The 2015–16 Ligue 2 season was the 77th season since its establishment.

Teams

There are 20 clubs in the league, with three promoted teams from

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

replacing the three teams that were relegated to the same level, and three relegated teams from

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

replacing the three teams that were promoted to the same level. All clubs that secured Ligue 2 status for the season were subject to approval by the DNCG before becoming eligible to participate. The first team to officially join the division for the 2015–16 was

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

, who were relegated from

on 2 May 2015 as results on the day went against them. They were joined a week later by

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, after a 4–0 home defeat against

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

. The last relegated club were

Evian Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

after a 2-1 defeat on 16 May 2015.

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

were the first team promoted from

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, after a 4–0 victory against

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location Istr ...

on 8 May 2015, marking their return to the professional levels after sixteen years in the amateur leagues.

Paris FC Paris Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional football club based in Paris, that competes in the Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Paris FC play their home matches at the Stade Ch ...

and Bourg-Péronnas only gained the right to promote on the last day of the season, when Paris FC drew 0–0 against

CA Bastia Cercle Athlétique Bastiais or CA Bastia was a French football club from Bastia, Corsica. The team's highest point was playing in Ligue 2, the second tier of the French football league system, in 2013–14. Their historic home stadium was the ...

and Bourg-Péronnas won 1–0 against

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

. Only 2 teams were planned to be promoted and relegated this season but the decision was later overturned by an appeal to the Conseil d'État and the French Football Federation.

Stadia and locations

* ¹ Bourg-Péronnas original stadium, Stade Municipal de Péronnas, is not homologated to host professional matches. The club will play its home games in

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; frp, Bôrg) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Ain Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ...

Stade Marcel-Verchère Stade Marcel-Verchère is rugby union stadium located in Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain. It is the home ground of Union Sportive Bressane, promoted to Rugby Pro D2 (the second level of French club rugby) for the 2013–14 season. It has a capacity of 11,4 ...

, home stadium of the Bressane rugby union team, after the stadium's renovation. Bourg-Péronnas will play its first games at Stade Jean Laville in

Gueugnon Gueugnon () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Population Economy The primary industry in the town is a stainless-steel factory run by Aperam. A huge part of Gueugnon ...

. * ² Red Star original stadium, Stade Bauer, is not homologated to host professional matches. The club will play its home games at

Stade Pierre Brisson Stade Pierre Brisson is a multi-use stadium in Beauvais, France. It is used mostly for football matches and serves as the home stadium for AS Beauvais Oise Association Sportive Beauvais Oise (; commonly referred to as AS Beauvais, ASBO, or si ...

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

. Additionally, Red Star will host a number of games to be determined later at

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

in Saint-Denis.

Personnel and kits

¹Subject to change during the season.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Source
Official Goalscorers' Standings

Top assists

Source
Official Assists' Table

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Ligue 2 Ligue 2 seasons 2015–16 in French football

Fra A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...