Competitor from France in a list (8)
I believe the answer is:
finalist
'competitor' is the definition.
(I know that finalist is a type of competitor)
'france in a list' is the wordplay.
'france' becomes 'f'.
'f'+'in'+'a'+'list'='FINALIST'
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for finalist that I've seen before include "Sportsman who gets into the last round" , "So far unbeaten competitor" , "Winner of semi-final" , "possible winner" , "One reaching last match" .)