promotion to championnat de france amateur 2 was achieved at the first attempt, and promotion from that division was only narrowly missed in 2014–15 and 2015–16. at the third attempt, promotion to the new championnat national 2 was obtained in 2016–17, when le mans finished as one of the best runners up in the competition. le mans was promoted for the second season in a row winning group d and being promoted to the 2018–19 championnat national, the club would achieve a third consecutive promotion after successfully overcoming gazélec ajaccio in the ligue 2 relegation play-off final with a 3-2 aggregate score, swapping places with the corsican club who, only three years before had been members of the top-flight themselves.