Première Ligue 26/27 Preview

The WSL enters 2026/27 at a fascinating moment. The league is expanding, superclubs continue to spend aggressively, and a record number of Canadians are positioned to play key roles in the title race and beyond. The season kicks off this Friday, with London City vs Manchester United.

Olympique Lyonnais remain the team to beat, but Paris FC, PSG, and a growing chasing pack are hoping a new era of professionalization will bring greater parity to France's top flight.

The Première Ligue is France’s highest tier of professional women’s soccer. Previously known as Division 1 Féminine and later D1 Arkema, the league was founded in 1975 and is organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). However, it was not fully professionalized until the 2009/10 season, and even so, investment among clubs varies. The league underwent a major restructuring in 2024, expanding from two divisions into a three-tier system. The federation also invested in a rebrand and announced further professionalization.

The Première Ligue is currently ranked as the third best women’s league in Europe, below England and Spain. As for the top clubs, the most successful one is the current titleholder Olympique Lyonnais. The 18-time champions won a record 14 consecutive titles from 2007 to 2020 and have added five more since 2021. They have also won eight UWCL titles, though none since 2021/22.

Their biggest rival, Paris Saint-Germain, have struggled to compete with OL over the past few seasons, in part due to a big re-build, and actually finished third behind local rivals Paris FC last season. Paris FC therefore qualified for the Champions League and has produced several notable performances in recent seasons, including upsetting Arsenal and beating Real Madrid twice in the 23/24 UWCL. Expect the three clubs to compete for the Championship with an edge for OL due to having a stronger squad.

The fight for the “best of the rest” tends to be highly competitive, with Nantes, Fleury, Montpellier, Dijon, and Reims all recording top-four finishes in recent years. A top-four finish is more important than ever, as it secures a place in the league's playoff system, a recent innovation introduced by the LFFP.

The league features 12 teams with each team playing every other team twice, once at home and once away. To increase the league’s competitiveness, the Première Ligue adopted an end-of-season play-off format two years ago. Now, the top four regular season finishers play single-match elimination games where 1st plays 4th and 2nd plays 3rd. The winners of the semi-finals then square off for the Trophée des Championnes a week later. The bottom two teams are relegated to the Seconde Ligue.

Three teams qualify for UWCL; the first-place regular season and play-off winning teams automatically qualify for the group stages while a third team enters the Qualification rounds.

Another trophy up for grabs is the Coupe de France Fèminine. It’s given to the winner of the season-long cup tournament for all professional and non-professional women’s teams in France.  

The Première Ligue has been home to some of Canada’s biggest stars– such as Kadeisha Buchanan, Vanessa Gilles, Jordyn Huitema and Ashley Lawrence– but is also a great landing spot for our developing talent. Currently, five Canadians play in France’s top division, while four compete in the Seconde Ligue.

Évelyne Viens is ready to make an impact in the Première Ligue once again. Following a brief but highly successful loan spell with Paris FC in 2020/21, during which she recorded 11 goals and four assists in just seven starts, the striker returns to the French capital with high expectations. She has featured prominently in the club's marketing ahead of the season and appears central to their plans. Viens started all of Paris FC's pre-season matches and found the scoresheet against Aston Villa as the club prepares to challenge for domestic honours and compete in the UWCL League Phase. Few Canadian players have chosen their moves as carefully or produced as consistently as the L'Ancienne-Lorette native.

Ashley Lawrence is one of the most notable CanWNT players in France this season. After seven seasons and 157 appearances for PSG, Lawrence crossed one of the biggest divides in French football when she joined Lyon last summer following a 2.5 year interlude at Chelsea. The 31-year-old fullback immediately became an important part of Lyon's plans, making 31 appearances across all competitions while contributing a goal and four assists. Most crucially, she started and went the distance in key matches including the UWCL knockouts and final, Coupe de France Final, and Playoff final. With a big year ahead of her with the CanWNT, another stellar season with OL will go a long way in ensuring she is not only on the plane to Brazil, but a key starter once again.

Few Canadians face a bigger season than Florianne Jourde. After a debut campaign largely spent on the fringes of PSG's starting XI, she now has the chance to establish herself as a regular contributor in the second year of her three year contract with the Paris club. The former USC Trojan and U20 YNT Captain played 24 matches but made only 5 starts across all competitions in 25/26. With PSG's midfield group largely unchanged, Jourde should have a legitimate opportunity to build on her debut campaign and push for a larger role. She can play both as an eight or a ten and has excellent vision and the ability to play the decisive ball. 

Emily Burns enters 2026/27 with perhaps her best chance yet of breaking into Canada's World Cup squad. After helping Nantes surprise many observers with a fourth-place finish last season, the veteran shot stopper now takes on a new challenge at Olympique Marseille. This will be her sixth in France, with prior stops in Nantes, Saint Etienne and Dijon. The former MacEwan Griffon started every match and was nominated for Goalkeeper of the Year for a third consecutive season. The 28-yo from Sherwood Park, AB made her first CanWNT camp in October 2025 and joined Stoney’s squad on two other occasions, but did not feature. If she continues her upward trajectory in 2026/27, she has a realistic chance of claiming the vacant third goalkeeper spot at the WC next summer.

Taylor Beitz is another in a long line of talented Canadian goalkeepers abroad. The Arkansas alumni from Ottawa enters her sixth season in France, but her first as the starter for a first division club. After establishing herself as one of the Seconde Ligue's most reliable goalkeepers over the past two seasons with Lille, Beitz now gets the opportunity to test herself at the highest level with Le Havre.

As for the Canucks hoping to impress in the Seconde Ligue, keep an eye on Le Mans duo Anyssa Ibrahim and Roxanne Vilain, both from Montreal, who represent Haiti on the international stage. Vilain is a defender and a recent graduate of Western Virginia University. Ibrahim starts her second season in France, and her fourth as a pro. 

Mikayla Dayes is an experienced dual-national forward in the second division (15 goals and 5 assists 61 appearances). She laces up for Metz and the Jamaican national team. 

Last but not least, midfielder Maya Ladhani, who recorded 19 appearances, one goal, and three assists in 2025 enters her third season with Thonan-Evian.

The easiest way to watch games in Canada is through FFF.tv for free, however, they don’t have the broadcast rights to all of the games and tend to lose out on the matches with the higher-ranked teams to paid broadcasters. You’ll need a VPN and a Canal+ or DAZN subscription for these. Canal+ subscriptions start from 20€ a month.