1996–97 French Division 1

The 1996–97 Division 1 season was the 59th since its establishment. AS Monaco won the French Association Football League with 79 points. Four teams were relegated to Second division and only two were promoted because in 1997–1998, only 18 would participate the championship.

Division 1

Season	1996–97
Dates	9 August 1996 – 24 May 1997
Champions	Monaco (6th title)
Relegated	Caen Nancy Lille Nice
Matches played	380
Goals scored	884 (2.33 per match)
Best Player	Sonny Anderson
Top goalscorer	Stéphane Guivarc'h (22)
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Participating teams

• Auxerre
• Bastia
• Bordeaux
• SM Caen
• AS Cannes
• EA Guingamp
• Le Havre AC
• RC Lens
• Lille OSC
• Olympique Lyonnais
• Olympique de Marseille
• FC Metz
• AS Monaco
• Montpellier HSC
• AS Nancy
• FC Nantes Atlantique
• OGC Nice
• Paris Saint-Germain FC
• Stade Rennais FC
• RC Strasbourg

Auxerre

Bastia

Bordeaux

Caen

Cannes

Guingamp

Le Havre

Lens      

Lille

Lyon

Marseille

Metz

AS Monaco

Montpellier

Nancy

Nantes

Nice

PSG

Rennes

Strasbourg

Location of teams in 1996–97 Division 1

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Monaco (C)	38	23	10	5	69	30	+39	79	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Paris Saint-Germain	38	18	13	7	57	31	+26	67	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
3	Nantes	38	16	16	6	61	32	+29	64	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
4	Bordeaux	38	16	15	7	59	42	+17	63
5	Metz	38	17	11	10	40	30	+10	62
6	Auxerre	38	17	10	11	49	32	+17	61	Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage
7	Bastia	38	17	10	11	54	47	+7	61
8	Lyon	38	16	12	10	59	50	+9	60
9	Strasbourg	38	19	3	16	52	49	+3	60	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round[a]
10	Montpellier	38	12	15	11	40	40	0	51	Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage
11	Marseille	38	12	13	13	43	48	−5	49
12	Guingamp	38	11	13	14	32	36	−4	46
13	Lens	38	12	9	17	40	52	−12	45
14	Le Havre	38	10	13	15	34	43	−9	43
15	Cannes	38	9	14	15	25	41	−16	41
16	Rennes	38	10	10	18	40	58	−18	40
17	Caen (R)	38	7	16	15	35	46	−11	37	Relegation to Division 2
18	Nancy (R)	38	9	10	19	33	51	−18	37
19	Lille (R)	38	8	11	19	32	58	−26	35
20	Nice (R)	38	5	8	25	30	68	−38	23	Cup Winners' Cup first round and relegation to Division 2[b]

Source: Ligue 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Strasbourg was qualified for the 1997–98 UEFA Cup as winners of the 1996–97 Coupe de la Ligue.
2. Nice qualified for the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as winners of the 1996–97 Coupe de France.

Promoted from Ligue 2, who will play in Division 1 season 1997/1998

• LB Châteauroux : champion of Ligue 2
• Toulouse FC : runners-up

Results

Home \ Away	AUX	BAS	BOR	CAE	CAN	GUI	LHA	RCL	LIL	OL	OM	MET	ASM	MHS	NAL	FCN	NIC	PSG	REN	RCS
Auxerre		1–2	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	7–0	0–0	2–3	2–0	0–2	1–0	2–2	3–1	2–1	4–1	0–1
Bastia	2–1		3–1	4–2	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	0–0	3–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	3–1
Bordeaux	0–0	3–1		3–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	3–0	2–2	4–0	1–0	2–1	3–1	0–1	0–0	4–1	5–3	2–0	1–2
Caen	2–3	2–2	0–0		3–0	0–1	4–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	1–3	0–0	3–0
Cannes	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0		1–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–2
Guingamp	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–1		2–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–2	1–0	2–1
Le Havre	0–2	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–1		0–0	0–0	4–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–3	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0
Lens	2–1	1–1	3–4	0–0	0–0	2–1	0–1		1–0	0–1	2–0	2–2	1–3	3–2	3–1	0–4	3–2	1–2	2–0	1–2
Lille	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	2–2	2–1		1–1	1–1	1–0	1–4	0–4	2–0	3–3	3–2	0–1	3–1	2–4
Lyon	2–0	4–2	2–2	3–0	3–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–0		8–0	0–0	3–3	1–1	2–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–0
Marseille	3–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	3–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	5–1	3–1		1–2	3–1	2–2	4–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	0–1
Metz	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	2–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–1		2–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	3–1
Monaco	0–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–0	0–0	3–0	5–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–1		1–1	2–0	2–1	4–1	2–0	3–1	2–0
Montpellier	0–0	3–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	0–1		1–1	2–2	2–1	0–3	0–0	1–4
Nancy	0–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–2	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–3	0–0	2–3	1–3	0–0		1–3	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–0
Nantes	0–0	3–0	3–1	1–1	5–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–3	3–0	2–0		7–0	0–0	3–3	3–0
Nice	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–3	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–0	3–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–2		0–1	3–1	1–1
Paris SG	1–1	3–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	4–0	3–1	3–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	5–0		1–1	2–1
Rennes	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	4–2	1–3	0–3	2–0	1–0	0–1	3–1	2–1		2–0
Strasbourg	2–1	1–3	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	3–0	2–1	0–1	0–2	2–1	3–1	0–1	3–1	0–1	3–0

Source: Ligue 1
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[1]
1	Stéphane Guivarc'h	Rennes	22
2	Japhet N'Doram	Nantes	21
3	Sonny Anderson	Monaco	19
	Alain Caveglia	Lyon
	David Zitelli	Strasbourg
6	Anto Drobnjak	Bastia	18
7	Jean-Pierre Papin	Bordeaux	16
	Ludovic Giuly	Lyon
9	Xavier Gravelaine	Marseille	15
	Patrice Loko	Paris Saint-Germain