# 1996–97 French Division 2

The 1996–97 Division 2 season, organised by the LNF was won by LB Châteauroux and saw the promotions of LB Châteauroux and Toulouse FC, whereas FC Perpignan, FCO Charleville, SAS Épinal and Stade Briochin were relegated to National.

## 22 participating teams

* Amiens
* Beauvais
* Charleville
* Châteauroux
* Épinal
* Gueugnon
* Laval
* Le Mans
* Lorient
* Louhans-Cuiseaux
* Martigues
* Mulhouse
* Niort
* Perpignan
* Red Star
* Saint-Brieuc
* Saint-Étienne
* Sochaux
* Toulon
* Toulouse
* Troyes
* Valence

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or Relegation |
| 1 | Châteauroux (C, P) | 42 | 20 | 16 | 6 | 54 | 27 | +27 | 76 | Promotion to French Division 1 |
| 2 | Toulouse (P) | 42 | 22 | 9 | 11 | 61 | 32 | +29 | 75 | Promotion to French Division 1 |
| 3 | Martigues | 42 | 17 | 16 | 9 | 54 | 33 | +21 | 67 | |
| 4 | Gueugnon | 42 | 19 | 10 | 13 | 54 | 47 | +7 | 67 | |
| 5 | Niort | 42 | 16 | 17 | 9 | 44 | 36 | +8 | 65 | |
| 6 | Le Mans | 42 | 15 | 17 | 10 | 49 | 41 | +8 | 62 | |
| 7 | Beauvais | 42 | 15 | 16 | 11 | 43 | 43 | 0 | 61 | |
| 8 | Laval | 42 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 48 | 39 | +9 | 58 | |
| 9 | Lorient | 42 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 50 | 50 | 0 | 58 | |
| 10 | Valence | 42 | 17 | 7 | 18 | 48 | 53 | −5 | 58 | |
| 11 | Sochaux | 42 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 54 | 47 | +7 | 57 | |
| 12 | Mulhouse | 42 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 51 | 49 | +2 | 54 | |
| 13 | Red Star | 42 | 12 | 18 | 12 | 50 | 48 | +2 | 54 | |
| 14 | Toulon | 42 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 50 | 57 | −7 | 54 | |
| 15 | Amiens | 42 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 44 | 47 | −3 | 52 | |
| 16 | Perpignan (R) | 42 | 11 | 18 | 13 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 51 | Relegation to Division d'Honneur |
| 17 | Saint-Étienne | 42 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 48 | 56 | −8 | 51 | |
| 18 | Louhans-Cuiseaux | 42 | 13 | 12 | 17 | 39 | 52 | −13 | 51 | |
| 19 | Charleville (R) | 42 | 10 | 19 | 13 | 37 | 48 | −11 | 49 | Relegation to Championnat National |
| 20 | Troyes | 42 | 10 | 18 | 14 | 36 | 42 | −6 | 48 | Spared from relegation |
| 21 | Épinal (R) | 42 | 6 | 8 | 28 | 26 | 75 | −49 | 26 | Relegation to Championnat National |
| 22 | Saint-Brieuc (R) | 42 | 9 | 11 | 22 | 32 | 46 | −14 | 38 | Relegation to CFA 2 |

## Recap

* Promoted to L1 : LB Châteauroux, Toulouse FC
* Relegated to L2 : SM Caen, AS Nancy, Lille OSC, OGC Nice
* Promoted to L2 : Nîmes Olympique, ES Wasquehal
* Relegated to National : FCO Charleville, SAS Épinal
* Relegated to lower divisions : FC Perpignan, Stade Briochin (Banned during the season)

## Results

| Home \ Away | AMI | BEA | CHR | CHA | ÉPI | GUE | LAV | MFC | LOR | LOU | MAR | MUL | NRT | PER | RS | STE | SOC | SBR | SCT | TFC | TRO | VLN |
| Amiens | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 6–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 2–2 |
| Beauvais | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Charleville | 0–0 | 2–2 | | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Châteauroux | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 5–3 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Épinal | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| Gueugnon | 4–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 |
| Laval | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 |
| Le Mans | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Lorient | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | | 4–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Louhans-Cuiseaux | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Martigues | 2–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Mulhouse | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | 0–2 | 6–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Niort | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| Perpignan | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 |
| Red Star | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–2 | | 1–1 | 7–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Saint-Étienne | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–3 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Sochaux | 2–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | | 1–1 | 7–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 |
| Saint-Brieuc | 1–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Toulon | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Toulouse | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 7–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| Troyes | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 0–4 | | 0–1 |
| Valence | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | |
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Match awarded due to expulsion of Saint-Brieuc.

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Samuel Michel | Sochaux | 23 |
| 2 | Samba N'Diaye | Saint-Étienne | 19 |
| 3 | Bernard Bouger | Lorient | 18 |
| 4 | Jean-Marc Ferreri | Toulon | 17 |
| 5 | Yannick Le Saux | Red Star/Saint-Brieuc | 14 |
| 5 | Régis Brouard | Red Star | 14 |
| 7 | Lakhdar Adjali | Amiens | 13 |
| 7 | Olivier Pickeu | Amiens | 13 |
| 7 | Laurent Dufresne | Châteauroux | 13 |
| 7 | David Rincon | Mulhouse | 13 |