1996–97 French Division 2

The Division 2 season 1996/1997, organised by the LFP was won by LB Châteauroux and saw the promotions of LB Châteauroux and Toulouse FC, whereas FC Perpignan, FCO Charleville, SAS Épinal and Stade Briochin were relegated to National.

22 participating teams

#	Club	Played	V	D	L	gf/ga	+/-	Points
1	LB Châteauroux	42	20	16	6	54:27	+27	76
2	Toulouse FC	42	22	9	11	61:32	+29	75
3	FC Martigues	42	17	16	9	54:33	+21	67
4	FC Gueugnon	42	19	10	13	54:47	+7	67
5	Chamois Niortais FC	42	16	17	9	44:36	+8	65
6	Le Mans UC72	42	15	17	10	49:41	+8	62
7	AS Beauvais	42	15	16	11	43:43	0	61
8	Stade Lavallois	42	14	16	12	48:39	+9	58
9	FC Lorient	42	15	13	14	50:50	0	58
10	ASOA Valence	42	17	7	18	48:53	-5	58
11	FC Sochaux-Montbéliard	42	14	15	13	57:47	+7	57
12	FC Mulhouse	42	14	12	16	51:49	+2	54
13	Red Star 93	42	12	18	12	50:48	+2	54
14	Sporting Toulon Var	42	14	12	16	50:57	-7	54
15	Amiens SC	42	13	13	16	44:47	-3	52
16	FC Perpignan	42	11	18	13	38:42	-4	51
17	AS Saint-Étienne	42	12	15	15	48:56	-8	51
18	CS Louhans-Cuiseaux	42	13	12	17	39:52	-13	51
19	FCO Charleville	42	10	19	13	37:48	-11	49
20	Troyes AC	42	10	18	14	36:42	-6	48
21	SAS Épinal	42	6	8	28	26:75	-49	26
22	Stade Briochin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
# rank ; V victories ; D draws ; D defeats ; gf goals for ; ga goals against ; +/- goals average

Promoted to L1 : LB Châteauroux, Toulouse FC
Relegated to L2 : SM Caen, AS Nancy, Lille OSC, OGC Nice
Promoted to L2 : Nîmes Olympique, ES Wasquehal
Relegated to National : FCO Charleville, SAS Épinal
Relegated to lower divisions : FC Perpignan, Stade Briochin (Banned during the season)

#	Player	Club	Goals
1	Samuel Michel	Sochaux	23
2	Samba N'Diaye	Saint-Étienne	19
3	Bernard Bouger	Lorient	18
4	Jean-Marc Ferreri	Toulon	17

Division 2 / Ligue 2 seasons

Division 2 (1933–2002)	1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02

Ligue 2 (2002–present)	2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

List of French second division champions