After an incredible end to the season and climbs and relegations which were played out on disciplinary decisions, Bordeaux begins the new Ligue 2 season this weekend with as much ambition, while Annecy is the last minute guest after the relegation of Sochaux. Last season ended in confusion, when a Girondin supporter attacked a Rodez player on the 38th and final day, resulting in a lost match for Bordeaux.
This decision on the green carpet had two serious consequences: the descent of Annecy, which was struggling to maintain it with Rodez, and the failure of Bordeaux to go back to Ligue 1, a year after its relegation. A decision finally endorsed despite the appeals of the two injured clubs.
Suffice to say that the Girondins, also penalized with the withdrawal of a point and the closure for two matches of the south corner of the Matmut Atlantique stadium, will be revengeful in a championship where they are still headliners, reinforced in particular by the duo offensive Jérémy Livolant (Guingamp) and Gaëtan Weissbeck (Sochaux).
Behind Bordeaux, other contenders stand out, including Auxerre, with a stable workforce and used to playing the climb, the other newcomers to Ligue 1 such as Ajaccio, Troyes or Angers but also Bastia, 4th last season. We will also have to count on Caen, 5th last year and who managed to keep his striker Alexandre Mendy, the 2nd top scorer in the championship, while attracting Jean-Marc Furlan, author of five climbs in L1 in different clubs. , including… the AJA during the 2021/2022 season.
Authors of a difficult first part of the season last year before finishing in 8th place in the championship, the Stéphanois will also be able to join the fight, but will have to do without Jean-Philippe Krasso (17 goals in 14 matches), left to join Red Star Belgrade.
After the rejection by the administrative court of Paris of the takeover plan of Romain Peugeot, great-grandson of the founder, the ax fell Thursday evening for Sochaux, definitively relegated to the green carpet, and whose future darkens with a possible bankruptcy filing.
Annecy, last relegated last year, sees the end of a long soap opera by being drafted in extremis in L2 in place of the Cubs. Since the end of June and the announcement of Sochaux’s financial troubles, the club has continued to prepare for Ligue 2 but will play its first match on Saturday at home against Guingamp, behind closed doors given the tight schedule.
At the bottom of the table, the promoted Concarneau, for its first participation in Ligue 2, will be all the more out of place as the Finistériens will play in three different “home” stadiums in Guingamp, Brest and Lorient, due to upgrading works. standards of the dilapidated Guy-Piriou stadium, 1,206 seats on the clock.
More accustomed to evolving at this level, Dunkirk, who will have played only one season in National, intends not to return there, helped by his top scorer, midfielder Rayan Ghrieb (14 goals, 8 assists).
Like last season, four teams will be relegated. For the climb, a change occurs due to the passage of the first division to 18 clubs: if the first two of L2 go directly to the higher level, the 3rd, 4th and 5th will play in the play-offs, before facing in round trip barrage the 16th of L1.