Football Season Guide

At the end of a nerve-breaking summer, Ajaccio were handed an administrative relegation and, once they also lost the subsequent appeal, Boulogne thus obtained their second promotion in a row and returned back to the Ligue 2 and professional football after 13 years spent in the lower tiers of French football. This, despite losing to Clermont Foot in the promotion/relegation playoffs. Their season had been promising right from the start as they even led the league for some weeks in the initial 10 games. By mid-March, though, their results started faltering and, having won only 2 out of the final 7 games, they had to content themselves with the third place. 52-year-old coach Fabien Dagneaux, the architect of their back-to-back promotions, was confirmed at the helm, although he has no experience at this level. Holding the 4th-best attack and the 4th-best defence of the Championnat National, Boulogne had to undergo a major squad overhaul over the transfer campaign. In fact, they let go of 13 players, 7 among them were starters, while they signed 9 new ones, this far. Having the promotion arrived quite unexpectedly, they did not inject enough experienced players in what was a rather young squad yet. In goal, they lost starting Pandor, who returned to his parent club, and back-up Delins: 35-year-old Kone will thus be the new starter, after hardly playing last season and a spell in Maltese football. The defence was hardly touched with only starting centre-back Dabo gone, while Gourville could be battling with Pinot for a start. On the other hand, left-back Siliadin could become a protagonist in a position they struggled at last season. It is the midfield and the attack which were literally dismantled with, above all, key striker Rambaud and key midfielder Hbouch both leaving for Annecy. Midfielder Vercruysse, who left for Le Mans, could also be missed. Among the new arrivals, Binet, coming from Istres, could become a protagonist in the middle of the park, while striker Zanga Kone and attacking midfielder El Farissi could be given relevant playing time in the attack.