Ligue 2

Ligue 2 2026/27: Saint-Étienne win at Red Star to go five points clear

Ligue 2 is the second tier of French football, founded in 1933. Eighteen teams meet home and away over 34 rounds. The top two are promoted to Ligue 1, and third to fifth enter the promotion play-offs, whose winner meets Ligue 1's 16th-placed club. The bottom two are relegated and 16th place faces a relegation play-off. Troyes won the title last season and went up with Le Mans, while Troyes' Tawfik Bentayeb was the top scorer with 18 goals.

After nine rounds Saint-Étienne lead with 22 points after a 1-0 win at Red Star, five ahead of Reims and Red Star. They have won all four home games and have scored the most goals, 22. Reims, 4-2 winners over Dijon, are the only side yet to lose. Nancy are fourth and Montpellier fifth with a game in hand and the best defence, five goals conceded. Nantes are 14th.

Laval are bottom with six points after a 3-3 draw with Clermont Foot, who are in the play-off place and still without a win, with seven draws from nine games. Rodez, 17th, have lost their last four.

Reims' Yaya Fofana and Metz's Pape Moussa Fall lead the scorers with seven goals, and Saint-Étienne's Breum has the most assists, five.