Nancy has played 30 seasons in the divisions covered here since 1993/94: 12 in Ligue 1 and 18 in Ligue 2. It returned to Ligue 2 in 2025/26 after 3 seasons outside the divisions covered. Its best finish was 4th in Ligue 1, in 2007/08. Its biggest climb took five seasons: from 15th in Ligue 2 in 2002/03 to 4th in Ligue 1 in 2007/08. It has been promoted 4 times and relegated 5 times.
Nancy
2025/26: 14th in Ligue 2
How high can Nancy realistically go?
Based on finishing 14th in Ligue 2 in 2025/26
About 1 in 4
Of the 170 times a club finished in the bottom half of Ligue 2 between 2004/05 and 2020/21, 40 went up within five seasons.
40 of 170 (24%); likely range 14%–34%, 51 different clubs.
| Reached the top flight within ten seasons | about 4 in 10 51 of 120; range 28%–59% |
Nancy itself: 1 of the last 10 seasons in Ligue 1.
How do we know?
We took every season since 2004/05 in which a club finished in the same part of the same league, and followed each club forward. The figure is the share that reached each goal. Ten-year goals use finishes from 2004/05 to 2015/16, five-year goals from 2004/05 to 2020/21, so every case has had the full time to play out; results run to the end of 2025/26.
It describes what happened to clubs in this position, not a forecast for one club. A club with much more money or history than is usual for its position has better chances than the figure suggests, which is why the club's own record is shown underneath.
The likely range is a 95% interval worked out by resampling clubs rather than seasons, because the same club often appears several times. It is wide where only a few clubs have been in a position, and two leagues whose ranges overlap may not really differ. Reserve teams such as Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla are left out of these counts, because they cannot be promoted into their first team's division.
Counts: went up within five seasons: 40 of 170; reached the top flight within ten seasons: 51 of 120.
The story so far
Final position each seasonRinged dots are titles
How to read this chart
Every club in the divisions covered is placed on one ladder each season: the champions are 1st, and the top club of the second division comes straight after the bottom club of the first. Shaded bands are the divisions. Hover over or tap a dot for the season.
30seasons since 1993/94
12seasons in Ligue 1
0league titles
1top-four finishes
4promotions
5relegations
Against the money
About where its money would put it
Over 12 seasons, the average gap was -2.0 places, which is within what chance alone would produce. It finished above its money in 4 of 12 seasons with published figures.
€8.8mwage bill, 2021/22
29thhighest of 39 clubs with published accounts
20thfinish in Ligue 2, 2021/22
Where Nancy finishedWhere its wage bill normally finishes
Season by season
| Season | Finish | Wage bill | Wage rank | Places above its money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 20th, Ligue 2 | €8.8m | 29th of 39 | -10.1 |
| 2020/21 | 8th, Ligue 2 | €8.8m | 28th of 39 | +2.3 |
| 2019/20 | 12th, Ligue 2 | €8.9m | 28th of 39 | -1.4 |
| 2018/19 | 14th, Ligue 2 | €14m | 25th of 39 | -7.1 |
| 2017/18 | 17th, Ligue 2 | €14m | 22nd of 39 | -10.0 |
| 2016/17 | 19th, Ligue 1 | €19m | 16th of 38 | -1.9 |
| 2015/16 | 1st, Ligue 2 | €10m | 23rd of 38 | +5.9 |
| 2014/15 | 5th, Ligue 2 | €9.3m | 22nd of 38 | +2.2 |
| 2011/12 | 11th, Ligue 1 | €24m | 14th of 39 | +2.4 |
| 2010/11 | 13th, Ligue 1 | €27m | 11th of 37 | -0.7 |
| 2009/10 | 12th, Ligue 1 | €31m | 9th of 38 | -1.2 |
| 2008/09 | 15th, Ligue 1 | €30m | 9th of 38 | -4.0 |
How do we know?
For every season, we compare each club's wage bill with the average in the top two divisions, and work out the finish that wage bill usually brings, allowing for differences between seasons and assuming a bigger wage bill never lowers the expected finish. The gap between that and the actual finish, averaged over the seasons, is the figure above. An overall verdict needs at least eight seasons, and a signed number is given only when the gap is clearly larger than chance.
Wage bills are total payroll including social charges from the DNCG's published club accounts, checked against each report's own cost totals. Group (consolidated) accounts are left out.
On average, most of a big over-performance fades: clubs that finished at least four places above their money (on average 6.4 places) were +2.7 places the next season, so about 57% of it disappeared and the rest persisted. Some clubs beat their money season after season. It mixes good management, luck and resources the measure cannot see, so it is not a score for how well a club is run.
Clubs with a similar path
Clubs whose finishing positions over the last 15 seasons were closest to Nancy's, with recent seasons counting more.
In France
FC SochauxFrance · not in the divisions covered nowDijon FCOFrance · not in the divisions covered nowChamois NiortaisFrance · not in the divisions covered nowValenciennes FCFrance · not in the divisions covered now
Elsewhere in Europe
ReadingEngland · 12th in League One, 2025/26PescaraItaly · 20th in Serie B, 2025/26AD AlcorcónSpain · not in the divisions covered now
Compare Nancy with another club
Sources
- Final tables to 2025/26. Positions are worked out from match results.
- Relegations include dropping out of the divisions covered.
- All figures can be downloaded on the data page. Spotted a mistake? Report it with a source.