Best Ligue 1 team futures to consider ahead of 2022-23 season

The Ligue 1 season is just around the corner, getting underway on August 5 as Lyon takes on newly-promoted AC Ajaccio to start the campaign. Paris Saint-Germain will look to win their 11th title, and second consecutive as they’ve won the championship eight out of the last 10 years. Ahead of this season’s action, we’re going over some of our favorite team futures with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.

Lyon winner without PSG (+300)

PSG is favored to win the league, again, opening at -1000 on the board while Lyon and Marseille sit at +1400. While that bet doesn’t look particularly appealing, it gets a little more exciting when we take PSG out of the picture. Lyon is coming off their worst finish since 1996-97, finishing in eighth place last season. They were only 10 points out of second place as the upper half of the table was a tight race down the stretch last season.

However, the seven-time Ligue 1 champions will look to get back on track as they’ve had a busy summer transfer window, bringing in names like Alexandre Lacazette from Arsenal and Corentin Tolisso from Bayern Munich. Complemented by Moussa Dembele, Thiago Mendes, Lucas Paqueta, and Nicolas Tagliafico, Lyon could be real contenders this season as they’ll look to challenge PSG for the title.

Clermont Foot to be relegated (+130)

While newcomers Ajaccio are the favorites to be relegated at -250, Clermont Foot provides a better price for a team who narrowly escaped relegation last season. They made their first-ever appearance in Ligue 1 last season, and finished in 17th place just four points ahead of Saint-Etienne. It’s worth noting that only the bottom two teams are automatically relegated, while the 18th place team goes to a relegation playoff. Clermont finished just five points out of that automatic relegation zone, as Metz and Bordeaux were both sent down to Ligue 2 after finishing with 31 points.

Clermont Foot lost 20 matches last season, tied with the league-worst along with Saint-Etienne, who were ultimately relegated after losing to Auxerre in the relegation playoff. Clermont have brought in a few smaller pieces in the transfer window, signing midfielder Maxime Gonalons from Granada, forward Komnen Andric from Dinamo Zagreb, and center back Mateusz Wieteska from Legia Warszawa. Time will tell if these signings will make much of a difference, or if they’ll end up falling victim to the classic “sophomore slump” trope that sees them fall back to Ligue 2 after just two Ligue 1 campaigns.

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