The 2025–26 Pro D2 is the second-level French rugby union club competition, below the Top 14, for the 2025–26 season. It will run alongside the 2025–26 Top 14 competition; both competitions are operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
Teams
Club City Stadium Capacity Previous season Agen Agen Stade Armandie 14,400 14th Aurillac Aurillac Stade Jean Alric 9,000 15th Béziers Béziers Stade Raoul-Barrière 18,555 7th Biarritz Biarritz Parc des Sports Aguiléra 15,000 9th Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde Stade Amédée-Domenech 13,979 2nd Carcassonne Carcassonne Stade Albert-Domec 6,500 Promoted from 2024–25 Championnat Fédéral Nationale (1st) Colomiers Colomiers Stade Michel Bendichou 11,430 3rd Dax Dax Stade Maurice Boyau 7,262 11th Grenoble Grenoble Stade des Alpes 20,068 1st Mont-de-Marsan Mont-de-Marsan Stade Guy Boniface 16,800 13th Nevers Nevers Stade du Pré Fleuri 7,500 10th Oyonnax Oyonnax Stade Charles-Mathon 11,500 12th Provence Stade Maurice David 8,767 4th Soyaux Angoulême Angoulême Stade Chanzy 8,000 5th Valence Romans Valence Stade Georges Pompidou 15,120 8th Vannes Vannes Stade de la Rabine 11,303 Relegated from 2024–25 Top 14 (14th)
Number of teams by regions Teams Region Team(s)6Agen, Biarritz, Brive, Dax, Mont-de-Marsan, Soyaux Angoulême4Aurillac, Grenoble, Oyonnax, Valence Romans3Béziers, Carcassonne, Colomiers1Nevers Vannes Provence
Competition format The regular season uses a double round-robin format, in which each team plays the others home and away.
The LNR uses a slightly different bonus points system from that used in most other rugby competitions. It trialled a new system in 2007–08 explicitly designed to prevent a losing team from earning more than one bonus point in a match, a system that also made it impossible for either team to earn a bonus point in a drawn match. LNR chose to continue with this system for subsequent seasons.
France's bonus point system operates as follows:
4 points for a win. 2 points for a draw. 1 bonus point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. This replaces the standard bonus point for scoring 4 tries regardless of the match result. 1 bonus point for losing by 5 points (or less). The required margin had been 7 points or less until being changed in advance of the 2014–15 season.
Starting with the 2017–18 season, Pro D2 conducts a play-off system identical to the one currently used in Top 14, with the top six teams qualifying for the play-offs and the top two teams receiving byes into the semi-finals. The winner of the play-offs earns the league championship and automatic promotion to the next season's Top 14; the runner-up enters a play-off with the second-from-bottom Top 14 team, with the winner of that play-off taking up the final place in Top 14.
This replaced the previous system in which the top team at the end of the regular season was declared champion, also earning a Top 14 place, while the second- through fifth-place teams competed in promotion play-offs. The play-off semi-finals were played at the home ground of the higher-ranked team. The final was then played on neutral ground, and the winner earned the second ticket to the next Top 14.
Promotion Pro D2 to Top 14 As noted above, both promotion places will be determined by play-offs from 2017 to 2018 forward, with the winner of the Pro D2 play-offs earning promotion and the runner-up playing the second-from-bottom Top 14 team for the next season's final Top 14 place.
Nationale to Pro D2 Starting with the 2021–22 season, the FFR created a third professional league, slotting between Pro D2 and Fédérale 1 in the league system called Nationale.
Relegation Normally, the team that finishes in 16th places in the table is relegated to Nationale at the end of the season. Additionally starting in the 2022-23 season there is a ProD2 Access match played between the runner up of the Nationale competition. In certain circumstances, "financial reasons" may cause a higher-placed team to be demoted instead, or bar a Nationale team from promotion.https://sg.news.yahoo.com/lille-barred-prod2-financial-reasons-165130658--spt.html Table
Relegation playoff The team finishing in 15th place faces the runner-up of the Nationale, with the winner of this match playing in the 2026–27 Pro D2 and the loser in the 2026–27 Nationale.
Nissa and were promoted to Pro D2, while Mont-de-Marsan were relegated to Nationale.
Promotion playoffs
Top 14/ProD2 playoff The team finishing in 13th place in the Top 14 faces the loser of the Pro D2 playoff final, with the winner of this match playing in the 2026–27 Top 14 and the loser in the 2026–27 Pro D2.
Team details FB 15 RW 14 OC 13 IC 12 Inga FinauLW 11 Léo DrouetFH 10 Caleb MuntzSH 9 Arthur CovilleN8 8 Tornike JalagoniaOF 7 Charly GambiniBF 6 Teimana HarrisonRL 5 LL 4 (c)TP 3 Tomas FrancisHK 2 LP 1 Replacements:HK 16 Kapeli PifeletiPR 17 Thomas VernetLK 18 Izack RoddaFL 19 FL 20 Albert TuisueSH 21 Joris CazenaveCE 22 PR 23 Hugo NdiayeCoach: Philippe Saint-André FB 15 Tommaso AllanRW 14 Jefferson-Lee JosephOC 13 IC 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (c)LW 11 Théo FornerFH 10 Jake McIntyreSH 9 James HallN8 8 Joaquín OviedoOF 7 Jacobus van TonderBF 6 Max HicksRL 5 Jonny GrayLL 4 TP 3 Kieran BrookesHK 2 Sama MaloloLP 1 Giorgi TetrashviliReplacements:HK 16 Ignacio RuizPR 17 FL 18 Peceli YatoLK 19 Posolo TuilagiFL 20 SH 21 CE 22 Jordan PetaiaPR 23 Pietro CeccarelliCoach: Laurent Labit
Perpignan won and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.
See also 2025–26 Top 14 season
Notes
References
External links Ligue Nationale de Rugby – Official website Midi Olympique