FFTT Extends Feminisation Programme Nationwide, Sets Funding Targets for 2025

France's table tennis federation put €100,000 behind its gender push and launched a leadership club seeded by just 21 women, capping a year in which feminisation was the FFTT's declared top federal priority.

The French Table Tennis Federation (FFTT) marked International Women's Day on 8 March by reaffirming its "Jeu, Set & Féminisation" programme, following a special showcase week that ran from 2 to 6 March 2026 and spotlighted club-level initiatives across the country. The timing was deliberate: 2025 had been formally declared a year dedicated to feminisation, elevated to the status of a major federal cause, and the federation used the International Women's Day moment to signal the drive was accelerating rather than winding down.

The centrepiece of the 2025 effort was the "Jeu, Set et Féminisation Tour de France," a nationwide programme that sent federation representatives to meet clubs, leaders and players with a single brief: promote a more inclusive practice of table tennis. The tour ran throughout 2025, though the full itinerary of regional stops has not been publicly detailed.

In summer 2025 the FFTT turned promotional momentum into funding commitments, mobilising its league and club network through a call for projects aimed at encouraging the reception, participation and coaching of women. The stated objective was to increase both the number and proportion of female licence holders in clubs while stimulating concrete and sustainable initiatives at the grassroots. That call resulted in €100,000 in financial support being allocated across the network, though a breakdown of how many projects were funded or the average award size has not yet been released.

Running alongside the funding push is the "Club of 300 Female Leaders," co-launched by the FFTT together with 21 women. The club is linked to a CNOSF training programme designed to encourage women's involvement in local, regional and federal sports governance, with a clear structural target attached: gender parity in FFTT regional governing bodies by 2028. The programme's explicit function is to promote networking and the sharing of experiences among women working toward that deadline, and the name itself signals scale, with the 21 founding members representing only the opening chapter of what the federation wants to grow into a cohort of 300.

The 2028 parity target gives the programme a concrete accountability marker that distinguishes it from broader aspirational language common in sports governance pledges. Whether the FFTT publishes annual progress metrics against that goal will determine how closely the table tennis community can track whether the €100,000 investment and the leadership pipeline are actually moving the needle on female licence numbers and governance representation.