In Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, four teams will be relegated at the end of the season, against six in National.
If there is a season during which it is better not to hang out at the bottom of the classification, it is certainly this 2022-2023 season. Ligue 1, Ligue 2, the National and the women’s D2 will indeed experience major upheavals, with an increased number of relegations.
On the side of the men’s championships, the reduction in the number of teams in the first division (from 20 to 18) intervenes to allow the clubs to receive more income since these, linked to TV rights, will be divided into fewer shares. As for the women’s championships, if the D1 Arkema will not experience any changes, the French Football Federation has validated the creation of an additional level between the second division and the Regional 1 to reduce the gap between these two championships. A new national D3 will therefore see the light of day, with the aim of improving the homogeneity of the championships.
Ligue 1: four relegations to go to 18 clubs
Acted in June 2021, the transition from Ligue 1 from 20 to 18 clubs will be effective next season. To make this change, the last four in the championship this season will be demoted to Ligue 2 and only two Ligue 2 clubs will move up to Ligue 1. There will therefore be no play-offs to the elite, as in recent years. . Six days from the end of the season, Angers, Ajaccio, Troyes and Brest are in a relegation position, while Le Havre and Bordeaux occupy the first two places in Ligue 2.
Ligue 2 and National: only two promoted this season and no play-offs
Ligue 2 will see the transition to 18 from the 2024-2025 season. But to stay at 20 in 2023-2024, it will compensate for the arrival of the four relegated from Ligue 1 by bringing the last four of this season down to National. Niort, Nîmes, Dijon and Laval currently occupy the last four positions.
Only the first two of National will be promoted and, five days before the end of the championship, Martigues and Concarneau occupy these first two places.
The National has 18 clubs and will not change format. But to stay balanced, despite the descent of four Ligue 2 clubs, the third tier will experience six relegations at the end of the season, or a third of the teams involved. Four days from the end, AS Nancy-Lorraine is one of the six teams in danger. Finally, each first of the four groups of N2 will take place in National next season.
Women: 12 relegations from D2 to create a new D3
If the format of the D1 Arkema does not change next season, the lower levels will experience an overhaul. The D2, currently composed of two pools of twelve teams, will be transformed into a single pool of twelve clubs. To do this, the last six of the two current pools, or half of the clubs, will be relegated to form a new D3 which did not exist until then. Three days before the end of the championship, Losc has already validated its rise to D1, and Saint-Etienne is close to doing the same, while relegations will be judged on the evening of the last day, May 28.
D3 will follow the same model as D2 with two groups of twelve clubs, with the twelve relegated from D2 and twelve promoted from Regional 1.