France Women

France reached two Olympic finals inside twelve years and lost both, to the United States in London in 2012 and again to the same opponent in Paris in 2024, the second time in front of their own crowd. Between those two silvers sat a bronze at the Tokyo Games in 2020, so three Olympic podiums running became the measure of a team that had never previously stood that close to gold. The one final France did win came earlier and closer to home, at EuroBasket Women in 2009, a title that gave the squad of that era its own nickname, "Les Braqueuses". They had already won the continental title once before, in 2001, and have finished runners-up at the tournament eight times since 1970, more often than they have finished on top.

Isabelle Fijalkowski remains the side's all-time leading scorer, a distinction that carried her into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2020 and into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2026. Céline Dumerc, who captained France through the 2009 breakthrough, now runs the programme as general manager, with Jean-Aimé Toupane back in charge of the bench since September 2024 after Valérie Garnier's spell in the role. Spain used to have the upper hand over France in major tournaments until the 2013 EuroBasket semi-final broke that pattern, a result repeated at the following year's World Cup.

France plays its biggest home dates at the Accor Arena in Paris, a 20,300-seat venue it does not hold exclusively, splitting FIBA fixtures across the country. The squad trains at the Centre Fédéral de Basket-Ball, based at INSEP in Paris. Administration passed from the French Federation of Women's Sports to the French Basketball Federation in 1936, and the team played its first match under the new federation on 13 October 1938, a 43–18 win over Switzerland that opened the record books the side has spent the decades since trying to fill.