Le Mans promoted to Ligue 1 for first time since 2010

Le Mans was officially promoted to Ligue 1 on Wednesday after the French league (LFP) awarded it a 2-0 win in its interrupted final game of the season at Bastia.

The club last played in the French top flight in the 2009-10 season and was relegated to the sixth tier in 2013 for financial reasons.

It was leading Bastia 2-0 in Corsica in injury time when the referee halted the match after home fans started throwing flares onto the pitch.

Bastia was relegated to the third-tier National.

The LFP said on Wednesday that Le Mans’ victory was “definitively confirmed”, meaning it finishes the season in the second automatic promotion spot, two points clear of Saint-Etienne and seven behind champion Troyes.

Saint-Etienne will face Rodez in the play-off semifinals on Friday.

The winner of that match will face the 16th-placed team from Ligue 1, currently Nice, later this month in the final.

Le Mans is owned by Brazilian investment fund OutField, with Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, tennis star Novak Djokovic and ex-Formula One driver Felipe Massa among the minority shareholders.

Published on May 14, 2026

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