2015–16 Ligue 2
# 2015–16 Ligue 2

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

## 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. They were joined a week later by Metz, after a 4–0 home defeat against Lorient. The last relegated club were Evian after a 2-1 defeat on 16 May 2015.

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. 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.

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

### Stadia and locations

| 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 $Marcel-Verchère^1$ | 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 $Brisson^2$ | 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.
* $^2$ 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.

### Personnel and kits

| Team | $Manager^1$ | $Captain^1$ | Kit $Manufacturer^1$ | Main $Sponsor^1$ |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 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 | Pre-season | Denis Renaud | 5 June 2015 |
| Red Star | Sébastien Robert | Mutual consent | 6 June 2015 | Pre-season | Rui Almeida | 12 June 2015 |
| FC Metz | Albert Cartier | Mutual consent | 16 June 2015 | Pre-season | José Riga | 16 June 2015 |
| Tours | Gilbert Zoonekynd | Mutual consent | 25 June 2015 | Pre-season | Marco Simone | 25 June 2015 |
| Evian | Pascal Dupraz | Mutual consent | 11 July 2015 | Pre-season | Safet Sušić | 11 July 2015 |
| Sochaux | Olivier Echouafni | Sacked | 12 September 2015 | 18th | Albert Cartier | 3 October 2015 |
| Le Havre AC | Thierry Goudet | Sacked | 28 September 2015 | 15th | Bob Bradley | 10 November 2015 |
| Nîmes | José Pasqualetti | Resigned | 21 November 2015 | 20th | Bernard Blaquart | 1 December 2015 |
| Paris FC | Denis Renaud | Sacked | 28 November 2015 | 18th | Jean-Luc Vasseur | 29 November 2015 |
| Créteil | Thierry Froger | Sacked | 9 December 2015 | 14th | Laurent Roussey | 9 December 2015 |
| FC Metz | José Riga | Mutual consent | 23 December 2015 | 6th | Philippe Hinschberger | 24 December 2015 |
| Valenciennes | David Le Frapper | Sacked | 28 December 2015 | 17th | Faruk Hadžibegić | 15 January 2016 |
| Evian | Safet Sušić | Sacked | 11 January 2016 | 13th | Romain Revelli | 11 January 2016 |
| Niort | Régis Brouard | Sacked | 29 February 2016 | 17th | Denis Renaud | 9 May 2016 |

## 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 | Promotion to Ligue 1 |
| 3 | Metz (P) | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 54 | 39 | +15 | 65 | Promotion to Ligue 1 |
| 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 | 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 (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 | Relegation to Championnat National |

* ↑ Nîmes was docked 8 points for match fixing in the 2013–14 season.
* ↑ Evian was demoted due to financial difficulties.

## 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 | — |
