It is not yet known if Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or any other platform is interested, but the fate of the Ligue 1 season was one of the successful containment series. A series not always easy to follow with sometimes several episodes per day and actors not following the same text. But on Thursday, April 30, the board of directors of the Professional Football League (LFP) finally unveiled its epilogue, almost two months after the launch of the first episodes.
Two days after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that the football championship " would not resume ", The office of the board of directors of LFP validated this judgment. Curtain therefore on the 2019-2020 seasons of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, which had been put on pause since the weekend of March 8. The start date for the 2020-2021 season has been set for August 22.
But a final intrigue still remained to be unraveled, that in which some Ligue 1 presidents competed for proposals in recent days: the final ranking to be retained. The LFP decided to choose the one on the last day, namely the 28e day, but taking into account a ratio calculated between the number of points taken and matches played.
This mathematical subtlety has been applied by the French Football Federation (FFF) for amateur championships. In this case, it allows to ignore the Strasbourg-PSG match canceled on this 28th day.
Paris can therefore celebrate 9e title of its history, Olympique de Marseille (2e) his reunion with the Champions League, that Rennes (3e) will find out via a preliminary round. At the foot of the podium, Lille will compete in the Europa League.
Behind, there may be one last hidden episode. Reims (5th) and Nice (6th) should accompany the Nordists in C3, unless the finals of the Coupe de France (PSG-Saint-Etienne) and the Coupe de la Ligue (PSG-Lyon) can take place.
" The places in the Europa League will be allocated to the winners if it is not Paris "Said LFP general manager Didier Quillot during a video conference held late in the afternoon. " We will examine the possibility of playing these finals at the beginning of August, all in conjunction with the FFF and UEFA. "Continues Mr. Quillot.
Toulouse relegated, its president threatens a recourse
Pending this (weak) eventuality, the big loser in this outcome is called Olympique lyonnais (7e) and Jean-Michel Aulas guessed it well before the announcement of the LFP where he no longer sits on the steering committee. On Wednesday, the president of OL presented a final option resembling gas factories, namely a play-off system bringing together the … top fifteen in the ranking.
Obviously, this personal discovery, which would have given the possibility to FC Metz 15e 34 points from PSG, to become champion in the space of five games, did not catch the attention of the office or the council.
"The board was held in a very positive and constructive atmosphere, much more peaceful than the previous meetings we have had so far. As if we were finally faced with a fait accompli and if the small fights, the small squabbles of each other disappeared to adopt responsible behavior ", said Nathalie Boy de la Tour, president of the League.
Note that Jean-Michel Aulas does not sit on the board of directors … For the President of Lyon, there is one last chance to be European next season: to win the Champions League 2019-2020. It remains to be seen when OL can play their return knockout round against Juventus.
JMA’s artwork. He spent the day on it. Esseptionnel https://t.co/blCmkA0Z6Y
The other unfortunates of the day are Amiens and Toulouse (TFC), relegated next season to Ligue 2 and replaced by Lorient and Lens, promoted from Ligue 2. Good last and resigned to their fate before the end of the championship, TFC s 'clung to the meager hope of an L1 enlarged to 22 clubs to save his skin.
Its president, Olivier Sadran, may well have inaugurated the new soap of this season like no other: that of appeals. In a letter sent to the president of the FFR, Noël Le Graët and to Nathalie Boy de la Tour, president of the LFP, the businessman threatens to contest this decision " before the competent courts "
In this document, revealed by the site Violets.com, Mr. Sadran indicates that a " relegation pronounced on the basis of the provisional classification at the end of the 28th or 27th day would constitute an unacceptable departure from the principles of fairness and sports ethics of which the LFP and the FFF are the guarantors. "
"We don't know if we will do it, it's still too early to say, but we reserve the right to do it", however, said Sadran to Agence France-Presse. Bertrand Joanin, president of Amiens, will he follow his colleague in misfortune in his approach? He should do it according to The Courier Picard.
Jean-Michel Aulas, in any case, also brandishes the threat: “Olympique Lyonnais reserves the right to appeal against this decision and claim damages, in particular for loss of opportunity and in the light of the case law of other professional sports which are currently in progress, because the damage for the club amounts to several tens of millions of euros ", he said.
Threat on the Italian Championship
In Italy, the resumption of collective training should take place on May 18, but no date has yet been set for the resumption of competitions. The more the days pass, the more this prospect seems to move away, the football federation and the government being engaged in relatively tense exchanges.
"Over the next few days, the scientific and technical committee", which supports the Italian government in its management of the coronavirus epidemic, "Will meet the different components of the world of football, not only the officials of the federation", said Thursday the Minister of Sports, Vincenzo Spadafora. While adding that if a consensus is not reached on the conditions for resumption, the government will decree the championship "For obvious health emergency reasons".
" If it's possible " to resume "Respecting health standards and protocols, good. Otherwise, we will stick strictly, as we have always done, to government decisions ”, said the president of the Italian Football League, Paolo Dal Pino, a little later.
