There are seasons that drift past without leaving much of a mark, and then there are seasons that demand to be examined carefully, award by award, performance by performance. The 2025-26 Ligue 1 campaign falls emphatically into the latter category, offering a title race with genuine teeth, a managerial revelation, and at least one comeback story that French football will be talking about for years.

Vitinha: The Conductor PSG Cannot Do Without

If you wanted to distil the essence of Paris Saint-Germain's season into a single figure, you would point without hesitation to Vitinha. The 26-year-old Portuguese midfielder has a habit of talking about football in almost philosophical terms — he has spoken publicly about wanting to feel every moment of a match pass through him — and that instinct is precisely what makes him so difficult to plan against.

Luis Enrique has built PSG as a collective project rather than a vehicle for individual stars, yet it is Vitinha's particular set of talents that makes the machinery hum. He was the one regular presence across both the league campaign and the Champions League, missing only a small number of matches in April due to a heel injury. As Marquinhos was gradually relieved of league duties from February onwards to protect him for European nights, it was Vitinha who wore the captain's armband with increasing frequency in the second half of the season.

His versatility has been central to his value. The retraining as a defensive midfielder — predating Ousmane Dembélé's positional shift to centre-forward — was arguably the most consequential of the manager's many tactical adjustments since arriving in Paris. Vitinha can pick a pass from a withdrawn position or ghost through a congested midfield with equal conviction. For a team that so often faces opponents sitting deep in Ligue 1, that range of function is indispensable.

Pierre Sage and the Lens Revolution

The manager of the season award is rather less complicated to hand out. Pierre Sage's ascent over the past three years reads like something from a football fable. Brought in as an unheralded interim at Lyon in late 2023, he steadied a club spiralling towards relegation and eventually guided them into European competition on the final day of that season. Dismissed mid-campaign the following year, he was appointed at Lens last summer — and proceeded to do it all again.

In his first full season in charge at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Sage assembled the most credible title challenge to PSG's supremacy in recent memory. Lens ultimately fell short of the championship, but the consolation prize was considerable: the Coupe de France, claimed for the first time in the club's 120-year history. Built on relentless pressing, rapid transitions and the creative intelligence of Florian Thauvin, Lens were at their best a genuinely exhilarating side to watch.

The 47-year-old's future now appears to lie across the Channel, with Crystal Palace reportedly in discussions to bring him to the Premier League. For Lens supporters, that prospect will sting. A manager capable of constructing a title-challenging squad on relatively modest resources does not come along often, and the club's long-term ambitions will take a significant blow if he departs this summer.

Afonso Moreira and the Art of the Unexpected

Perhaps the most arresting individual story of the campaign belongs to Afonso Moreira. Lyon signed the Portuguese winger for €2m after a season in the third tier of Portuguese football with Sporting CP's reserve side. Expectations were modest, to put it generously. Then Malick Fofana picked up an injury in the autumn, a door opened, and Moreira walked through it with remarkable composure.

He finished the season with 19 goal contributions — eight goals and 11 assists — across 37 appearances, becoming the standard-bearer of Lyon's attack in the process. Head coach Paulo Fonseca used Moreira's output publicly to challenge his more celebrated squad members, pointing out that a player who had been in the third division twelve months earlier was outperforming individuals with far loftier reputations. It was a pointed remark, and not without justification.

Beyond the statistics, Moreira has impressed with his willingness to track back and contribute defensively — a quality that separates him from the more instinctively attack-minded wingers his profile might suggest. His breakout season points firmly towards a bright future, though whether that future remains in Lyon remains to be seen given the level of interest his performances are bound to attract.

A Season of Contrasts

For every high, of course, there are lows. The market has already begun reflecting the fallout from some of the campaign's more disappointing stories — Nice and Paul Pogba among those whose seasons prompted more questions than answers. But that, as ever, is the particular appeal of Ligue 1: it rarely delivers a tidy narrative, and this season was no exception.

Frequently asked

Who won the Coupe de France in 2025-26?
Lens won the Coupe de France in 2025-26, claiming the trophy for the first time in the club's 120-year history under manager Pierre Sage.
Is Pierre Sage leaving Lens for Crystal Palace?
Reports suggest Crystal Palace are in talks with Lens over Pierre Sage, with the French manager widely expected to leave the club this summer after an impressive debut season in charge.
Who was the best young player in Ligue 1 this season?
Afonso Moreira of Lyon stood out as the best young player of the 2025-26 Ligue 1 season, finishing with 19 goal contributions after joining from Sporting CP's reserve side for just €2m.