PSG did the double nobody expected any club to make look this routine โ a 14th Ligue 1 title, their fifth straight, sealed with a 2-0 win over closest rivals Lens on 13 May, and the Champions League on top of it, beating Arsenal in the final. The domestic race itself, though, wasn't really about PSG. It was about Esteban Lepaul, a Rennes forward nobody outside France was talking about in August, scoring his way to the Golden Boot with 21 goals while the champions ran away with everything else.
The blueprint PSG were building on
2024/25 had been the first full season without Kylian Mbappe, and PSG answered the obvious question about life after him with 84 points, 92 goals, and a 30-match unbeaten run. Ousmane Dembele and Marseille's Mason Greenwood had shared that year's Golden Boot on 21 each, Bradley Barcola added 14 of his own, and Marseille's 65-point second place was their best finish in years. Luis Enrique's collective pressing system was clearly working. Going into 2025/26, a fifth straight title was less a hope than a baseline expectation.
A double the club had never managed before
Ligue 1 and the Champions League in the same season โ something PSG had simply never done in their history until now. The domestic margin, 76 points and five clear of Lens, was comfortable without matching the sheer dominance of the 84-point season before it, wrapped up with a matchday to spare. In Europe, beating Arsenal in the final ended three straight years of English clubs holding the trophy. Dembele stayed the attacking focal point, Barcola kept delivering from the left, and the defence held up across both competitions without much drama. Three seasons into his PSG project, Luis Enrique has now won Ligue 1 every single year.
Lepaul came from nowhere and changed his own career
21 goals for Stade Rennais, a club that finished in the Europa League places rather than anywhere near the title race โ that's the Golden Boot won by a player almost nobody outside France had heard of in August. What stands out is that it wasn't one hot streak; the goals came steadily across the whole season, built on a physical, hard-to-defend style inside the box. Rennes' top-half finish leaned heavily on his form. For a forward with no prior history among France's top scorers, this is the kind of season that resets what clubs think he's worth โ expect considerably more transfer interest heading into next summer.
Lens' best finish in a generation
Second place and Champions League qualification for Lens is the sort of provincial success story Ligue 1 rarely produces outside of Lille's occasional title years โ their highest league finish in over 25 years, and they pushed PSG harder across the season than anyone else did. Lille took third under new manager Davide Ancelotti (yes, Carlo's son), reaching the Champions League in his first season in charge, a genuinely strong start. Lyon's fourth-place finish marked a return to Europe after a difficult stretch. It's rare to see France's top four spread this widely beyond the usual names.
Marseille stepped back, Rennes rode one player's form
Marseille slipped from second the year before to a Europa League place this time โ proof of how hard it is to repeat a strong season back to back, even with Mason Greenwood still a genuine threat; PSG's squad depth just wasn't something Marseille could match. Rennes' Europa League spot, on the other hand, was built almost entirely on Lepaul's breakout โ an unusual case of a whole club's European campaign resting on one player's form.
Nantes and Metz couldn't recover
Nantes spent the season bottom-half from October onward and never found a way back โ a long, painful end to one of French football's more historic clubs' Ligue 1 run, without the investment to compete at this level anymore. Metz went down alongside them after a season spent fighting at the foot of the table. Both spots get filled by promoted Ligue 2 sides for 2026/27.
A few numbers worth keeping
- PSG's Champions League and Ligue 1 double is the first time in the club's history they've won both in the same season.
- Beating Arsenal in the final ended three straight seasons of English clubs winning the Champions League.
- Lepaul is the first player outside PSG or Marseille to win the Ligue 1 Golden Boot in five years.
- PSG's five straight titles match the longest consecutive run in the division's modern era.
- Lens' second place is their best league finish in over 25 years.
- Davide Ancelotti reached the Champions League in his first season as a senior head coach โ matching what his father Carlo has done at multiple clubs.
What I'd watch for in 2026/27
PSG are chasing a sixth straight title and remain the clear favourites, even after a summer of real squad turnover โ Goncalo Ramos, Randal Kolo Muani and Kang-in Lee all left, with Maghnes Akliouche, Lucas Digne and Mika Godts coming in. The bigger uncertainty is Luis Enrique himself, who's hinted publicly at retiring before turning 60 โ this could be his last season in charge. Lens, backed by fresh Champions League revenue and a settled squad, are the most likely runner-up on paper. Lille are still growing under Ancelotti, and both Lyon and Monaco have realistic top-four cases. If Luis Enrique does leave mid-season, PSG's advantage narrows fast, and this could be the first genuinely open title race since before 2024/25.
If French football has you hooked
FootballDream doesn't run a Ligue 1-specific fantasy game, but the instincts behind spotting a Lepaul-style breakout apply directly to our Premier League games โ a weekly Fantasy XI at /teams, match-result calls in the Predictor at /predictor, daily footballer-guessing in FootballQuest at /footballquest, the multi-league Quiz at /quiz, or season-long Player Draft and Team Draft against friends. All free, no entry fee.