← 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1972 in France → 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	Other events of 1972 History of France  • Timeline  • Years

Events from the year 1972 in France.

Incumbents

• President: Georges Pompidou
• Prime Minister: Jacques Chaban-Delmas (until 5 July),^[1] Pierre Messmer (starting 6 July)

Events

• January – Launch of the Renault 5, one of the world's first small hatchbacks.^[2]
• 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.
• 5 July – President Pompidou dismisses prime minister Chaban-Delmas following rumours of financial misdoing.^[1]
• October – The Peugeot 104, the smallest four-door car in the world, is launched.^[3]
• 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.
• 10 January – Gilles Trehin, artist and author.
• 17 January – Olivier Sourgens, rugby union player.
• 18 January – Bruno Alicarte, soccer player.
• 22 January – Yves Demaria, motocross racer.
• 23 January - Léa Drucker, French actress
• 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.
• 15 May – David Charvet, actor.
• 20 May – Christophe Dominici, international rugby union player (died 2020).
• 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.
  • Gilles Lellouche, actor
• 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.
• 13 August – Michael Sinterniklaas, French-born American voice actor
• 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
  • Stéphane Barthe, racing cyclist
  • 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 (died 1993).
• Sylvain Guillot, jockey.

Deaths

January to March

• 1 January – Maurice Chevalier, actor and singer (born 1888).^[4]
• 6 January – Xavier Vallat, politician and Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions in Vichy France (born 1891).
• 19 January – Suzanne Malherbe, illustrator and designer (born 1892).
• 20 January – Jean Casadesus, classical pianist (born 1927).
• 29 January – Claire Ferchaud, religious mystic (born 1896)
• 17 February – Youenn Drezen, Breton nationalist writer and activist (born 1899).
• 21 February
  • Marie Dubas, music-hall singer and comedian (born 1894).
  • Eugène Tisserant, cardinal (born 1884).
• 4 March – Maurice Diot, cyclist (born 1922).
• 17 March – Adolphe Bousquet, rugby union player (born 1899).
• 28 March
  • Joseph Paul-Boncour, politician (born 1873).
  • Alice Pruvot-Fol, malacologist (born 1873).

April to June

• 10 April – Henri de la Falaise, translator, film director and film producer (born 1898).
• 11 April – Maurice Cottenet, soccer player (born 1895).
• 26 April – Jacques de Bernonville, collaborationist and senior police officer in the Vichy regime (born 1897).
• 27 April – Lucien Sarti, drug trafficker and killer-for-hire (b. c1931).
• 5 May – Roger Courtois, international soccer player (born 1912).
• 7 May
  • Henri Diamant-Berger, screenwriter, film director and producer (born 1895).
  • Robert Lingat, academic scholar (born 1892).
• 28 May – Violette Leduc, author (born 1907).
• 5 June – Jean Moreau, politician (born 1888).
• 17 June – Marcel Deviq, engineer, businessman, and politician (born 1907).
• 29 June – Boby Lapointe, singer (born 1922).
• 30 June – Hervé Budes de Guébriant, engineer (born 1880).

July to September

• 7 July – Marcel-Frédéric Lubin-Lebrère, rugby union player (born 1891).
• 22 July – Max Aub, author, playwright and literary critic (born 1903).
• 14 August – Jules Romains, poet and writer (born 1885).
• 16 August – Pierre Brasseur, actor (born 1905).
• 21 August
  • Albert Achard, World War I flying ace (born 1894).
  • Yvonne Gall, operatic soprano (born 1885).
• 24 August – Lucien Rebatet, author, journalist and intellectual (born 1903).
• 14 September – Jean-Jacques Bernard, playwright (born 1888)
• 19 September – Robert Casadesus, pianist and composer (born 1899).
• 21 September – Henry de Montherlant, essayist, novelist and playwright (born 1896).
• 28 September – Maurice Thiriet, composer (born 1906).

October to December

• 29 October – Julien Maitron, cyclist (born 1881).
• 18 November – André Héléna, writer (born 1919).
• 27 November – Robert Schurrer, athlete and Olympic medallist (born 1890).
• 13 December – René Mayer, politician and Prime Minister of France (born 1895).^[5]
• 15 December – François Bourbotte, soccer player (born 1913).