Le Mans promoted to Ligue 1 for first time since 2010 after Bastia abandonment

[p]The club last played in the French top flight in the 2009/10 season and were relegated to the sixth tier in 2013 for financial reasons.[/p][p]They were leading [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/bastia/AZwK8L6R/"]Bastia[/a] 2-0 in Corsica in injury time when the referee halted the match after home fans started throwing flares onto the pitch.[/p][p][b]Bastia were relegated to the third-tier National.[/b][/p][embed guid="460f7dcf-8d34-445b-8ace-b340f2e22752" url="https://x.com/Ligue1/status/2054630806094532979" social-type="twitter" /][p]The LFP said Wednesday that [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/le-mans/ER0NeOOp/"]Le Mans[/a]' victory was "definitively confirmed", meaning they finish the season in the second automatic promotion spot, two points clear of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/st-etienne/YL2QybFe/"]Saint-Etienne[/a] and seven behind [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/troyes/fsfAHubD/"]champions Troyes[/a].[/p][p][b]Saint-Etienne will face [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/rodez/0pOdQOCg/"]Rodez[/a] in the play-off semi-finals on Friday.[/b][/p][p]The winners of that match will face the 16th-placed team from Ligue 1, currently [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nice/YagoQJpq/"]Nice[/a], later this month in the final.[/p][p]Le Mans are owned by Brazilian investment fund OutField, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-madrid/W8mj7MDD/"]Real Madrid[/a] goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/courtois-thibaut/MVExOq3n/"]Thibaut Courtois[/a], tennis star Novak Djokovic and ex-Formula One driver Felipe Massa among the minority shareholders.[/p]