Paris (AFP)

Snubbed by television broadcasters, the Football League Cup will stop after a quarter century and from next season, announced Wednesday the LFP, unable to revitalize this competition reserved for professional clubs.

The decision, unveiled by the daily L'Equipe, was validated by the board of directors and the general assembly of the LFP who "decided to suspend the organization of the Coupe de la Ligue at the end of the year. edition 2019-2020 ", confirmed the governing body of professional football.

"Depending on market conditions, the LFP reserves the right to restart this competition later," the statement said. "This is not a suppression but a suspension," he urged to insist AFP.

However, it is difficult to imagine a resurrection in the short or medium term of this national competition inaugurated in 1994 and reserved for clubs with a professional status, which is the case of the teams of first and second divisions, as well as some National clubs.

The Coupe de la Ligue, of which Strasbourg is the current holder, has never managed to raise the crowds, nor to arouse a great interest from the heavyweights of the French football, more inclined to fight for the championship and the historic Coupe de France.

This relative disinterest of fans and some clubs has found a recent extension when it came to selling TV rights over the period 2020-24.

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The call for tenders is "unsuccessful", had revealed in December Didier Quillot, the general director of the League, while Canal + and France Televisions, the two co-current broadcasters, pay nearly 24 million euros per year.

"The timing was not good," explained the leader, quite optimistic for the future. "We will quietly solicit the OTC market (...) between now and spring."

Spring and even summer have passed, but the continuation of the negotiations has not borne fruit.

Meanwhile, the various players in French football have worked on two scenarios to keep the League Cup alive, while revolutionizing its format.

The first project was to bring together the eight best teams of the previous season in a competition to be held during the holiday season, had detailed in May Bernard Caïazzo, president of the union Premier League gathering the major clubs of Ligue 1 .

The second idea involved the creation of geographical pools, but would have the disadvantage of adding to the calendar of clubs involved in European competitions, had explained the one who is also president of the club of Saint-Etienne.

Stopping altogether the League Cup "will lighten the schedule of competitions, give more recovery time to players and offer an extra place in European Cups via the ranking of the League 1 to from the 2020-2021 season, "assured the league Wednesday.

Chance of the calendar, the draw of the next round of 16 will take place Thursday night, with the entry in the running of the fourteen clubs of Ligue 1 not engaged on the European scene. The other six members of the elite will arrive at the next round.

For the LFP, the outcome around the Coupe de la Ligue strongly resembles a failure. And it will also need to find a middle ground with the Indian group BKT, presented in September 2018 as the title partner of the competition for the next six seasons, for a contract estimated at 3 M EUR per year, according to L ' Team.

On the sports ground, the final clap will take place on April 4, 2020 with the final at the Stade de France. Pretenders to victory, Lyon (never sacred), Marseille (3 titles) or Paris (8 titles, the record), for example, could be forever the last.

© 2019 AFP