©Fise_hurricaneThe Agency|Thomas AULAGNER

Montpellier one of France's leading sports city

Montpellier offers sports enthusiasts a wide variety of disciplines.

It is impossible if you like sport to be bored at the weekend!

MHSC, MHB, MHR, MRC, BLMA …. There are many high-level sports clubs for men and women!

For many years, Montpellier has been the only French metropolis outside Paris to be present in the sporting elite of the main team sports.

We explain why Montpellier is one of France’s leading sports city.

1. Montpellier's Club Awards

In Montpellier, men’s and women’s clubs have several times written their names on the list of French sports awards.

Among the most recent results:

MHR (rugby) won the TOP14 for the first time in its history in 2022 against Castres after being runner-up in the French championship in 2018
MHSC-VB (volleyball) win the French championship in 2022
MRC (women’s rugby) won the French championship two years running in 2018 and 2019
MHB (handball) is crowned European champion in 2018
MHSC (football) won the French Championship in 2012
BLMA (women’s basketball) won the French Cup in 2021 after a Eurocup final in 2019

2. One of the biggest event: FISE

Born in Montpellier 20 years ago, the FISE (International Festival of Extreme Sports) is flooding the city and the world with its freestyle culture.

In 1995, in his student room at Sup de Co Montpellier, Hervé André-Benoit was working on his final year project.
The idea was to create a festival of extreme sports, which would bring together the best riders in disciplines as varied as BMX, skateboarding, wakeboarding, rollerblading and even scootering.

Twenty years later, FISE has become the most popular event in the city. FISE is ranked as the 3rd most popular French sports event after the Tour de France and the Vendée Globe.

Every year in May, it brings together more than 500,000 people on the banks of the Lez. More than 400 riders from 50 countries demonstrate their talents.

For the past three years, its Fise World circuit has been extended to Andorra, China and Malaysia.

A success story made in Montpellier.

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3. Women's elite teams

In Montpellier, sport is also a women’s story. The women basketball players of the BLMA were for the first time French champions in 2014, after defeating the invincible Bourges in an epic match. They also won the 2015-2016 French championship, the 2020-2021 French Cup and the 2021-2022 Champions Trophy.

The rugbywomen of the MHR, nicknamed the ladybirds, had already lifted the famous Brennus shield 5 times between 2007 and 2015, and many of them have been a great success for the French rugby team, like its captain Gaëlle Mignot. More recently, they achieved the double French championship in Fédérale 1 and Elite 1 Féminines in 2019.

As for the MHSC footballers, they form a young and talented team that has been crowned French champions twice.

The club, which has been playing in the first division for almost two decades, has also supplied many players to the national team. This is why Montpellier was one of the host cities for the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

4. Montpellier, training city for the 2024 Olympic Games

With its strong culture of extreme sports, Montpellier has been chosen to host the training site for the French BMX Freestyle team in preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

A 9,000m2 skatepark with dirt track, pumptrack, BMX frestyle park and more is being built on the former Grammont site. At the beginning of 2022, Montpellier will have the largest site in Europe.

In addition, many local sportsmen and women are dreaming of the Paris Games, such as Kévin Meyer (Décathlon), Marion Torrent (football), Antony JeanJean (BMX), Valentin Porte (handball) and Nicolas le Goff (volleyball).

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5. The quality of the infrastructure

Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, Sète Agglopôle Méditerranée and the Communauté de Communes de Millau Grands Causses have remarkable sports facilities and natural and maritime sites, which are particularly well suited to the practice of numerous disciplines such as swimming (pool and open water swimming), athletics, urban sports (BMX, climbing, breaking…) and outdoor sports (kayaking, mountain biking…).

And every weekend we see the same procession. From all over the city, thousands of fans flock to the various sports venues.

The FDI Stadium (Former Palais des Sports René Bougnol) for handball, the GGL Stadium for rugby, the Mosson for football, the Palais des Sports de Lattes for women’s basketball, but also the Végapolis ice rink for hockey or the Palais des Sports Pierre de Coubertin for volleyball and men’s basketball.

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