1997–98 French Division 1

The 1997–98 Division 1 was the 60th season of Division 1, the top French professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1932. The season began on 2 August 1997, and concluded on 9 May 1998.

Division 1
Season1997–98
Dates2 August 1997 –
9 May 1998
ChampionsLens (1st title)
RelegatedGuingamp
Châteauroux
Cannes
Matches played306
Goals scored722 (2.36 per match)
Best PlayerMarco Simone
Top goalscorerStéphane Guivarc'h
(21 goals)
Average attendance16,555

This season saw a change in the league format, with the number of teams reduced to 18 from 20, shortening the season from 38 to 34 rounds. As a result, four clubs which had been relegated at the end of the previous season were replaced by only two, Châteauroux and Toulouse, who entered as winners and runners up of the 1996–97 French Division 2. Defending champions of the 1996–97 season were Monaco.

Lens won the championship for the first time in their 92-year history, becoming the 26th club to become French football champions. Lens won their league title with 68 points, edging out second-placed Metz on goal difference, for whom this was their best result in history.

Teams edit

Stadia and personnel edit

Team Manager Stadium Capacity Pos. in 1996–97
Auxerre   Guy Roux Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps
21,379
1066th
Bastia   Frédéric Antonetti Stade Armand Cesari
11,500
1077th
Bordeaux   Guy Stéphan Parc Lescure
34,694
1044th
Cannes   Adick Koot Stade Pierre-de-Coubertin
12,800
11515th
Châteauroux   Victor Zvunka Stade Gaston Petit
17,072
2011st (D2)
Guingamp   Francis Smerecki Stade du Roudourou
18,040
11212th
Le Havre   Denis Troch Stade Jules Deschaseaux
16,382
11414th
Lens   Daniel Leclercq Stade Bollaert
41,649
11313th
Lyon   Bernard Lacombe Stade de Gerland
42,591
1088th
Marseille   Rolland Courbis Stade Vélodrome
60,000
11111th
Metz   Joël Muller Stade Saint-Symphorien
26,700
1055th
Monaco   Jean Tigana Stade Louis II
18,523
1011st
Montpellier   Michel Mézy Stade de la Mosson
32,950
11010th
Nantes   Raynald Denoueix Stade de la Beaujoire
38,285
1033rd
Paris Saint-Germain   Ricardo Parc des Princes
48,527
1022nd
Rennes   Guy David Stade de la Route de Lorient
29,778
11616th
Strasbourg   Jacky Duguépéroux Stade de la Meinau
29,000
1099th
Toulouse   Alain Giresse Stadium Municipal
36,500
2022nd (D2)

League table edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Lens (C) 34 21 5 8 55 30 +25 68 Qualification to Champions League group stage
2 Metz 34 20 8 6 48 28 +20 68 Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
3 Monaco 34 18 5 11 51 33 +18 59 Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
4 Marseille 34 16 9 9 47 27 +20 57
5 Bordeaux 34 15 11 8 49 41 +8 56
6 Lyon 34 16 5 13 39 37 +2 53
7 Auxerre 34 14 9 11 55 45 +10 51 Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round
8 Paris Saint-Germain 34 14 8 12 43 35 +8 50 Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round[a]
9 Bastia 34 13 11 10 36 31 +5 50 Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
10 Le Havre 34 10 14 10 38 35 +3 44
11 Nantes 34 11 8 15 35 41 −6 41
12 Montpellier 34 10 11 13 32 42 −10 41
13 Strasbourg 34 9 10 15 39 43 −4 37
14 Rennes 34 9 9 16 36 48 −12 36
15 Toulouse 34 9 9 16 26 46 −20 36
16 Guingamp (R) 34 9 8 17 30 42 −12 35 Relegation to French Division 2
17 Châteauroux (R) 34 8 7 19 31 59 −28 31
18 Cannes (R) 34 7 7 20 32 59 −27 28
Source: Ligue 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Paris Saint-Germain qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as winners of the 1997–98 Coupe de France and 1997–98 Coupe de la Ligue.

Promoted from Ligue 2, who will play in Division 1 season 1998/1999

Results edit

Home \ Away AUX BAS BOR CAN CHA GUI LHA RCL OL OM MET ASM MHS FCN PSG REN RCS TFC
Auxerre 2–0 4–2 1–1 5–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 1–2 2–1 0–0 3–1 3–1 3–1 2–3 4–0 1–2 3–1
Bastia 1–2 4–1 5–1 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 0–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 2–0 0–0 2–0 0–0
Bordeaux 3–2 2–0 0–1 1–0 4–2 2–1 3–0 0–0 2–0 2–2 1–0 3–1 1–1 0–0 2–2 4–4 3–1
Cannes 2–3 1–1 0–2 2–2 1–3 1–1 0–2 1–0 3–3 1–1 1–2 1–0 2–3 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–1
Châteauroux 3–2 1–1 1–0 1–2 2–2 2–1 2–1 2–3 0–3 1–2 0–2 0–1 1–2 2–1 1–0 2–0 2–1
Guingamp 1–1 0–0 0–1 3–1 0–0 1–2 2–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–2 1–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 2–0
Le Havre 2–2 2–1 0–0 2–0 5–0 0–0 0–1 1–3 1–1 2–1 1–1 4–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–1 1–1
Lens 3–0 5–1 1–0 5–4 1–0 1–0 0–0 3–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 3–0 3–0 3–2 2–0
Lyon 1–0 0–2 1–1 2–0 2–1 1–0 0–1 1–3 2–1 0–1 0–3 1–2 0–0 1–0 3–1 3–1 0–0
Marseille 4–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 2–0 3–0 3–1 2–3 1–0 2–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 2–0
Metz 3–0 0–1 4–1 2–0 2–0 2–1 2–0 0–2 1–0 3–2 3–0 0–1 3–2 2–1 1–0 1–0 2–1
Monaco 0–1 1–0 5–2 0–1 2–2 1–0 2–0 0–1 2–1 2–0 1–2 4–0 3–2 3–0 1–0 3–2 0–1
Montpellier 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–0 2–3 1–1 1–2 1–1 0–0 0–1 0–2 2–0 2–1 2–0 1–1 4–0
Nantes 0–2 0–1 1–2 1–2 3–1 2–0 2–0 1–0 3–2 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–1 2–1 0–1
Paris SG 1–0 2–0 0–1 3–1 2–0 4–2 0–2 2–0 3–0 1–2 1–1 1–2 1–1 0–1 4–1 2–1 1–1
Rennes 1–1 2–0 0–0 2–0 3–0 1–2 2–2 2–3 0–3 0–2 2–2 2–1 2–0 3–0 1–2 3–1 1–0
Strasbourg 1–1 1–1 0–0 2–0 2–0 0–1 0–1 2–1 1–2 2–0 2–0 0–0 3–0 1–2 0–3 3–1 2–0
Toulouse 2–1 1–1 2–2 1–0 1–1 3–0 1–0 1–2 0–2 0–4 0–1 1–3 1–1 1–0 0–2 1–0 1–1
Source: Ligue 1
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers edit

Rank Player Club Goals[1]
1   Stéphane Guivarc'h Auxerre 21
2   David Trezeguet Monaco 18
3   Victor Ikpeba Monaco 16
4   Anto Drobnjak Lens 14
  Lilian Laslandes Bordeaux
6   Bruno Rodriguez Metz 13
  Marco Simone Paris Saint-Germain
8   Jocelyn Gourvennec Nantes 12
9   Laurent Blanc Marseille 11
  Robert Pires Metz
  Stéphane Ziani Lens

References edit

External links edit