Toulouse (AFP)
Faced with the interruption of Ligue 1, suspended due to the coronavirus, the former French international Alain Giresse proposed Wednesday to reschedule the ten remaining days at the start of next season, and to follow in stride on the 38 2020-2021 fiscal days.
"If the championship does not start again, we could block it with the current classification and start again next season with the same positions", explained to AFP the former coach of Toulouse and PSG and former coach of Tunisia until to his eviction from the post last summer.
"We restart the season with the ten matches and then we continue with the new championship, using the dates of the League Cup, which has already been abandoned," added Giresse, calculating that there would therefore be a "48 games" season to be played by club.
The deletion of the League Cup at the end of the current season must free at least four dates in the calendar, which implies that it would still be necessary to clear six dates to compete for the missing L1 days.
In addition, the proposal of the former player from Bordeaux and Marseille does not take into account the qualifying places for the next European Cups, to be allocated at the end of the current season.
"It is true, there is obviously the problem of the European Cups. It is for this reason that I say: being able to combine everything is a lot", he stressed, worrying about a calendar in 2021 where it will be necessary to "cram" the play-offs of the Euro and the first matches of the qualifications for the 2022 World Cup ...
In Giresse's eyes, "the ideal situation will not exist". "The championships which will end by the end of June, I do not believe in it. I give an idea, it is a stammering idea without having all the elements", he insisted.
Regarding deadlines, the coach argues that four weeks off for a pro footballer requires six weeks of recovery work.
"But there, the players are more stationary than during the holidays. On vacation, you can jog, bike ... There is nothing. Abs at home, it's nothing. the end of the confinement is at the end of April, it is not on May 6 or 7 that you will be able to resume. We can but in what state the teams will be, "said the technician, currently looking for a bench, after having led Gabon, Senegal, Mali and lately Tunisia.
© 2020 AFP