Topend Sports Logo

The Francophone Games

The event ‘Francophone Games’ known in the French as “Jeux de la Francophonie” is a mixture of sports and arts, held by French-speaking nations and former colonies of France around the world. The event is held every four years, with 45 French-speaking nations taking part. It is not only an event; it is more than a competition as it is a medium of cultural exchange as well.



The event traces its history from the 1970’s when it was formally planned, and launched in 1989. Since then it has been arranged by the French-speaking nations, and is comparable to the Commonwealth Games. That is because the history shows that there is a long story of challenge between the British and the French in the cases of both politics and culture.

Along with Canada and France, participants from the countries of Europe, Middle East and Africa take part in the Francophone Games. About 4000 participants from 49 nations took part in the 2017 Games.

The participating countries send their best athletes to this Olympic-style competition. It is not only an athletic competition but also an artistic one. All the nations present their culture by practicing poetry, songs, and dances of their own style. Thus, the cultural diversity of same language speaking people represented by the competitors shows the vastness of the difference among the nations not only of the French-speaking region but also the whole world.

Hosts

Edition Year Host city
X 2027 Yerevan, Armenia
IX 2023 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
VIII 2017 Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
VII 2013 Nice, France
VI 2009 Beirut, Lebanon
V 2005 Niamey, Niger
IV 2001 Ottawa–Gatineau, Canada
III 1997 Antananarivo, Madagascar
II 1994 Paris, Évry & Bondoufle, France
I 1989 Casablanca & Rabat, Morocco


Related Pages

send us a comment Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.

Major Events Extra

The largest sporting event in the world is the Olympic Games, but there are many other multi-sport games. In terms of single sport events, nothing beats the FIFA World Cup. To see what's coming up, check out the calendar of major sporting events.

 → How to Cite