2020–21 Ligue 2
# 2020–21 Ligue 2

The 2020–21 Ligue 2 season, also known as Ligue 2 BKT for sponsorship reasons, was the 82nd season of second-division football in France, and the 19th season since the division was rebranded as Ligue 2 from Division 2. Due to the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the announcement of the start and end dates for the season was delayed. There were suggestions that the season would feature just 18 teams, as opposed to the usual 20, after France's highest administrative court overturned the relegations of Amiens and Toulouse from Ligue 1; however, the relegations were reinstated by the General Assembly of the LFP with a vote on 23 June 2020. The league fixtures were announced on 9 July 2020 and the league season began on 22 August 2020 and ended on 15 May 2021.

## Teams

### Team changes

| from Championnat National | to Ligue 1 | from Ligue 1 | to Championnat National |
| - | - | - | - |
| Pau Dunkerque | Lorient Lens | Amiens Toulouse | Orléans Le Mans |

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Location | Venue | Capacity |
| - | - | - | - |
| Ajaccio | Ajaccio | Stade François Coty | 10,446 |
| Amiens | Amiens | Stade de la Licorne | 12,097 |
| Auxerre | Auxerre | Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps | 21,379 |
| Caen | Caen | Stade Michel d'Ornano | 21,215 |
| Chambly | Beauvais | Stade Pierre Brisson | 10,178 |
| Châteauroux | Châteauroux | Stade Gaston Petit | 17,173 |
| Clermont Foot | Clermont-Ferrand | Stade Gabriel Montpied | 11,980 |
| Dunkerque | Dunkirk | Stade Marcel-Tribut | 4,200 |
| Grenoble | Grenoble | Stade des Alpes | 20,068 |
| Guingamp | Guingamp | Stade de Roudourou | 18,378 |
| Le Havre | Le Havre | Stade Océane | 25,178 |
| Nancy | Tomblaine | Stade Marcel Picot | 20,087 |
| Niort | Niort | Stade René Gaillard | 10,886 |
| Paris FC | Paris (13th arrondissement) | Stade Charléty | 20,000 |
| Pau | Pau | Nouste Camp | 13,819 |
| Rodez | Rodez | Stade Paul-Lignon | 5,955 |
| Sochaux | Montbéliard | Stade Auguste Bonal | 20,005 |
| Toulouse | Toulouse | Stadium Municipal | 33,150 |
| Troyes | Troyes | Stade de l'Aube | 21,684 |
| Valenciennes | Valenciennes | Stade du Hainaut | 25,172 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Main sponsor |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Ajaccio | Olivier Pantaloni | Cédric Avinel | Adidas | Auchan Atrium |
| Amiens | Oswald Tanchot | Prince-Désir Gouano | Puma | Intersport |
| Auxerre | Jean-Marc Furlan | Birama Touré | Macron | Remorques LOUALT |
| Caen | Stéphane Moulin | Jonathan Rivierez | Umbro | Maisons France Confort (H), Campagne de France (A & 3) |
| Châteauroux | Marco Simone | Yannick M'Boné | Nike | Monin |
| Chambly | Bruno Luzi | Thibault Jaques | Umbro | Flint |
| Clermont | Pascal Gastien | Jonathan Iglesias | Patrick | Crédit Mutuel |
| Dunkerque | Fabien Mercadal | Axel Maraval | Kappa | Intersport |
| Grenoble | Philippe Hinschberger | Brice Maubleu | Nike | Carrefour, Sempa, BONTAZ |
| Guingamp | Frédéric Bompard | Youssouf M'Changama | Umbro | Servagroupe (H), Aroma Celte (A) |
| Le Havre | Paul Le Guen | Alexandre Bonnet | Joma | Filiassur, SEAFRIGO Group |
| Nancy | Jean-Louis Garcia | Ernest Seka | Puma | Lor Port |
| Niort | Sébastien Desabre | Dylan Louiserre | Erima | Restaurant Le Billon (H), Cheminées Poujoulat (A) |
| Paris FC | René Girard | Vincent Demarconnay | Nike | Vinci |
| Pau | Didier Tholot | Antoine Batisse | Adidas | Iroise Bellevie |
| Rodez | Laurent Peyrelade | Pierre Bardy | Adidas | Max Outil |
| Sochaux | Omar Daf | Gaëtan Weissbeck | Nike | Nedey Automobiles |
| Toulouse | Patrice Garande | Ruben Gabrielsen | Joma | Triangle Interim |
| Troyes | Laurent Batlles | Jimmy Giraudon | Le Coq Sportif | Babeau Seguin |
| Valenciennes | Olivier Guégan | Laurent Dos Santos | Acerbis | Mutuelle Just |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Niort | Franck Passi | End of contract | 6 June 2020 | Pre-season | Sébastien Desabre | 16 June 2020 |
| Toulouse | Denis Zanko | End of interim | 22 June 2020 | Pre-season | Patrice Garande | 22 June 2020 |
| Guingamp | Sylvain Didot | Sacked | 30 August 2020 | 15th | Mehmed Baždarević | 30 August 2020 |
| Amiens | Luka Elsner | Sacked | 28 September 2020 | 15th | Oswald Tanchot | 16 October 2020 |
| Châteauroux | Nicolas Usaï | Sacked | 13 December 2020 | 18th | Benoît Cauet | 1 January 2021 |
| Guingamp | Mehmed Baždarević | Mutual consent | 1 February 2021 | 17th | Frédéric Bompard | 1 February 2021 |
| Châteauroux | Benoît Cauet | Sacked | 10 March 2021 | 20th | Marco Simone | 10 March 2021 |
| Caen | Pascal Dupraz | Sacked | 23 March 2021 | 14th | Fabrice Vandeputte | 23 March 2021 |

## Number of teams by regions

| Teams | Region | Team(s) |
| - | - | - |
| 4 | Hauts-de-France | Amiens, Chambly, Dunkerque and Valenciennes |
| 2 | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | Clermont and Grenoble |
| 2 | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | Niort and Pau |
| 2 | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | Auxerre and Sochaux |
| 2 | Grand Est | Nancy and Troyes |
| 2 | Normandy | Caen and Le Havre |
| 2 | Occitanie | Rodez and Toulouse |
| 1 | Brittany | Guingamp |
| 1 | Centre-Val de Loire | Châteauroux |
| 1 | Corsica | Ajaccio |
| 1 | Île-de-France | Paris FC |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or Relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Troyes (C, P) | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 60 | 36 | +24 | 77 | Promotion to Ligue 1 |
| 2 | Clermont (P) | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 61 | 25 | +36 | 72 | Promotion to Ligue 1 |
| 3 | Toulouse | 38 | 20 | 10 | 8 | 71 | 42 | +29 | 70 | Qualification to promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Grenoble | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 51 | 35 | +16 | 65 | Qualification to promotion play-offs |
| 5 | Paris FC | 38 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 53 | 37 | +16 | 64 | Qualification to promotion play-offs |
| 6 | Auxerre | 38 | 16 | 14 | 8 | 64 | 43 | +21 | 62 | |
| 7 | Sochaux | 38 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 45 | 37 | +8 | 51 | |
| 8 | Nancy | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 53 | 53 | 0 | 47 | |
| 9 | Guingamp | 38 | 10 | 17 | 11 | 41 | 43 | −2 | 47 | |
| 10 | Amiens | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 34 | 40 | −6 | 47 | |
| 11 | Valenciennes | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 50 | 59 | −9 | 47 | |
| 12 | Le Havre | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 38 | 48 | −10 | 47 | |
| 13 | Ajaccio | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 34 | 43 | −9 | 46 | |
| 14 | Pau | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 42 | 49 | −7 | 44 | |
| 15 | Rodez | 38 | 8 | 19 | 11 | 38 | 44 | −6 | 43 | |
| 16 | Dunkerque | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 34 | 47 | −13 | 41 | |
| 17 | Caen | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 34 | 49 | −15 | 41 | |
| 18 | Niort (O) | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 34 | 58 | −24 | 41 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 19 | Chambly (R) | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 41 | 64 | −23 | 38 | Relegation to Championnat National |
| 20 | Châteauroux (R) | 38 | 4 | 11 | 23 | 32 | 58 | −26 | 23 | Relegation to Championnat National |

## Results

| Home \ Away | AJA | AMI | AUX | CAE | FCC | CHA | CLE | DUN | GRE | GUI | HAC | NAN | NIO | PFC | PAU | ROD | SOC | TFC | TRO | VAL |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ajaccio | — | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 3–0 |
| Amiens | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| Auxerre | 5–1 | 2–1 | — | 1–1 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 6–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Caen | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Chambly | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–2 | — | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 |
| Châteauroux | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 4–0 | — | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 3–3 |
| Clermont | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | — | 5–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 |
| Dunkerque | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Grenoble | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 4–0 | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 5–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Guingamp | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–5 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Le Havre | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 0–2 |
| Nancy | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–1 | — | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 1–3 |
| Niort | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–3 |
| Paris FC | 1–1 | 4–2 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 3–3 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Pau | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 4–3 |
| Rodez | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 |
| Sochaux | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–4 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Toulouse | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 4–3 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 4–5 |
| Troyes | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–5 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 |
| Valenciennes | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–5 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | — |

## Promotion play-offs

A promotion play-off competition was held at the end of the season, involving the 3rd, 4th and 5th-placed teams in 2020–21 Ligue 2, and the 18th-placed team in 2020–21 Ligue 1.

The quarter-final was played on 18 May and the semi-final was played on 21 May.

| Quarter-final | Quarter-final | Quarter-final | Semi-final | Semi-final | Semi-final | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | | | 3B | Toulouse | 3 | | | | | |
| | | | 4B | Grenoble | 0 | | | | | |
| 4B | Grenoble | 2 | 4B | Grenoble | 0 | | | | | |
| 5B | Paris FC | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| 5B | Paris FC | 0 | | | | 3B | Toulouse | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| | | | | | | 18A | Nantes | 2 | 0 | 2(a) |

Round 1

Round 2

Promotion Play-offs '1st leg'

'2nd leg'

2–2 on aggregate. Nantes won on away goals and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.

## Relegation play-offs

A relegation play-off was held at the end of the season between the 18th-placed team of the 2020–21 Ligue 2 and the 3rd-placed team of the 2020–21 Championnat National. This was played over two legs on 19 and 22 May.

3–3 on aggregate. Niort won on away goals and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mohamed Bayo | Clermont | 22 |
| 2 | Mickaël Le Bihan | Auxerre | 19 |
| 3 | Yoann Touzghar | Troyes | 16 |
| 4 | Pape Ibnou Bâ | Niort | 14 |
| 4 | Rémy Dugimont | Auxerre | 14 |
| 4 | Rhys Healey | Toulouse | 14 |
| 7 | Jim Allevinah | Clermont | 12 |
| 7 | Mickaël Biron | Nancy | 12 |
| 7 | Jodel Dossou | Clermont | 12 |
| 10 | Baptiste Guillaume | Valenciennes | 11 |
