Just Before the Season Began:
The 2012/13 French top flight football season witnessed Paris Saint-Germain remarkably winning the French Ligue 1, courtesy a 12 point lead over second placed team, Olympique Marseille. The 2012/13 victory of PSG, as they are fondly called was their third in Ligue history and 2nd since 1994, the last time they won it.
However, please don’t get it twisted, as PSG winning the Ligue 1 is not the focus of this work but the Contenders Rating Scale (CRS) - http://taiwokehinde-mymind.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-20122013-football-season-contenders.html.
It is pertinent to note that with the 2012/13 Ligue 1 starting on August 10, 2012, courtesy the Contenders Rating Scale (CRS), September 11, 2012 had the final top 5 placement of the Ligue 1 predicted.
By the Contenders Rating Scale (CRS) I mean the manner through which the selection of the teams expected to have a top 5 finish, in no particular order, in the major football leagues across Europe is made. The CRS further posits that of all 5 teams predicted, 4 would have a top 5 finish, but in some cases (especially the German bundesliga), 3 and not 4 of the 5 teams projected was anticipated to make the cut of top 5 season finish. Simply put, the Contenders Rating Scale is a mathematical approach to predicting the top 5 placed teams at the end of the football season.
Once again, for an in-depth understanding of the CRS concept, please follow the link - http://taiwokehinde-mymind.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-20122013-football-season-contenders.html .
Through the CRS, it was projected that at least 4 of PSG, Lyon, Marseille, Lille and Bordeaux would have a top 5 finish. - http://taiwokehinde-mymind.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-20122013-french-ligue-1-contenders.html
But unlike the effectiveness of the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga (Which predicted 4 of the top 5 placed teams), the Contenders Rating Scale in the French Ligue 1 was indeed similar with the Italian Serie A in two folds, as it only got 3 of the teams predicted and the other teams which did not make the cut finished in sixth and seventh place respectively.
Thus, of the 5 teams earlier mentioned, only PSG, Marseille and Lyon made the cut (having a top 5 finish, as they finished in first, second and third place respectively) while Lille and Bordeaux finished in sixth and seventh place respectively. Incidentally, Nice and St Etienne displaced Lille and Bordeaux, as they finished in fourth and fifth place respectively. Irrespective of this displacement, there was a close chase, as St Etienne (fifth placed team) ended the team with 63 points, while sixth place team, Lille finished with 62 points. Lille’s closeness to the top 5 final season placement indeed makes the Contenders Rating Scale an efficient tool in predicting the teams to have a top 5 finish not just in the French Ligue 1, but the major football leagues across Europe.
Below is a tabular summary of the French Ligue 1 CRS and the final table outcome...
