1973–74 French Division 2

Division 2
Season	1973–74
Champions	Lille
Promoted	Lille; Red Star; Paris Saint-Germain
Relegated	Poitiers; Le Mans; La Rochelle; Ajaccio; Nevers; Arles-Avignon; Vittel
	← 1972–73 1974–75 →

The 1973–74 French Division 2 was the 33rd season since its establishment. It was constituted by two groups (A and B) with 18 clubs each. The winners of each group won promotion to the 1974–75 French Division 1. Additionally, the winners met in a two-legged championship play–off. The victor was crowned champion and awarded the trophy. Meanwhile, the runners-up of both groups faced each other in a two-legged play-off, with the victor claiming the last promotion spot. On the other hand, the bottom three clubs of each group were relegated to the 1974–75 French Division 3 [fr], while Ajaccio abandoned its professional status and joined them.

The season began on 1 July 1973 and ended on 5 June 1974. The winter break was in effect from 22 December 1973 to 12 January 1974. Two points were awarded for a win, with no points for a loss. If the match was drawn, each team received one point. Likewise, this season was the first time that bonus points were awarded: any team scoring three or more goals in a match received an additional point. During the play–offs, if the aggregate score was tied after two legs, the match was decided by extra time and/or penalty shootout.

League tables

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Lille (C, P)	34	24	8	2	68	21	+47	11	67	Promotion to 1974–75 French Division 1 Qualification to the Finale de la Division 2
2	Valenciennes	34	21	7	6	78	29	+49	15	64	Qualification for Division 1 Playoffs
3	Rouen	34	18	6	10	59	31	+28	14	56
4	Boulogne	34	16	10	8	58	39	+19	11	53
5	Laval	34	16	10	8	54	40	+14	6	48
6	Lorient	34	14	10	10	50	34	+16	7	45
7	Besançon	34	14	8	12	53	50	+3	5	41
8	Dunkerque	34	13	7	14	49	50	−1	7	40
9	Brest	34	13	9	12	41	43	−2	2	37
10	Bourges	34	10	11	13	36	54	−18	4	35
11	Chaumont	34	9	12	13	45	58	−13	4	34
12	Montluçon	34	11	5	18	52	61	−9	6	33
13	Cambrai	34	11	9	14	42	55	−13	2	33
14	Blois	34	10	9	15	36	52	−16	4	33
15	Hazebrouck	34	10	8	16	45	54	−9	4	32
16	Poitiers (R)	34	10	7	17	43	61	−18	5	32	Relegation to 1974–75 French Division 3 [fr]
17	Le Mans (R)	34	5	8	21	29	63	−34	5	23
18	ES La Rochelle (R)	34	5	8	21	29	72	−43	0	18

Source: Footballdatabase.eu
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Red Star (P)	34	19	12	3	71	29	+42	11	61	1974–75 French Division 1 Championship play-offs
2	Paris Saint-Germain (P)	34	19	6	9	70	42	+28	13	57	1974–75 French Division 1 Promotion play-offs
3	Toulouse	34	17	5	12	64	42	+22	9	48
4	Avignon	34	15	10	9	47	33	+14	6	46
5	Toulon	34	15	8	11	50	39	+11	8	46
6	CA Mantes-la-Ville	34	14	7	13	47	45	+2	4	39
7	Ajaccio (R)	34	12	9	13	46	44	+2	6	39	1974–75 French Division 3 [fr]
8	Cannes	34	11	12	11	39	42	−3	5	39
9	Angoulême	34	13	8	13	45	49	−4	5	39
10	Mulhouse	34	12	7	15	49	56	−7	7	38
11	Entente BFN	34	11	9	14	42	48	−6	5	36
12	Sète	34	13	8	13	30	51	−21	2	36
13	Châteauroux	34	10	10	14	43	47	−4	5	35
14	Gueugnon	34	10	9	15	46	56	−10	5	34
15	Béziers Hérault	34	11	8	15	35	46	−11	4	34
16	Nevers (R)	34	10	10	14	37	49	−12	4	34	1974–75 French Division 3 [fr]
17	Arles-Avignon (R)	34	9	8	17	44	67	−23	4	30
18	CS Vittel (R)	34	8	8	18	27	49	−22	2	26

Source: Histoire du PSG
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Championship play-offs

30 May 1974

Red Star	2–0	Lille
Victor Hugo Jarra 5' (pen.) Ducuing 89'	Report

Stade de Paris, Saint-Ouen

Attendance: 4,084

Referee: Michel Kitabdjian

5 June 1974

Lille	5–1 (a.e.t.)	Red Star
Desmenez [fr] 7, 75' Gauthier 35' Coste 108' Verhoeve [fr] 115'	Report	? 90'

Stade Henri-Jooris, Lille

Attendance: 7,608

Referee: Roger Machin

Promotion play-offs

31 May 1974

Valenciennes	2–1	Paris Saint-Germain
Jeskowiak [fr] 61' Wilczek 75' (pen.)	Report	M'Pelé 22'

Stade Nungesser, Valenciennes

Attendance: 11,000

Referee: Robert Héliès

4 June 1974

Paris Saint-Germain	4–2	Valenciennes
M'Pelé 35' Dogliani 54, 75' Marella 61'	Report	Neubert [fr] 39' Wilczek 48'

Parc des Princes, Paris

Attendance: 19,511

Referee: Robert Wurtz

References

^ "Palmarès: Les champions de France depuis 1934/1935". LFP. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Calendrier / Resultats: 1973/1974". LFP. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Finale de la Division 2 1974". Footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
^ "Barrages Ligue 1 1974". Footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
^ "Classement: 1974/1975". LFP. Retrieved 6 August 2013.

External links

France - List of final tables (RSSSF)

[1] "Palmarès: Les champions de France depuis 1934/1935". LFP. Retrieved 6 August 2013.

[cr-2] "Calendrier / Resultats: 1973/1974". LFP. Retrieved 6 August 2013.

[fd2-3] "Finale de la Division 2 1974". Footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 6 August 2013.

[4] "Barrages Ligue 1 1974". Footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 30 July 2013.

[5] "Classement: 1974/1975". LFP. Retrieved 6 August 2013.

v t e Division 2 / Ligue 2 seasons
Division 2 (1933–2002)	1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Ligue 2 (2002–present)	2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
List of French second division champions