He simply claims to want to “open a debate”. In an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, the president of the Professional Football League (LFP) Vincent Labrune has especially brought up to date a sea serpent almost twenty years old: how many clubs is it wise to have in the hexagonal elite to improve its competitiveness?
For the former president of OM, the idea is to reduce the sails in Ligue 1, even in Ligue 2, and to bring back the showcase of French club football to 18 clubs, as she had already experienced. from 1997 to 2002. An idea on which Didier Deschamps, one of his former trainers in Marseille, joined him this Monday.
“The more the elite are tightened, the better it is, supports the coach of the Blues. Vincent Labrune is not going to make only friends with this proposal. Having four games less in the league is going in the direction of the elite. Afterwards, a dozen clubs may feel concerned by a descent. I’ve always said it is the general interest or the interest of the elite. With the current situation on top of that, that makes sense. “
The League needs a two-thirds majority
The boss of the Blues joins Noël Le Graët, his boss at the French Football Federation (FFF), and several big Ligue 1 teams, who see it as an opportunity to recover more funds from TV rights. Problem, they are not the only ones to decide in the case.
As it stands, it is the general assembly of the League, made up of the clubs of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, which can modify the format of the competitions provided it meets a two-thirds majority. “Impossible now”, blows a leader of Ligue 1, even if the electoral weight of the formations of the elite is more important than those of the lower division.
“I am totally against it, and I think I am not the only one among my colleagues, breathes Eddy Zdziech, president of Valenciennes (Ligue 2). The current format is very satisfactory, we must not tighten the elite and make their access more complete to our clubs. I also think that there are more urgent problems to resolve for French football. “
Launched in a standoff with its main broadcaster Mediapro, the LFP is indeed managing this project as a priority to try to ensure the financial manna of its clubs. But its new president is ready to relaunch a file on which one of his predecessors, Frédéric Thiriez, had broken his teeth.
