L'Équipe (French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football (soccer), rugby, motorsports and cycling. Its ancestor was L'Auto, a general sports paper, whose name reflected not any narrow interest but the excitement of the time in car racing.

L'Auto originated the Tour de France cycling stage race in 1903 as a circulation booster. The race leader's yellow jersey (maillot jaune) was instituted in 1919, probably to reflect the distinctive yellow newsprint on which L'Auto was published. The competition that would eventually become the UEFA Champions League was also the brainchild of a l'Equipe journalist, Gabriel Hanot.

L'Auto and therefore L'Équipe owed its life to a 19th-century French scandal involving soldier Alfred Dreyfus - the Dreyfus affair. With overtones of anti-semitism and post-war paranoia, Dreyfus was accused of selling secrets to France's old enemy, the Germans.

As different sides of society insisted he was guilty or innocent - he was eventually cleared but only after rigged trials had banished him to an island prison camp - the split came close to civil war and still have their echoes in modern French society.

Didier Claude Deschamps (French pronunciation: [didje deˈʃɑ̃]; born 15 October 1968 in Bayonne) is a retired French footballer and current manager of Marseille. He played as a defensive midfielder. As an international, he assisted France with victories in the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. Deschamps captained France to victory in the 1998 World Cup final against Brazil. After a short passage at rugby in the Biarritz Olympique Deschamps started his football career at an amateur club, Aviron Bayonnais whilst still at school. His potential was spotted by scouts from Nantes, for whom he signed in April 1983. Deschamps made his league debut on 27 September 1985. Transferred to Marseille in 1989, Deschamps spent a season with Bordeaux in 1990 before returning to Marseille. In this second spell with Marseille Deschamps gained his first honours.

Receiving his first international call-up from Michel Platini on 29 April 1989 against Yugoslavia, Deschamps started his international career in what was a dark time for the French team as they failed to qualify for the World Cup in both 1990 and 1994. When new team coach Aimé Jacquet began to rebuild the team for Euro 1996, he initially selected Eric Cantona as captain. After Cantona earned a year-long suspension in January 1995, the make-up of the team changed dramatically, with veterans Cantona, Jean-Pierre Papin, and David Ginola being dropped in favour of younger players such as Zinedine Zidane. Deschamps, as one of the few remaining veterans, was chosen to lead what would later be called the "Golden Generation". He first captained France in 1996 in a friendly match against Germany as a warmup for Euro 96. During that tournament, held in England, he led them all the way to the semi-finals, their best finish in an international tournament since the 1986 World Cup. In 1998, Deschamps captained France as they won 1998 World Cup on home soil in Paris, holding an integral role in the team.

Cheba Zahouania (also spelled Chaba, born Halima Mazzi May 15th 1959) is an Algerian-born singer known for raï music. She has lived in France since her singing partner, Cheb Hasni, was murdered in 1994.

Halima Mazzi was born in Oran, Algeria, in 1959. Under the name Chaba Zahouania, she became a popular singer of raï, a hybrid folk music style. In 1986, five years after the start of her career, she achieved recognition with her performance of "Khâli ya khâli" (My uncle, oh, my uncle) with Cheb Hamid.

During the summer of 1987, Zahouania recorded "Beraka" ("The Shack"), with Cheb Hasni which was considered provocative by Algerian standards, gaining them attention. The success of the song made Hasni famous and added to Zahouania's fame, although the song remained controversial with critics and Islamic fundamentalists who were already concerned over the popularity of the Raï genre.

Hasni was murdered in Oran on 29 September 1994. Zahouania left Algeria and went to live in France. Cheba Zahouania's father still lives in nador, Morocco.

Sébastien Loeb (born 26 February 1974 in Haguenau, Alsace) is a French rally driver currently driving for the Citroën World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He has won the world championship a record eight times in a row, and also holds several other WRC records, including most points, wins and podium finishes.

Originally a gymnast, Loeb switched to rallying in 1995 and won the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. Signed by the Citroën factory team for the 2002 season, he and co-driver Daniel Elena took their debut WRC win that same year at the Rallye Deutschland. After finishing runner-up to Petter Solberg by one point in 2003, Loeb took his first drivers' title in 2004. Continuing with Citroën, he went on to take a record eighth consecutive world title in 2011. Loeb is a tarmac expert, having won all but three WRC rallies on that surface since 2005.

Besides his success in rallying, Loeb is a three-time winner at the Race of Champions, after taking home the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy and the title "Champion of Champions" in 2003, 2005 and 2008. In 2004, he won the Nations' Cup for France with Jean Alesi. In 2006, he finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2009, Loeb was made knight of the Légion d'honneur.