Auxerre sold to a Chinese company. http://www.foot01.com/ligue2/officiel-l-aj-auxerre-vendue-a-une-societe-chinoise,219010
Auxerre is in last place. A while back I predicted this club would sink down to the lower leagues and become amateur some day.
Jean-Pierre Papin is about to take over as manager and sporting director at Auxerre. Final nail in the coffin for that club I think.
Missed this earlier. They have been a mainstay in the top two divisions since I started following the leagues. It'd be rough to see them drop. Hope they can right the ship and avoid the drop. They have a really good history and remarkably their academy is quite good historically.
When Strasbourg went down to the lower leagues people were saying it was a big loss for French football. I said not really because in Ligue 1 their attendances really werent that stellar. They did set the record for attendance in CFA2, CFA, and National but this year in Ligue 2 they are averaging less than 15,000 per match. That is the real Strasbourg IMO. Yes its good enough for 2nd place but they are way behind RC Lens in that category. Yes Ligue 2 in general doesnt draw big crowds but again Strasbourg really are not anything special in terms of fan support.
Paris FC and FCF Juvisy are merging. http://www.foot01.com/equipe/paris/le-psg-aura-enfin-de-la-concurrence-a-paris,242082 So Im no expert on this topic but I fail to see how it creates a "big" club. It helps women's football I guess, giving them a stronger brand, but the men's team would still be in the 3rd division right, so who cares ? It doesnt seem RCF 92 is involved and Im glad because they are a historic club who needs to keep their identity even though they are buried in the DH.
Juvisy was like the 3rd biggest women's French club already. They have one of those multi purpose stadiums not specifically designed for football just like Stade Charltey. Two close to 20,000 seat stadiums in the Paris region that cant come close to be filled for football. Shame. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stade_Robert_Bobin#/media/File:Stade_Robert-Bobin.png
As we've discussed previously what really hurts French football is only having one big Paris team. I know there is Paris FC and isn't Red Star there too. But having the biggest city in France and one of the most recognizable cities having one team doesn't do the league any favors.
I think that 15,000 crowd is consider are very impressive figure and good draw for a Ligue 2 type of competition (Strasbourg are currently averaging 14,882 crowd in Ligue 2), recon that once they promoted to Ligue 1, their attendance should be higher than that. Nevertheless just hope that both of Lens and Strasbourg can be promoted to the top flight of Ligue 1 next season.
Red Star plays right next door to PSG/Parc de Princes. Less than 5,000 avg fans per game this season. Team is bad though. If they were in Ligue 1 Im sure they'd at least double that average, maybe more. I dont think they have ambitions to be a "big" club though. I think they want to build/redevelop their own stadium but if it ever happens its probably gonna not be more than 20,000 seats max.
Thats good for Ligue 2, youre right. Ligue 2 doesnt draw huge crowds like the English and German 2nd divisions do. Its more comparable to Serie B in Italy.
Look like you're right, I just went look for the attendance per match statistic for the the 2nd division domestic league between France, Italy and Spain this season, below is the figure :- France Ligue 2 (6,818) - Italy Serie B (6,875), Spain Segunda division (7,186) We are indeed very close to Italy (partly due to the help of RC Lens though) England and German 2nd division are however way over the top though.
Ligue 2. Strasbourg 1st. Amiens 2nd. Troyes in playoffs. Laval and Red Star relegated to National. Orleans in playoffs.
I went to a national game a few seasons back. Lucon v Amiens. Hard to believe they will be playing in Ligue 1 next season but fair play to them, I'll be keeping an eye on them and hoping they do ok.
wow 95e : Amiens est 6e de #Ligue2. Et trente secondes après... pic.twitter.com/yaGWhsJ1Ar— Raphaël Badache (@R_Badache) May 19, 2017 That was without question the best goal call I've ever heard
It must be suck and shame for Lens that didn't get a automatic promotion just barely lost out to Amiens by 1 point in the standing. Their fans must be gutted.
I feel sorry for the fans but that is a very shady club. The president sunk the club with bad investments and is still in charge somehow. Now they are owned by some company based in Luxembourg.
Posting on this thread for the first time. I follow Swiss and French club football and my French club is Strasbourg so I am over the moon at promotion back to Ligue 1... as I now get to see them on TV based on the pretty good French Ligue 1 coverage we receive here in Canada even though it is mostly PSG matches. I have to say that was a very exciting Ligue 2 finish this season a real nail biter!