Ligue 2: Strasbourg win title as Amiens promoted after 96th-minute winner

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AmiensImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Amiens coach Christophe Pellissier celebrates his side's remarkable promotion

Amiens were promoted to the top flight of French football for the first time with a stoppage-time goal that carried them from sixth to second.

In a remarkable climax to the Ligue 2 season, the top six were separated by three points before Friday's games.

Amiens were set to finish sixth - and not even make the play-offs - when Emmanuel Bourgaud scored a 96th-minute winner at Reims to trigger a pitch invasion from club officials and players.

Club president Bernard Joannin said: "It is an extraordinary moment.

"I saw a fighting team again. At the start of the season, our ambition was to stay up - and now we are in Ligue 1.

"Football is a play every Friday night. We gave this evening an extraordinary drama."

Joannin also said that he had offered new French president Emmanuel Macron - born in Amiens - a signed shirt before the game which had brought them both luck.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Strasbourg secured their fourth promotion in six years with the Ligue 2 title

Strasbourg sealed the title after a 2-1 home win over Bourg en Bresse.

Third-placed Troyes came from two goals down to beat Sochaux 3-2 but Bourgaud's late goal for Amiens means they now face a play-off against the side who finish 18th in Ligue 1 following the final round of top-flight games on Saturday.

Both Strasbourg and Amiens have now won back-to-back promotions, with the latter having never played top-flight football during their 116-year history.

It is also a fourth promotion in six years for Strasbourg, who return to Ligue 1 for the first time since 2008, having entered liquidation in 2011 and been placed in the fifth tier.

Image source, BBC Sport

Final-round results

Strasbourg 2-1 Bourg-en-Bresse

Reims 1-2 Amiens

Sochaux 2-3 Troyes

Lens 3-1 Niort

Brest 6-2 Ajaccio

Laval 1-2 Nimes

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