The Most Famous

RUGBY PLAYERS from France

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This page contains a list of the greatest French Rugby Players. The pantheon dataset contains 35 Rugby Players, 10 of which were born in France. This makes France the birth place of the 6th most number of Rugby Players behind Fiji, and United States.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary French Rugby Players of all time. This list of famous French Rugby Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of French Rugby Players.

Photo of André Rischmann

1. André Rischmann (1882 - 1955)

With an HPI of 54.88, André Rischmann is the most famous French Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

André Félix Rischmann (26 January 1882 in Paris – 9 November 1955 in Paris) was a French rugby union player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the French rugby union team, which won the gold medal.

Photo of Sébastien Chabal

2. Sébastien Chabal (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 54.23, Sébastien Chabal is the 2nd most famous French Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Sébastien Chabal (born 8 December 1977) is a French former rugby union player. He played number eight and lock for Bourgoin (1998–2004), Sale Sharks (2004–2009), Racing Métro 92 Paris (2009 – February 2012), and for the French national team. Chabal played professionally for 16 years and won the English Premiership with Sale, and the 2007 Six Nations Championship with France. He also finished in fourth place at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He earned his first international cap on 4 March 2000 against Scotland, and represented France in 62 games. He is known for his full beard, long hair and ferocious tackling, leading the French rugby fans to nickname him l'Homme des Cavernes (Caveman). With this look, he has a number of lucrative commercial contracts. He was one of the most popular sportsmen in France, so much that local journalists wrote about Chabalmania.

Photo of Auguste Giroux

3. Auguste Giroux (1874 - 1953)

With an HPI of 53.69, Auguste Giroux is the 3rd most famous French Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Auguste Paul Almire Giroux (29 July 1874 in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, Loiret – 9 August 1953 in Portel-des-Corbières, Aude) was a French rugby union player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the French rugby union team, which won the gold medal.

Photo of Léon Binoche

4. Léon Binoche (1878 - 1962)

With an HPI of 50.48, Léon Binoche is the 4th most famous French Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Léon Binoche (16 August 1878 – 28 August 1962) was a French rugby union player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the French rugby union team, which won the gold medal. His great-niece is the actress Juliette Binoche.

Photo of Antoine Dupont

5. Antoine Dupont (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 41.45, Antoine Dupont is the 5th most famous French Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Antoine Dupont (born 15 November 1996) is a French professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Top 14 club Toulouse and captains the France national team. Dupont has won 39 individual accolades in his career, including the World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year award in 2021 and the World Rugby Men's Sevens Player of the Year in 2024. He is the first French player to win the Men’s Sevens World Rugby Player of the Year award. He is also the first and only rugby player ever to have won both the Men’s 15s and the Men’s Sevens World Rugby Player of the Year awards in one's career. He has also won a shared record of three Six Nations Player of the Championships, the most by a French player. Dupont has won 11 major competitions in his career: five Top 14 titles, two European Rugby Champions Cup, two Six Nations Championship including one Six Nations Grand Slam, the 2023–24 SVNS and the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics men's rugby sevens tournament in Paris.

Photo of Dimitri Yachvili

6. Dimitri Yachvili (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 38.44, Dimitri Yachvili is the 6th most famous French Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Dimitri Yachvili Markarian (born 19 September 1980) is a French former rugby union footballer who played as a scrum-half for Biarritz and France. He played for France from 2002 to 2012, earning 61 caps and scoring 373 points. With them he played in the final of the 2011 World Cup losing to New Zealand and won two Grand Slams in 2004 and 2010. In club rugby, he won a European Cup in 2012 and played in two European Cup finals in 2006 and 2010 with Biarritz. With this club, he also won two French championship titles in 2005 and 2006. With his previous club, Gloucester, he was champion of England in 2002. After the end of his playing career, he became a rugby consultant, a career he began while still a player.

Photo of Vincent Clerc

7. Vincent Clerc (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 38.34, Vincent Clerc is the 7th most famous French Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Vincent Clerc (born 7 May 1981) is a former French professional rugby union player who played on the wing.

Photo of Morgan Parra

8. Morgan Parra (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 34.63, Morgan Parra is the 8th most famous French Rugby Player.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Morgan Parra (born 15 November 1988) is a former French rugby union player who played as a scrum-half and occasionally fly-half. He played most of his career with Clermont Auvergne after signing for them from Bourgoin. He is of Portuguese origin through his father, Antonio.

Photo of Fanny Horta

9. Fanny Horta (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 33.98, Fanny Horta is the 9th most famous French Rugby Player.  Her biography has been translated into 11 different languages.

Fanny Horta (born 22 January 1986) is a rugby union player. She represented France at the 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup, and 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup. She captained France at the 2014 China Women's Sevens. She was selected as a member of France's women's national rugby sevens team to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Lina Guérin

10. Lina Guérin (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 33.02, Lina Guérin is the 10th most famous French Rugby Player.  Her biography has been translated into 12 different languages.

Lina Guérin (French pronunciation: [lina ɡeʁɛ̃]; born 16 April 1991) is a French rugby union player. She was a member of the France women's national rugby sevens team to the 2016 Summer Olympics. She has played in 22 matches in the Women's Sevens Series so far, made 12 tries and scored 60 points.

People

Pantheon has 14 people classified as French rugby players born between 1874 and 1996. Of these 14, 11 (78.57%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living French rugby players include Sébastien Chabal, Antoine Dupont, and Dimitri Yachvili. The most famous deceased French rugby players include André Rischmann, Auguste Giroux, and Léon Binoche. As of April 2024, 4 new French rugby players have been added to Pantheon including Antoine Dupont, Dimitri Yachvili, and Vincent Clerc.

Living French Rugby Players

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Deceased French Rugby Players

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Newly Added French Rugby Players (2025)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Rugby Players were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Rugby Players since 1700.