2015–16 Ligue 2

The 2015–16 Ligue 2 season was the 77th season since its establishment.

Ligue 2

Season	2015–16
Champions	Nancy
Promoted	Nancy Dijon Metz
Relegated	Évian Créteil Paris
Matches played	380
Goals scored	875 (2.3 per match)
Top goalscorer	Famara Diedhiou (Clermont) (21 goals)
Longest winning run	6 games Dijon
Longest unbeaten run	15 games Dijon
Longest winless run	28 games Paris
Longest losing run	5 games Évian
Highest attendance	36,254 Lens - Valenciennes
Average attendance	7,118
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

Teams

There are 20 clubs in the league, with three promoted teams from Championnat National replacing the three teams that were relegated to the same level, and three relegated teams from Ligue 1 replacing the three teams that were promoted to the same level. All clubs that secured Ligue 2 status for the season were subject to approval by the DNCG before becoming eligible to participate.

The first team to officially join the division for the 2015–16 was Lens, who were relegated from Ligue 1 on 2 May 2015 as results on the day went against them.^[1] They were joined a week later by Metz, after a 4–0 home defeat against Lorient.^[2] The last relegated club were Evian after a 2-1 defeat on 16 May 2015.^[3]

Red Star were the first team promoted from National, after a 4–0 victory against Istres on 8 May 2015, marking their return to the professional levels after sixteen years in the amateur leagues.^[4] Paris FC and Bourg-Péronnas only gained the right to promote on the last day of the season, when Paris FC drew 0–0 against CA Bastia and Bourg-Péronnas won 1–0 against Boulogne.^[5]

Only 2 teams were planned to be promoted and relegated this season^[6] but the decision was later overturned by an appeal to the Conseil d'État^[7] and the French Football Federation.^[8][9]

Stadia and locations

Ajaccio

Auxerre

Bourg-en-Bresse

Brest

Clermont

Créteil

Dijon

Evian

Laval

Le Havre

Lens

Metz

Nancy

Nîmes

Niort

Paris

Red Star

Sochaux

Tours

Valenciennes

Location of teams in 2015–16 Ligue 2

Club	Location	Venue	Capacity
Ajaccio	Ajaccio	Stade François Coty	10,660
Auxerre	Auxerre	Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps	21,379
Bourg-en-Bresse	Bourg-en-Bresse	Stade Marcel-Verchère1	11,400
Brest	Brest	Stade Francis-Le Blé	15,097
Clermont Foot	Clermont-Ferrand	Stade Gabriel Montpied	11,980
Créteil	Créteil	Stade Dominique Duvauchelle	12,050
Dijon	Dijon	Stade Gaston Gérard	16,098
Évian	Annecy	Parc des Sports	15,660
Laval	Laval	Stade Francis Le Basser	18,607
Le Havre	Le Havre	Stade Océane	25,000
Lens	Lens	Stade Bollaert-Delelis	35,000
Metz	Metz	Stade Saint-Symphorien	24,500
Nancy	Tomblaine	Stade Marcel Picot	20,087
Nîmes	Nîmes	Stade des Costières	18,482
Niort	Niort	Stade René Gaillard	10,886
Paris	Paris	Stade Sébastien Charléty	20,000
Red Star	Saint-Ouen	Stade Pierre Brisson2	10,178
Sochaux	Montbéliard	Stade Auguste Bonal	20,000
Tours	Tours	Stade de la Vallée du Cher	16,247
Valenciennes	Valenciennes	Stade du Hainaut	25,172

• ¹ Bourg-Péronnas original stadium, Stade Municipal de Péronnas, is not homologated to host professional matches. The club will play its home games in Bourg-en-Bresse at Stade Marcel-Verchère, home stadium of the Bressane rugby union team, after the stadium's renovation. Bourg-Péronnas will play its first games at Stade Jean Laville in Gueugnon.^[10]
• ² Red Star original stadium, Stade Bauer, is not homologated to host professional matches. The club will play its home games at Stade Pierre Brisson in Beauvais. Additionally, Red Star will host a number of games to be determined later at Stade de France in Saint-Denis.^[11]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager1	Captain1	Kit Manufacturer1	Main Sponsor1
Ajaccio	Olivier Pantaloni	Johan Cavalli	Macron	Suite Home
Auxerre	Jean-Luc Vannuchi	Sébastien Puygrenier	Airness	Remarques LOUALT,Vitrans
Bourg-en-Bresse	Hervé Della Maggiore	Yannick Goyon	adidas	BestDrive
Brest	Alex Dupont	Bruno Grougi	Nike	Quéguiner
Clermont	Corinne Diacre	Cédric Avinel	Patrick	Crédit Mutuel
Créteil	Laurent Roussey	Jean-Michel Lesage	adidas	SFB Béton,Holcim
Dijon	Olivier Dall'Oglio	Cédric Varrault	Kappa	DVF, Doras,IPS
Evian	Romain Revelli	Olivier Sorlin	Kappa	MSC Croisières
Laval	Denis Zanko	Anthony Gonçalves	Kappa	Lactel
Le Havre	Bob Bradley	Yohann Rivière	Nike	Api
Lens	Antoine Kombouaré	Pablo Chavarría	Umbro	Azerbaijan: Land of Fire
Metz	Philippe Hinschberger	Kevin Lejeune	Nike	Moselle|
Nancy	Pablo Correa	Youssouf Hadji	Nike	Dane Elec
Nîmes	Bernard Blaquart	Toifilou Maoulida	Erreà	Marie Blachère
Niort	Denis Renaud	Jimmy Roye	Puma	Restaurant Le Billon (home), Cheminées Poujoulat (away)
Paris	Jean-Luc Vasseur	Hervé Libohy	Nike	Vinci
Red Star	Rui Almeida	Vincent Planté	adidas
Sochaux	Albert Cartier	Matheus Vivian	Lotto	Peugeot
Tours	Marco Simone	Bryan Bergougnoux	Nike	Corsicatours
Valenciennes	Faruk Hadžibegić	Yunis Abdelhamid	Uhlsport	GDE Recyclage

¹Subject to change during the season.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Paris FC	Christophe Taine	Mutual consent	4 June 2015[12]	Pre-season	Denis Renaud	5 June 2015[13]
Red Star	Sébastien Robert		6 June 2015[14]		Rui Almeida	12 June 2015[15]
FC Metz	Albert Cartier		16 June 2015[16]		José Riga	16 June 2015[17]
Tours	Gilbert Zoonekynd		25 June 2015[18]		Marco Simone	25 June 2015[19]
Evian	Pascal Dupraz		11 July 2015		Safet Sušić	11 July 2015[20]
Sochaux	Olivier Echouafni	Sacked	12 September 2015[21]	18th	Albert Cartier	3 October 2015[22]
Le Havre AC	Thierry Goudet	Sacked	28 September 2015[23]	15th	Bob Bradley	10 November 2015[24]
Nîmes	José Pasqualetti	Resigned	21 November 2015[25]	20th	Bernard Blaquart	1 December 2015[26]
Paris FC	Denis Renaud	Sacked	28 November 2015[27]	18th	Jean-Luc Vasseur	29 November 2015[28]
Créteil	Thierry Froger	Sacked	9 December 2015[29]	14th	Laurent Roussey	9 December 2015
FC Metz	José Riga	Mutual consent	23 December 2015[30]	6th	Philippe Hinschberger	24 December 2015[31]
Valenciennes	David Le Frapper	Sacked	28 December 2015[32]	17th	Faruk Hadžibegić	15 January 2016[33]
Evian	Safet Sušić	Sacked	11 January 2016[34]	13th	Romain Revelli	11 January 2016
Niort	Régis Brouard	Sacked	29 February 2016[35]	17th	Denis Renaud	9 May 2016[36]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or Relegation
1	Nancy (C, P)	38	21	11	6	60	32	+28	74	Promotion to Ligue 1
2	Dijon (P)	38	20	10	8	62	36	+26	70
3	Metz (P)	38	19	8	11	54	39	+15	65
4	Le Havre	38	19	8	11	52	37	+15	65
5	Red Star	38	18	10	10	43	38	+5	64
6	Lens	38	15	13	10	39	35	+4	58
7	Clermont Foot	38	16	10	12	56	53	+3	58
8	Auxerre	38	15	10	13	47	46	+1	55
9	Tours	38	11	14	13	36	41	−5	47
10	Brest	38	12	11	15	34	41	−7	47
11	Bourg-en-Bresse	38	13	8	17	47	59	−12	47
12	Valenciennes	38	10	14	14	39	43	−4	44
13	Laval	38	9	17	12	35	42	−7	44
14	Nîmes[a]	38	13	12	13	50	52	−2	43
15	Sochaux	38	9	15	14	34	36	−2	42
16	Niort	38	8	18	12	38	45	−7	42
17	Ajaccio	38	9	15	14	34	42	−8	42
18	Evian[b] (R, D)	38	9	12	17	41	41	0	39	Demotion to Division d'Honneur Régionale
19	Créteil (R)	38	8	10	20	42	66	−24	34	Relegation to Championnat National
20	Paris FC (R)	38	4	18	16	32	51	−19	30

Source: Ligue 2
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) head-to-head goal difference; 5) fair play points
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Nîmes was docked 8 points for match fixing in the 2013–14 season.^[37]
2. Evian was demoted due to financial difficulties.^[38]

Results

Home \ Away	ACA	AUX	BPE	BRE	CLE	CRE	DIJ	ETG	LAV	HAC	LEN	MET	NAL	NIM	NIO	PFC	RS	SOC	TOU	VAL
Ajaccio	—	1–0	2–0	2–1	3–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	0–0	1–2	0–2	1–2	1–1
Auxerre	0–0	—	1–2	0–0	1–0	3–1	2–0	3–1	2–3	1–3	1–2	4–0	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–1
Bourg-en-Bresse	3–0	1–1	—	3–1	1–2	5–1	2–1	0–2	0–0	1–3	2–1	0–3	2–0	4–2	2–1	4–1	0–1	2–1	0–2	0–0
Brest	1–0	0–0	2–1	—	1–2	2–1	0–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	3–0	1–2
Clermont Foot	2–1	1–2	3–2	2–0	—	1–0	2–3	4–1	4–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	0–1	2–0
Créteil	2–2	1–0	2–1	0–2	0–3	—	0–1	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–3	1–2	2–3	0–0	2–4	1–1	2–2	0–1
Dijon	2–0	0–0	3–0	3–1	4–1	4–1	—	1–3	2–0	2–1	2–0	0–4	0–0	0–1	3–0	3–0	0–0	2–2	3–0	1–0
Evian Thonon Gaillard	0–2	4–0	1–1	0–2	2–2	1–2	1–2	—	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	4–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	4–0
Laval	0–0	4–1	1–3	2–0	1–1	3–2	2–2	2–1	—	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	3–2	0–0	3–1	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–3
Le Havre	1–0	1–0	5–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–2	3–2	2–0	—	2–0	1–1	1–3	3–1	0–0	2–1	0–2	2–1	2–0	3–2
Lens	2–0	3–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–4	—	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1
Metz	3–2	0–1	5–0	2–2	2–2	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	—	0–0	1–2	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–0
Nancy	3–0	0–1	3–1	3–0	3–1	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–0	2–2	—	3–4	1–1	3–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–0
Nîmes	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	6–2	1–3	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–2	4–2	2–1	2–2	—	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	2–0
Niort	3–1	2–3	0–0	1–2	1–1	4–2	2–2	0–3	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	—	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–1
Paris	0–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	0–3	0–0	1–1	3–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	—	0–1	0–0	1–3	1–4
Red Star	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	3–2	2–2	2–0	2–1	1–2	3–1	0–1	1–0	0–2	2–4	—	0–0	1–1	1–5
Sochaux	3–0	2–3	1–1	2–1	2–0	0–3	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–2	0–0	2–3	1–1	1–2	—	0–0	1–0
Tours	1–1	3–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	2–5	1–2	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	—	1–0
Valenciennes	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	2–2	1–3	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–2	3–3	1–1	0–0	2–2	0–0	—

Source: Ligue 2
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

As of matches played on 13 May 2016.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Famara Diedhiou	Clermont	21
2	Lys Mousset	Le Havre	14
3	Maurice Dalé	Nancy	13
	Ande Dona Ndoh	Niort
5	Pape Sané	Bourg-Pérronas	12
	Yeni Ngbakoto	Metz

Source: Official Goalscorers' Standings