Football Season Guide

In their second season back to professional football after going through a financial failure in 2016/2017, Bastia had an extraordinary campaign which saw them achieve a 4th-place finish, which in the previous years would have granted them the promotion play-offs. The Corsicans, who were almost unbeatable at home, relied mostly on a prolific attack, while they often conceded too many goals. Coach Régis Brouard, the mastermind of their successful campaign, was logically confirmed at the helm and he was asked to build on the past season and to lead Bastia back to Ligue 1 after a 7-year absence, He will have to deal with a widely different squad, though. In fact, during the transfer campaign, Bastia lost most of their starting defence, as centre-backs Kaiboue, Sainati and, in particular, Ndiaye, whose loan from Olympique Lyonnais came to end, all left, while only Guidi remained at the club. None of them was actually replaced yet, thus leaving them too thin in the area. Another area which saw heavy changes at Bastia is the attack, as attacking midfielder Salles-Lamonges, their leading assist-man with 7, was let go together with key striker Magri, capable of 13 goals and 4 assists overall, The former should be replaced by Maggiotti, who did well at Laval last season, while new signings Bianchini and Lega have to prove their worth up-front, alongside confirmed Santelli. In the midfield, the area Bastia touched the least over the summer, Ducrocq saw his loan turned permanent while experienced Lienard, who could also act more defensively, arrived from Strasbourg.