Vive le foot

le championnat = championship, which in France (as in most of Europe) can only mean one thing: football! (a.k.a proper football, a.k.a. soccer).

The word is (quite obviously) derived from un champion (pronounced sh-an-pee-on) / une championne which means (quite obviously again) a champion.

If you're not following France's championship, I don't blame you, it can be both boring (Lyon coming first seven years in a row?) and exciting - like this year, with next week-end's games deciding both the 1st place (between Lyon and Bordeaux) and the last team falling to second division (between Lens, Toulouse and Paris-Saint Germain).