Savate
French kickboxing — kicks land only with the shoe (never the shin), giving savate its distinctive fencing-like footwork.
👥1 per team🌤indoor
What is Savate?
Savate is a French kickboxing style with roots in early 19th-century Paris street fighting and sailors' kicking. Its defining feature: kicks must land with the shoe (savate is French for "old shoe") rather than the shin — leading to a fast, fencing-like footwork style. Assaut (light-contact) and combat (full-contact) formats are both contested internationally.
Quick facts
Category
Combat Sports
Type
Individual
Players
1 per team
Where played
indoor
Country of origin
🇫🇷 France
Estimated origin
Early 19th-century Paris (from sailors' kicking and street fighting)
Olympic
No
Popularity
major
Sources & provenance
Last verified 2026-08-24.verified