The invention relates to a friction brake (10) for a motor vehicle. The friction brake (10) for instance has a disk brake (12), which is actuatable by means of an actuating device, for instance in the form of a ball thread drive (22). The invention proposes embodying the friction brake (10) with a band brake (34), whose band (36) is mounted on the circumference of a nut (26) of the ball thread drive (22). If the brake band (36) is put under tensile stress in order to actuate the band brake (34), then the brake band (36) rotates the nut (26) of the ball thread drive (22) in a tensing direction and in this way actuates the disk brake (12). The invention has the advantage that the friction brake (10) has high brake boosting and therefore requires only little actuating energy. It is accordingly suitable for embodiment as an electromechanical friction brake (10) with an electric motor (56) for its actuation.