The 1985-86 Division 1 season was the 48th since its establishment.

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

became champions for the first time in their history with 56 points. During this season the "Boulogne Boys" and "Gavroche" emerged. They were groups of supporters located in the

Kop of Boulogne Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (PSG) is the most popular football club in France and one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Famous PSG fans include Nicolas Sarkozy, Tony Parker, Fabio Quartararo, Tom Brady, Patrick Dempsey, ...

a stand in the Parc des Princes. On 26 July 1985, Paris Saint-Germain took the top spot in the league for the first time in their history after defeating

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

3-1. On 20 September, ''Les Parisiens'' recovered from a 2-0 score and claimed a 2-3 victory over

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 ...

. A victory that proved the strength of the current championship leader. On 29 November, Paris recorded a goalless draw against Girondins de Bordeaux, setting a new record of 22 matches without defeat along the way (previously held by Saint-Étienne in the 1957-58 season). The capital club would eventually lose against

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

in the 20th matchday after recording a run of 27 matches without a single defeat. On 11 April 1986,

Oumar Sène Oumar Sène, (born 23 October 1959) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Sène was born in Dakar, Senegal. He won the Senegal Premier League 1980 with US Gorée. Later he played 197 times for French ...

gave PSG the victory over

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

in stoppage time. Thanks to the victory, the club captained by

Luis Fernández Luis Miguel Fernández Toledo (born 2 October 1959), known as Luis Fernandez, is a French football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Fernandez spent most of his playing career for Paris Saint-Germain. He earned ...

was virtually champion of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, with four points ahead of the second and with a better goal difference. The club would become the first club from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to win the league since 1936. On 18 April, PSG lost 3-1 against

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 ...

with a surprising ending that saw Paris goalkeeper

Joël Bats Joël Bats (born 4 January 1957) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent his entire senior club career in his native France, appearing in a total of 553 competitive club matches and 504 Division 1 matche ...

abandon the pitch injured, leaving his place to Luis Fernández. On 25 April, Paris SG claimed their first league title after easily defeating

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

3-1 at the Parc des Princes. After the match, fireworks blazed in the sky celebrating the first championship of the club. On 28 April, the Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, received the champion of France at the Paris City Hall.

Promotion and relegation

Teams promoted from 1984–85 Division 2 * Champions:

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

* Runners-up:

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

Teams relegated to 1985–86 Division 2 * 18th Place: Rouen * 19th Place:

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

* 20th Place:

League table

Results

Relegation play-offs

Top goalscorers

References

Division 1 season 1985-1986
at pari-et-gagne.com {{DEFAULTSORT:1985-86 French Division 1 Ligue 1 seasons