On April 28, the Division 1 of female football took the same direction as its male counterpart two days later, that of the exit of the grounds, with the definitive stop of the current season, with six days of the term, due Covid-19 outbreak. The final classification, crowning the Lyonnaises (for the fourteenth consecutive time), was approved Monday, May 11 by the executive committee of the French Football Federation (FFF), organizer of this championship devoid of professional status.
The ruling did not provoke a financial shock of the same magnitude as that facing the Ligue 1 masculine, which the premature end of the season costs some 240 million euros in television broadcasting rights. If its matches are broadcast in full for the first time this season, Division 1 remains light years away from such a windfall: its broadcaster, Canal +, must pay 1.2 million euros per year until 2023 at the FFF.
This does not mean, however, that on its scale, the female football elite will not be affected by this forced and premature cessation. The whole question is to know what the scale will be for an activity that has not yet built its own economic model and remains fragile, the teams that compose it being mainly dependent on men's clubs, Ligue 1 or Ligue 2.
However, the latter will be more or less affected by the economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So, what trade-offs will be made when it may be necessary to commit to savings? Won't the 250 D1 footballers suffer, while 150 of them – those on federal contracts – are now enrolled in the partial unemployment scheme?
It's no longer a "gadget"
" We can fear that with the crisis the budget cuts will be made in what seems the least essential, that is to say women's football ", says Laurence Prudhomme-Poncet, physical education and sports teacher, author of the book History of women's football in the XXe century, editions L’Harmattan (2019), recalling that "Crises tend to reveal, to exacerbate inequalities".
"There may be a legitimate concern", recognizes Olivier Delcourt, who heads Dijon Football Côte-d'Or, present in Ligue 1 men and Division 1 women. "It will ultimately depend on the presidents", he adds.
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