Seven days from the end, the hierarchy at the top of Ligue 2 is clear. Five teams broke away from the rest of the championship: Toulouse, Ajaccio, Paris FC, Auxerre and Sochaux. By relegating the sixth to twelve points, they are almost all guaranteed to play at least the play-offs for accession to Ligue 1.
The 5th will face the 4th. The winner of this meeting will find the 3rd, a meeting which will send a team to a double confrontation with the 18th in Ligue 1 for possible promotion, in addition to the two direct tickets awarded to the two best teams of the L2 season. Suffice to say that it is a way of the cross that awaits the team that will be the lowest ranked of the five. A path that has not rewarded anyone since this playoff format has existed (2017-2018).
The real battle should be played with four for the second direct ticket for Ligue 1 since Toulouse is comfortably installed in its leader’s chair with ten points ahead of the first play-off. An increased lead last Saturday during his victory against Paris FC (2-1). From Ajaccio (58 pts) to Sochaux (54), the four competitors only hold on to four points and each can still hope to collect 21 by the end of the season.
Ajaccio, Corsica back?
Second in the standings at the end of the 31st day of Ligue 2, the Corsicans are well placed to reconnect with a higher level, after seven years of scarcity. Third in 2018 and 2020, the Ajaccien club had not been able to move up to Ligue 1, frustrated by Toulouse the first time during the final obstacle, then deprived of play-offs by the interruption caused by Covid-19 the following year. .
To reconnect with the sun of the elite, the Ajacciens relied on the fundamentals: an iron defense. Only 15 goals conceded, 20 clean sheets, look no further to find the best defense in the league. Of its 17 successes this season, the ACA won eleven with a single goal difference (including nine with a score of 1-0). Olivier Pantaloni, who has known everything on the club’s bench, is seven games away from returning to Ligue 1. The ideal would be to avoid playing everything on the last day, when the Toulouse leader will stand in his way.
Paris FC, a capital project
Will there be a second Parisian club in Ligue 1 next year? Unlike many European capitals, Rome (AS Rome and Lazio), Madrid (Real and Atlético), London (Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham …), or Berlin (Union and Hertha), Paris still does not have two representatives in the elite. By rising to Ligue 1, Paris FC would erase this originality.
Since its return to Ligue 2 during the 2017-2018 season, the club has twice flirted with promotion in 2018-19 (3rd and eliminated in the shoot-off by Lens on penalties) and last season (5th and released in the first play-off match against Grenoble). After losing their second place against Toulouse last weekend, the PFC intends to regain it to escape these dams which do not smile on them.
The priority is to stop the bad spiral. Remaining on three games without a win (one draw, two defeats), Paris is the team that is currently advancing the slowest among the contenders for the elite. It must be said that the absentees are legion at a key moment of the season and that the engine on the meadow is a rookie who arrived this winter, striker Khalid Boutaïb. At least Thierry Laurey’s team won’t have to face a direct competitor by the end of the season.
Auxerre, the return of happy days
Since its relegation to Ligue 2 in 2012, the‘AJ Auxerre have perhaps never been closer to a return to the top flight. Its current fourth place, three lengths from Ajaccio, second, nourishes tangible hopes. After having chained five successes in a row, the men of Jean-Marc Furlan played two complicated meetings, against the Toulouse leader (2-1) and Bastia (1-1).
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The Burgundy team has only had six defeats this season – only Toulouse has done better (3) – but has sometimes struggled to win important matches. AJA only took 12 points against teams in the first part of the table, the lowest total of the five contenders for the rise. But she finally sees the L1, after six seasons outside the Top 5 since the arrival of the Chinese group ORG Packaging of James Zhou in 2016. Above all, Auxerre will be able to count on the experience of its coach Jean-Marc Furlan, who has already experienced four promotions to L1 (3 times with Troyes 2005, 2012, 2015 and once with Brest in 2019) to achieve its goals.
Sochaux, a legend to write your own
Another former big name in the elite, who spent 66 seasons there: FC Sochaux. Like Auxerre, the Doubs club has been relegated for a long time now (2014). Like Auxerre, Chinese funds have come to boost the financial power of the club, through the Nenking group, which arrived in 2020. Like Auxerre, the FCSM has never been so well placed with a view to a comeback; even if it is slightly behind all its competitors.
Second place, occupied by Ajaccio, is only four lengths ahead (Paris at 2 and Auxerre at 1). The revival driven by coach Omar Daf, a former club player between 1997 and 2009, has put the team back on the right track. This last intends to consolidate its series of three games without defeat to get closer to the Grail. But she will cross paths with the Toulouse leader from April 19. A leader who may not yet have mathematically validated his ticket to Ligue 1…