With five games remaining in the 2024-2025 Ligue 1 season, OGC Nice have entered the home stretch. Still in the race for Europe, Franck Haise's men can still qualify for any of the three continental competitions. Here's an update on the final sprint and the schedule for the contenders.

Every spring, the same excitement fills the hearts of football fans. As the temperatures warm up, the pressure mounts: the season is drawing to a close, and every match counts more than the last. After 29 days of intense competition, Les Aiglons have just five league battles left to fight. The stakes are high: securing one of the five (or six) European tickets still up for grabs, Paris having clinched the first with their league title.

Le Gym's fixtures

OGC Nice - 7th (48 points, +17)

Sitting in seventh place after last weekend's draw with Strasbourg at the Meinau, the Rouge et Noir will begin their race for Europe with the visit of Angers, scheduled for Sunday 20 April at the Allianz Riviera (5.15pm). Having gone five games without a win in the top flight, Dante and Co will be keen to restore their positive momentum. All the more so as the following weekend sees them travel to Paris, the already crowned champions of France.

The month of May will be marked by three final clashes, first at home to Reims and then away to Stade Rennais. The season comes to a close with an exciting encounter at the Allianz Riviera against a Brest side who are not to be counted out (8th, 4 points behind Nice).

THE RIVALS' FIXTURES

AS Monaco - 2nd (53 points, +22)

Adi Hütter's side are in the best position going into the final sprint, having lost just one of their last six games. However, the players from the Rock have a tough schedule ahead of them, with two direct encounters against European rivals: against Strasbourg on Saturday 19 April, and against Lyon on 10 May. Both games will take place at the Louis-II, a venue where ASM, second in the league at home, have won 11 of the 15 matches they have played. The Monegasques conclude their campaign with a trip to Lens on 18 May.

 

Olympique de Marseille - 3rd (52 points, +16)

Runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain for a while, Olympique Marseille are going through a complicated period as they enter the final stretch of the season. After four defeats in their last five outings, Roberto De Zerbi's men, like Monaco, face two European rivals, starting with Brest, who travel to the Velodrome to round off Matchday 31. Marseille then travel to Lille on the weekend of 4 May, before finishing their season at home to Rennes.

 

Olympique Lyonnais - 4th (51 points, +18)

Lyon's momentum is very different. For the first time this season, Les Gones finished a Ligue 1 Matchday in the top four following their win at Auxerre last weekend (M29, 1-3). Under Paulo Fonseca since February, Alexandre Lacazette and his team-mates have lost just two of their last thirteen games in all competitions and will be full of confidence when they kick off their final sprint with a derby at Saint-Etienne, after trying to prolong their European adventure at Old Trafford. Before the conclusion of their home campaign against Angers, the Rhone outfit travel to Monaco on the penultimate matchday.

 

LOSC Lille - 5th (50 points, +13)

LOSC moved back into the top five on Saturday with a win at Toulouse (M29, 1-2). They now have three home games on the agenda: Auxerre to start, Reims to finish and, above all, a top-of-the-table clash with OM on the weekend of 4 May. Having struggled in recent weeks, Les Dogues, who have not won back-to-back games since mid-February, also face a tricky trip to the Francis-Le Blé to take on Brest on Matchday 33.

 

RC Strasbourg Alsace - 6th (50 points, +11)

Le Gym's latest opponents, Racing are the surprise guests in the battle for Europe and the second-best team in Ligue 1 in 2025, just behind PSG. Unbeaten in their last nine league games, the Alsatians have a huge home advantage, having lost just once at La Meinau this season. Three teams will be looking to put an end to this impressive run, two of them in the hunt for survival (Saint-Étienne, Le Havre), but also the invincible PSG. Before that clash, scheduled for the weekend of 4 May, Liam Rosenior's troops will have to get past Monaco in a much-anticipated top-of-the-table clash on Saturday.

 

Stade Brestois 29 - 8th (44 points, +1)

In fine form for almost two months now, the Pirates have lost just one of their last nine Ligue 1 games and have joined the battle for the European places with some fine victories, such as their 2-1 win over Monaco (M28) on 5 April. To take part in another European competition after the Champions League campaign this season, the Finistère outfit will have to negotiate three key fixtures: Marseille on 27 April, Lille on 10 May and Le Gym on Matchday 34 to finish the season.

WHICH PLACE QUALIFIES FOR WHICH COMPETITION?

As was the case last year, the top three places in the table will send the teams finishing the season there straight into the league phase of the Champions League. The team finishing fourth will also have a chance to take part in the most prestigious of club competitions, but will have to go through two two-legged preliminary stages (3rd round + play-offs). If the team is eliminated in the 3rd preliminary round, it will go straight into the Europa League. The new format will ensure that a team finishing 4th in Ligue 1 will at least play in the Europa League.

The fifth-placed team, meanwhile, will qualify for the league phase of the Europa League. If Paris Saint-Germain, already champions and therefore guaranteed to play in the Champions League in 2025-2026, win the Coupe de France final against Reims on 24 May, then Ligue 1's sixth-placed team will also play in the Europa League next season, directly in the League phase.

If Reims are crowned champions at the Stade de France, the sixth-placed team will have to play in a Europa Conference League play-off (like Le Gym in 2022-23 against Tel Aviv) before entering the league phase of this competition. If the club from the capital wins the Coupe de France, the ticket to the Conference League will go to the seventh-placed team in the league.

1st: Champions League league phase

2nd: Champions League league phase

3rd: Champions League league phase

4th: Champions League 3rd preliminary round

5th: Europa League league phase

6th: Europa Conference League play-offs or Europa League league phase if PSG win the Coupe de France

7th: This place is only European if PSG win the Coupe de France. The 7th-placed team would then play in the Europa Conference League play-offs.

If Lyon win the Europa League, they will automatically qualify for the Champions League. The only way that victory could unlock an extra place for French clubs would be if Lyon failed to qualify for Europe via the league (by finishing 8th, for example).

If Paris wins the Champions League, there will be no extra place for a French club.

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