2004–05 Ligue 1

Ligue 1

Season	2004–05
Champions	Lyon
Relegated	Caen Bastia Istres
Champions League	Lyon Lille Monaco
UEFA Cup	Rennes Auxerre Strasbourg
Matches played	380
Goals scored	826 (2.17 per match)
Top goalscorer	Alexander Frei (20 goals)
← 2003–04 2005–06 →

The 2004/2005 season of Ligue 1 was a very close-run battle. Separating fourth placed Rennes, who enter the UEFA Cup and 18th placed Caen, who get relegated to Ligue 2, were 13 mere points. Lyon were long time leaders and had won the league back in April 2005. On the last day, 4 teams could've got the 4th place guaranteeing a place in the UEFA Cup and any 2 from 6 teams could've been relegated before the final games.

Ajaccio

Auxerre

Bastia

Bordeaux

Caen

Istres

Lens      

Lille

Lyon

Marseille

Metz

AS Monaco

Nantes

Nice

PSG

Rennes

St. Étienne

Sochaux

Strasbourg

Toulouse

Location of teams in 2004–05 Ligue 1

Final standings

Position	Club	Points	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals for	Goals against	Goal difference	Average attendance
1	Olympique Lyonnais	79	38	22	13	3	56	22	+34	-----
2	Lille OSC	67	38	18	13	7	52	29	+23	-----
3	AS Monaco	63	38	15	18	5	52	35	+17	-----
4	Stade Rennais FC	55	38	15	10	13	49	42	+7	-----
5	Olympique de Marseille	55	38	15	10	13	47	42	+5	-----
6	AS Saint-Étienne	53	38	12	17	9	47	34	+13	-----
7	RC Lens	52	38	13	13	12	45	39	+6	-----
8	AJ Auxerre	52	38	14	10	14	48	47	+1	-----
9	Paris Saint-Germain	51	38	12	15	11	40	41	-1	-----
10	FC Sochaux	50	38	13	11	14	42	41	+1	-----
11	RC Strasbourg	48	38	12	12	14	42	43	-1	-----
12	OGC Nice	46	38	10	16	12	38	45	-7	-----
13	Toulouse FC	46	38	12	10	16	36	43	-7	-----
14	AC Ajaccio	45	38	10	15	13	36	40	-4	-----
15	Girondins de Bordeaux	44	38	8	20	10	37	41	-4	-----
16	FC Metz	44	38	10	14	14	33	45	-12	-----
17	FC Nantes	43	38	10	13	15	33	38	-5	-----
18	SM Caen	42	38	10	12	16	36	60	-24	-----
19	SC Bastia	41	38	11	8	19	32	48	-16	-----
20	FC Istres	32	38	6	14	18	25	51	-26	-----

This means that for the 2005–06 season:

• Lyon and Lille enter the group phase of the Champions League.
• Monaco plays in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. They must survive a two-legged elimination tie to advance to the group phase; if they lose, they go to the UEFA Cup.
  • Monaco lost this tie to Real Betis of Spain.
• Rennes join French Cup winners Auxerre and League Cup winners Strasbourg in the UEFA Cup.
• Marseille, Saint-Etienne and Lens qualify for the Intertoto Cup.
  • As two of the three winners of the 2005 Intertoto Cup, Marseille and Lens both qualified for the UEFA Cup.
• Caen, Bastia and Istres are relegated to Ligue 2.

Top goalscorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals	Right foot	Left foot	Penalties	Headers
1	Alexander Frei	Rennes	20	9	4	0	7
2	Mickaël Pagis	Strasbourg	15	8	2	4	1
3	Pauleta	PSG	14	4	2	5	3
4	Pascal Feindouno	Saint-Étienne	13	6	3	3	1
-	Ilan	Sochaux	13	9	1	1	2
-	Juninho Pernambucano	Lyon	13	10	1	2	0
-	Sébastien Mazure	Caen	13	10	2	0	0
-	Matt Moussilou	Lille	13	8	4	0	1
9	Mamadou Niang	Strasbourg	12	10	1	0	1
-	John Utaka	Lens	12	5	4	1	2

Player of the month

Month	Player
August	Franck Ribéry (FC Metz)
September	Fabien Barthez (Olympique de Marseille)
October	Michael Essien (Olympique Lyonnais)
November	Camel Meriem (AS Monaco)
January	Peguy Luyindula (Olympique de Marseille)
February	Juninho Pernambucano (Olympique Lyonnais)
March	Juninho Pernambucano (Olympique Lyonnais)
April	Matt Moussilou (Lille OSC)
May	Mamadou Niang (RC Strasbourg)