative regulation says pay is set by the professional basketball collective agreement, and the LNB publishes that agreement's avenants as scans. This page does not transcribe a figure from a scan, does not invent an import range, and does not convert anything into US dollars. Euro amounts in the articles this page quotes are club charges, license fees and fines, not a paycheck. A reported range on the salary table is labelled as not official.

When is basketball season in France?

A sporting season at the LNB runs from 1 July to 30 June. The FULFIL Supercoupe is 19 and 20 September 2026 at Roland-Garros. Betclic Élite's first round is the weekend of 25 to 27 September 2026. Élite 2's first round is Friday 25 September 2026. Élite 2's play-in is 18 to 22 May 2027, and its promotion playoffs run from 23 May to 15 June 2027. Nationale 1 phase 1 runs from 18 September 2026 to 19 February 2027. Phase 2 runs from 5 March to 7 May 2027. The published playoff windows are 14, 21 and 23 May, then 28 May, 4 and 6 June, then 11, 18 and 20 June 2027, and the FFBB says those dates can still move.

Do I need a visa to play basketball in France?

If you are not an EU or EEA national, the LNB will not complete the file without a residence title, or the application for one, that lets you work. The final title has its own deadlines: 31 December for an interseason signing, 31 March for a player signed between round 1 and the last game of the first half, and the last regular-season game for a player signed between the first return game and the end of February. A season is a job, not a short visit. This is not legal advice. The government pages we can cite are on the visa guide.

Can a college player get a Betclic Élite contract?

A US college career does not make you a locally trained player. The LNB test is four seasons licensed, and playing, at an FFBB club between the ages of 12 and 21 inclusive. The FFBB uses the same four seasons for a green licence. Our entry-friendliness estimate for Betclic Élite is 2/5. The published spot for a US-only passport is one of at most five outside-the-annex places on a Betclic Élite scoresheet, one of at most two in Élite 2, or the single orange licence in Nationale 1. Those are still scarce jobs.