(Reuters) - Ligue 2 leaders Lorient beat bottom side Caen 4-0 at home on Saturday to seal their promotion back to the French top tier after one season.
Lorient were relegated from Ligue 1 following the 2023-24 campaign when they finished 17th.
The hosts were up 2-0 at the break after striker Mohamed Bamba opened the scoring in the 16 minute and Eli Junior Kroupi, league's leading scorer with 20 goals, doubled the lead seven minutes later. Sambou Soumano added two more goals late on.
Lorient lead the standings on 68 points after 32 games, three points above second-placed Paris FC and seven ahead of Metz in third.
There are two games left in the competition and two top teams earn automatic promotion.
Metz, who were also relegated from Ligue 1 last season, host lowly Rodes on Friday when Paris travel to relegation-threatened Martigues.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
