French Football's 3 Hilarious April Fools Pranks

Montpellier’s manager Rolland Courbis pretended to resign on the morning of April 1, 2014, sparking a flurry of disbelief before revealing it was a joke. In 2021, the club announced pop‑star Patrick Bruel as its sporting director, a move that left fans laughing at the absurdity. And in 2022, former France coach Raymond Domenech was listed as the manager of US Reventin’s third team in the fourth tier of the district leagues, another tongue‑in‑cheek prank.

These pranks are part of a long‑standing French football tradition that turns the sport into a playground for humor on April 1.