At the FFF, the boxes ring hollow. The French Football Federation has suffered a loss of around 24 million euros since this summer due to the health crisis affecting its activities, explained its general manager Florence Hardouin, also suspended from the resolution of the conflict over rights TV. “Since July 1, we are at approximately minus 24 million. I do not think it will increase with the Covid, because there is the hope of having stadiums that will fill up in March, ”said the number 2 of the Federation.
According to her, however, we must juggle with “the other uncertainty” hovering around the new broadcaster of the French championship, the Mediapro group, in conflict with the Professional Football League over the payment of television rights.
Of the entire payment, “we take 2.5%” under the agreement binding the FFF to the LFP, which represents “31 million euros in forecast,” she explains. “We already know that this will probably not be the case. As we have a guaranteed minimum of 14 million euros, it will be between 14 and 31 ”.
In 2018, Mediapro had obtained 80% of Ligue 1 TV rights for 780 million euros per year for the period 2020-2024. But after paying its first payment to the League, the Sino-Spanish group refused to pay the 172 million expected in October, demanding to revise the terms of the contract downwards due to the health crisis.
A drop in young people made redundant
Despite this, Florence Hardouin ensures that the FFF has maintained the exceptional aid of 30 million promised this summer for amateur football, hard hit by the end of the championships since last spring. “We did it because we managed to free it from the budget for the previous year,” she said.
While the amateur sports world, which has nearly 17 million licensees, recorded nearly a quarter of fewer memberships at the start of the school year, the decline seems fairly contained on the side of the round ball.
“We are today at – 3 or – 4% all categories combined, which is great when you see all the other sports,” notes the leader of the FFF, even emphasizing a slight increase in the number of female licensees.
The decline in the number of licenses affects young people in particular, in age categories ranging from “U6 to U12”. With the Covid, “there are parents who do not want to take a license for only eight months or who say that it can be dangerous”, she underlines.
