After at one point looking on course to mount a sustained push for promotion, Niort tailed away and had to settle for a 10th-place finish, but a top-half berth was the target from the outside and in that sense this can go down as a successful campaign for this modest club. Niort were aiming to bounce back from a poor last season and Denis Renaud was appointed despite struggling with a Paris FC side who were eventually relegated in the previous campaign. Nevertheless, Renaud turned things around after a poor start that saw Les Chamois fail to win any of their opening eight games and suffer a first-round exit from the Coupe de la Ligue at the hands of Strasbourg. A run of just one defeat in 10 league outings had them looking up the way by the end of November and a strong start to 2017 left Niort in eighth place at the start of April. If they could have kept that run going then a late push for promotion would have been possible. Instead Niort failed to win any of their last seven games and were lucky to hold on to their place in the top half.
Niort, who were narrowly beaten by Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 32 of the Coupe de France, were undone by a poor defensive record, with only three sides letting in more goals than their 57. Ande Dona Ndoh again confirmed that he is a more than decent striker at this level, the Cameroonian contributing 14 league goals. Junior Sambia's displays at right-back will lead to a move to a bigger club this summer while young defender Dylan Broon enjoyed a good breakthrough campaign. "It has been positive. We had a difficult start but in the end our final league position is a successful one," said president Karim Fradin.
