End of the day: this Friday sees the end of the Coupe de la Ligue (PSG-OL), a competition based on a lie (its birth was conditioned on the passage of Ligue 1 from 20 to 18 clubs, which has never happened ) and which pro football got rid of in September while reserving the right “To relaunch it later depending on market conditions”. It was this market that killed it: no broadcaster came up to the reserve price (the floor price, 25 million euros) during the call for tenders for the period 2020-2024. , the few millions that there were despite everything to scratch – between 10 and 15, according to the opinions – appearing pale in comparison to the 1.153 billion that weighs the Ligue 1.
Sportingly, this Coupe de la Ligue reserved for teams with professional status has always been limited, postponing the entry into the competition of the best ranked teams the previous season to better ensure their presence in the very last rounds, thus guaranteeing as much what to do with a prestigious poster in the final. However, some great stories have made their way: AS Nancy-Lorraine in 2006, AS Saint-Etienne in 2013 (thus ending a long famine), or even RC Strasbourg last season paid for it. a nice slice, offering themselves a quarter of an hour of glory and allowing their supporters to “go up to Paris”, as the expression goes.
Friday, Olympique Lyonnais will seek in the event of victory against the PSG a European qualification which it obtains since 1997: as much to say that a failure would stain in the communication of its president, Jean-Michel Aulas. In the event of Parisian success, it is the Stade de Reims, 6e of L1, which will advance to the Europa League.
Gregory Schneider
.
