Dieux du Stade (transl. 'Gods of the Stadium', stylized asDievx dv Stade) is anude calendar produced byStade Français, a French professionalrugby union club based in Paris. Conceived by club presidentMax Guazzini as a marketing initiative to promote the club and shift the image of rugby, the calendar features nude and semi-nude photography of the club's members and other sportsmen, occasionally in ahomoerotic context. The calendar was first published in 2001, and most recently in 2020. At its peak, Dieux du Stade sold approximately 180,000 copies annually, and by 2019 had sold approximately 1.6 million copies in total.
Dieux du Stade was conceived byMax Guazzini, who served as president of Stade Français from 1992 to 2011. A former president of theNRJ Group, Dieux du Stade was one of several marketing initiatives by Guazzini aimed at promoting the club and changing the image of rugby as a sport; other tactics included introducing pinkuniforms for Stade Français, and recruitingMadonna andNaomi Campbell to be official sponsors for the club.[1]
The first Dieux du Stade was released for the 2001 calendar year.[2] It features nude and semi-nude photographs of Stade Français' players, occasionally inhomoerotic scenarios,[3] though later editions of the calendar expanded beyond Stade Français to feature male athletes from other clubs and sports.[4][5] The photographer for each edition of Dieux du Stade varies; individuals who have shot the calendar includeSteven Klein,Peter Lindbergh,Tony Duran, andFrançois Rousseau.[6][7] Photographs included in Dieux du Stade have also been published ascoffee table books.[2]
Dieux du Stade expanded significantly in popularity in 2004 with the release ofDieux du Stade: Le making of du calendrier 2004, a DVD featuring documentary-stylebehind-the-scenes footage of that year's photoshoot; similar DVDs would be released for subsequent editions of the calendar.[3] At its peak Dieux du Stade sold approximately 180,000 copies per year,[1] and earned up to €2.3 million annually for Stade Français.[3] By 2019, an estimated 1.6 million copies of Dieux du Stade calendars had been sold.[3] A portion of the profits for some editions of the calendar were donated to charity, while Stade Français received approximately 50 percent of the calendar's sale price (€29 in 2019).[1] According to Guazzini, sales from Dieux du Stade "helped finance the club for many years".[1]
The calendar has occasionally attracted criticism and controversy.Racing 92 attempted to have photographs of playerHenry Chavancy removed from the 2012 edition of the calendar days before it was slated to be released, calling it a "slight on Racing's image" and claiming that Chavancy had not sought permission to participate from club management; the calendar was ultimately published without redactions.[8][9] A frontal nude image ofmixed martial arts fighter Sylvain Potard in the 2016 edition of the calendar received significant media attention in France due to the large size of Potard's genitals.[3][10]
By 2019, annual sales for Dieux du Stade had fallen to 50,000 copies, a trendLibération attributed to a general decline in the popularity of physical calendars amid increasing digitization.[1]Vanity Fair France speculated that the calendar's shift in the mid- to late 2010s towards glossyhigh fashion-styled photography also contributed to a decline in popularity, a trend the 2020 edition of the calendar attempted to reverse by incorporating a more naturalistic aesthetic.[3] The most recent edition of the calendar was released for the 2020 calendar year; the 2021 edition was canceled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, and no subsequent editions have been produced.[11]
| Year | Photographer | Cover model | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Kris Gautier |  Mike James | [12] |
| 2002 |  Thomas Lombard | [13] | |
| 2003 | Mathias Vriens |  Ignacio Corleto | [14] |
| 2004 | François Rousseau |  Mirco Bergamasco | [15] |
| 2005 | Carter Smith | Olivier Sarraméa | [16] |
| 2006 | Fred Goudon | Juan Martín Hernández | [17] |
| 2007 | Mariano Vivanco | Julien Arias | [18] |
| 2008 | Steven Klein | Geoffroy Messina | [19] |
| 2009 | Peter Lindbergh | Sergio Parisse | [20] |
| 2010 | Tony Duran |  James Haskell | [21] |
| 2011 | François Rousseau | Dimitri Szarzewski | [22] |
| 2012 | Sébastien Torresin [fr] | [23] | |
| 2013 |  Scott LaValla | [24] | |
| 2014 | Fred Goudon | Alexandre Flanquart | [25] |
| 2015 | Morgan Parra | [26] | |
| 2016 | Sergio Parisse | [20] | |
| 2017 | Errikos Andreou | Terry Bouhraoua | [27] |
| 2018 | Maxime Mermoz | [28] | |
| 2019 | Ludovic Baron | Clément Daguin [fr] | [29] |
| 2020 | Pierre-Ange Carlotti | Jules Plisson | [30] |
