The 2011–12 Ligue 2 season was the 73rd since its establishment. The previous season's champions was

Evian Evian (, ; , stylized as evian) is a French brand that bottles mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. Evian is owned by Danone, a French multinational corporation. In addition to the miner ...

. The league schedule was announced on 31 March 2011 and the fixtures were determined on 10 June. The season began on 29 July and ended on 18 May 2012. The winter break was in effect from 21 December to 14 January. Bastia clinched the second division title on 1 May 2012 with three matches to spare after defeating

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

3–0 at the Stade Armand Cesari. The title is the club's second overall in the division having won the league previously in the 1967–68 season. Bastia will be making its return to the first division after a seven-year absence and will be entering Ligue 1 on a run of two consecutive promotions. The club had earned promotion to Ligue 2 after winning the 2010–11 edition of the

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

and

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

became the second and third club, respectively, to earn promotion to Ligue 1 alongside the champions Bastia. Both clubs achieved promotion with one game to spare following league victories on 11 May 2012, which positioned each club in second and third place permanently. Reims, which is a six-time Ligue 1 champion, will be returning to the first division after over 33 years playing in the lower divisions. During those 33 years, the club underwent

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

and had all aspects of the club (its records, trophies, etc.) auctioned off. Troyes will be returning to Ligue 1 after a four-year stint in Ligue 2.

Teams

There were three promoted teams from the

, the third division of

French football Association football is the most popular sport in France. In 2024, 53% of people in France declared an interest in football, with 26% being very interested. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the natio ...

, replacing the three teams that were relegated from Ligue 2 following the 2010–11 season. A total of 20 teams competed in the league with three clubs suffering relegation to the Championnat National. All clubs that secured Ligue 2 status for the season were subject to approval by the DNCG before becoming eligible to participate.The DNCG is responsible for overseeing the legal and financial accounts of professional football clubs in France. If clubs operating in

don't meet the DNCG's expectations, they can face sanctions, such as relegation. Arles-Avignon was the first club to suffer relegation from the first division to Ligue 2. The club's impending drop occurred on 17 April 2011 following the team's 2–0 defeat to

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

. The negative result made it mathematically impossible for Arles to seize the 17th position in the table, which would have allowed the club to remain in Ligue 1. Arles-Avignon made its return to Ligue 2 after only a year's spell in the top division of French football. On 15 May,

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that 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'') ...

were relegated from the first division to Ligue 2 after its 1–1 draw with Monaco. Lens returned to Ligue 2 for the first time since the 2008–09 season when the club finished as champions of the league. On the final day of the Ligue 1 season, Monaco suffered relegation to the second division after losing 2–0 to

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. The club's appearance in Ligue 2 was its first since 1976.

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, 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 popu ...

became the first team to achieve promotion to Ligue 2 from the Championnat National after drawing 1–1 with Fréjus Saint-Raphaël on 22 April. Coupled with fourth-place

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

's draw with Luzenac on the same day, the results made it mathematically impossible for the Alsatians to catch Bastia in the standings.

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

achieved promotion from National to Ligue 2 on 13 May following its 2–1 home win against

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 7,115 as of 2020, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Guin ...

. Amiens made its return to the second division after spending two seasons in the Championnat National. Guingamp became the final club to earn promotion to National after its 2–0 away win over

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

. Similar to Bastia, Guingamp made its return to Ligue 2 after only one season in the third division. Teams relegated to Ligue 2 *

* Arles-Avignon Teams promoted to Ligue 2 *

DNCG rulings

On 1 July 2011, following a preliminary review of each club's administrative and financial accounts in Ligue 2, the DNCG ruled that

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

would be relegated to the

. Tours president, Frédéric Sebag, confirmed the demotion was as a result of the club's failure to "balance its books". Sebag also confirmed that the club would be appealing the ruling. On 13 July, Tours successfully appealed to the DNCG and was subsequently reinstated into Ligue 2.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

eligibility rules. Players and managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. ¹Subject to change during the season.

Managerial changes

Ownership changes

League table

Results

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Last updated: 18 May 2012
Source
Official Goalscorers' Standings
/small>

Assists table

Last updated: 18 May 2012
Source
Official Assists' Table
/small>

Scoring

*First goal of the season: Yoann Tougzhar for Amiens against Troyes (''29 July 2011'') *First own goal of the season: Nicolas Pallois for Clermont against Laval (''29 July 2011'') *Highest scoring game: 7 goals **Metz 2–5 Guingamp (''4 May 2012'') *Widest winning margin: 5 goals **Nantes 5–0 Amiens (''27 April 2012'') *Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 5 goals **Tours 5–1 Guingamp (''16 December 2011'') **Arles-Avignon 1–5 Istres (''20 December 2011'') **Bastia 5–1 Troyes (''4 February 2012'') **Laval 5–1 Sedan (''6 April 2012'') **Nantes 5–0 Amiens (''27 April 2012'') **Metz 2–5 Guingamp (''4 May 2012'')

Discipline

*Worst overall disciplinary record (1 pt per yellow card, 3 pts per red card): ** Arles-Avignon – 59 points (44 yellow & 5 red cards) *Best overall disciplinary record: 33 points ** Boulogne (30 yellow & 1 red cards) *Most yellow cards (club): 46 **Amiens *Most red cards (club): 7 **Istres

Awards

Annual awards

UNFP Player of the Year

The nominees for the UNFP Ligue 2 Player of the Year award was awarded to Bastia midfielder

Jérôme Rothen Jérôme René Marcel Rothen (born 31 March 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a winger. He is a football pundit. Rothen won 13 caps for the France national football team. He represented his country at the UEFA Eu ...

UNFP Goalkeeper of the Year

The UNFP Goalkeeper of the Year award was awarded to Macedo Novaes of Bastia.

UNFP Manager of the Year

The UNFP Manager of the Year award went to Frédéric Hantz of Bastia.

UNFP Team of the Year

The UNFP selected the following 11 players for the Ligue 2 Team of the Year: ;Goalkeeper * Macedo Novaes (

) ;Defenders * Kassim Abdallah ( Sedan) * Anthony Weber (

) * Mickaël Tacalfred (

) * Féthi Harek (

) ;Midfielders * Sadio Diallo (

) *

Wahbi Khazri Wahbi Khazri (; born 8 February 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, left winger or forward (association football), forward for club Montpellier HSC, Montpellier. Trained at SC Bastia, Bastia from 2004, Khaz ...

(

) *

Romain Alessandrini Romain Alessandrini (born 3 April 1989) is a French former professional footballer who played as a winger. Club career Alessandrini spent six years of his youth career at Marseille. In 2005, he moved to Gueugnon making his debut in the third- ...

( Clermont) *

(

) ;Forwards * Ryan Mendes (

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

) * Kamel Ghilas (

)

List of 2011–12 transfers

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ligue 2 2011-12 2011-12 2 Fra