1972 in France

Incumbents

• President: Georges Pompidou
• Prime Minister: Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Pierre Messmer

  Events

• January - Launch of the Renault 5, one of the world's first small hatchbacks.
• 23 April - French European Economic Community enlargement referendum, voters approved the accession of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, and Norway to the EEC.
• 16 June - 108 die as two passenger trains hit debris of a collapsed railway tunnel near Soissons.
• 1 July - Canadian ketch Vega, flying the Greenpeace III banner, collides with the French naval minesweeper La Paimpolaise while in international waters to protest French nuclear weapon tests in the South Pacific.
• October - The Peugeot 104, the smallest four-door car in the world, is launched.
• 28 October - The first flight of the Airbus A300, the first airliner built by Airbus.

  Sport

• 1 July - Tour de France begins.
• 22 July - Tour de France ends, won by Eddy Merckx of Belgium.

  Births

January to March

• 1 January - Lilian Thuram, international soccer player.
• 4 January - Sylvain Deplace, soccer player.
• 9 January - Frédéric Bessy, cyclist.
• 17 January - Olivier Sourgens, rugby union player.
• 18 January - Bruno Alicarte, soccer player.
• 22 January - Yves Demaria, motocross racer.
• 8 February - Mathieu Verschuère, soccer player.
• 17 February - Philippe Candeloro, figure skater.
• 22 February - Laurence Leboucher, mountain bike and cyclo-cross racer.
• 3 March - Jacques Rémy, soccer player.
• 8 March - Nicolas Fargues, novelist.
• 12 March - Laurent Dufresne, soccer player.
• 22 March
• *Jocelyn Gourvennec, soccer player.
• *Christophe Revault, soccer player.
• 23 March - Judith Godrèche, actress and author.
• 24 March - Christophe Dugarry, soccer player.
• 25 March - Sébastien Flute, archer and Olympic gold medallist.
• 27 March - Agathe de La Fontaine, actress.
• 29 March - Cédric Lécluse, soccer player.

  April to June

• 2 April - Fabrice Bry, volleyball player.
• 3 April - Sandrine Testud, tennis player.
• 21 April - Gwendal Peizerat, ice dancer.
• 29 April - Anne-Sophie Lapix, journalist and television presenter.
• April - Olivier Doleuze, jockey.
• 5 May - Laurent Capet, volleyball player.
• 6 May - Sébastien Amiez, alpine skier.
• 11 May - Benoît Magimel, actor.
• 15 May - David Charvet, actor.
• 20 May - Christophe Dominici, international rugby union player.
• 22 May - Nathalie Teppe, heptathlete.
• 28 May - Jocelyn Blanchard, soccer player.
• 8 June - Frédéric Esther, boxer.
• 17 June - Antoine Albeau, windsurfer.
• 19 June - Jean Dujardin, comedian.
• 23 June - Zinedine Zidane, international soccer player.
• 28 June - Samir Amirèche, soccer player.

  July to September

• 5 July - David Benyamine, tennis, billiards and poker player.
• 6 July
• *Fabrice Colin, author.
• *Laurent Gaudé, writer.
• 10 July - Stéphane Carnot, soccer player.
• 14 July - Loïc Le Meur, entrepreneur and blogger.
• 28 July - Walter Bénéteau, cyclist.
• 29 July - Amaria Pauline , dancer
• 5 August - Yann Lachuer, soccer player.
• 7 August - Ghislain Lemaire, judoka.
• 19 August - Fabien Cool, soccer player.
• 20 August - Olivier Guégan, soccer player.
• 1 September - Vincent Riou, sailor.
• 13 September - Olivier Echouafni, soccer player.
• 19 September - Sébastien Maté, soccer player.
• 21 September - Olivia Bonamy, actress.

  October to December

• 5 October - Jean-Sebastien Bax, soccer player.
• 15 October - Mathieu Demy, actor.
• 19 October - Fabien Leclercq, soccer player.
• 24 October - Frédéric Déhu, soccer player.
• 25 October - Esther Duflo, economist.
• 11 November - Stéphane Cassard, soccer player.
• 16 November - Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, golfer.
• 20 November
• *Jérôme Alonzo, soccer player.
• *Corinne Niogret, biathlete and Olympic medallist.
• 22 November - Olivier Brouzet, rugby union player.
• 27 November - Stéphane Pocrain, television journalist.
• 3 December - Laurent Roux, cyclist.
• 4 December - Franck Tournaire, international rugby union player.
• 5 December - Antoine Préget, soccer player.
• 6 December - Cyrille Pouget, soccer player.
• 13 December - Claude-Arnaud Rivenet, soccer player.
• 19 December - Cédric Soulette, rugby union player.
• 22 December - Vanessa Paradis, singer and actress.
• 24 December - Richard Dutruel, soccer player.
• 26 December - Jérôme Le Banner, kickboxer and K-1 practitioner.
• 31 December - Grégory Coupet, international soccer player.

  Full date unknown

• Jules de Balincourt, painter.
• Fabrice Bellard, computer programmer.
• Vanessa Duriès, novelist.
• Sylvain Guillot, jockey.
• Gilles Trehin, artist and author.

  Deaths

January to March

• 1 January - Maurice Chevalier, actor and singer.
• 6 January - Xavier Vallat, politician and Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions in Vichy France.
• 19 January - Suzanne Malherbe, illustrator and designer.
• 20 January - Jean Casadesus, classical pianist.
• 29 January - Claire Ferchaud, religious mystic
• 17 February - Youenn Drezen, Breton nationalist writer and activist.
• 21 February
• *Marie Dubas, music-hall singer and comedian.
• *Eugène Tisserant, Cardinal.
• 4 March - Maurice Diot, cyclist.
• 17 March - Adolphe Bousquet, rugby union player.
• 28 March - Joseph Paul-Boncour, politician.

  April to June

• 10 April - Henri de la Falaise, translator, film director and film producer.
• 11 April - Maurice Cottenet, soccer player.
• 26 April - Jacques de Bernonville, collaborationist and senior police officer in the Vichy regime.
• 27 April - Lucien Sarti, drug trafficker and killer-for-hire.
• 5 May - Roger Courtois, international soccer player.
• 7 May
• *Henri Diamant-Berger, screenwriter, film director and producer.
• *Robert Lingat, academic scholar.
• 28 May - Violette Leduc, author.
• 5 June - Jean Moreau, politician.
• 29 June - Boby Lapointe, singer.
• 30 June - Hervé Budes de Guébriant, engineer

  July to September

• 7 July - Marcel-Frédéric Lubin-Lebrère, rugby union player.
• 22 July - Max Aub, author, playwright and literary critic.
• 14 August - Jules Romains, poet and writer.
• 16 August - Pierre Brasseur, actor.
• 21 August
• *Albert Achard, World War I flying ace.
• *Yvonne Gall, operatic soprano.
• 24 August - Lucien Rebatet, author, journalist and intellectual.
• 14 September - Jean-Jacques Bernard, playwright
• 19 September - Robert Casadesus, pianist and composer.
• 21 September - Henry de Montherlant, essayist, novelist and playwright.
• 28 September - Maurice Thiriet, composer.

  October to December

• 29 October - Julien Maitron, cyclist.
• 18 November - André Héléna, writer.
• 27 November - Robert Schurrer, athlete and Olympic medallist.
• 13 December - René Mayer, politician and Prime Minister of France.
• 15 December - François Bourbotte, soccer player.

  Full date unknown

• Alice Pruvot-Fol, malacologist.