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

Season	1997–98
Dates	2 August 1997 – 9 May 1998
Champions	Lens (1st title)
Relegated	Guingamp Châteauroux Cannes
Matches played	306
Goals scored	722 (2.36 per match)
Best Player	Marco Simone
Top goalscorer	Stéphane Guivarc'h (21 goals)
Average attendance	16,555
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

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

Stadia and personnel

Auxerre

Bastia

Bordeaux

Cannes

Châteauroux

Guingamp

Le Havre

Lens      

Lyon

Marseille

Metz

AS Monaco

Montpellier

Nantes

PSG

Rennes

Strasbourg

Toulouse

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Location of teams in 1997–98 Division 1

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

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
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:

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

• AS Nancy : champion of Ligue 2
• FC Lorient : runners-up
• FC Sochaux-Montbéliard : third place

Results

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

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
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

External links

• France 1997/98 at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation