Paris (AFP)
"The 2019-2020 professional sports season will not be able to resume" in France: the government's deconfinement plan largely showered the hopes of French football and rugby on Tuesday, rendering a recovery obsolete before the end of the summer, while leaving the door open to the Tour de France cycling race.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe whistled the endgame for professional competitions (1st and 2nd division football championships, Top 14 and Pro D2 rugby) suspended in mid-March because of the coronavirus. And football and rugby joined basketball, handball and volleyball, which had already stopped their season.
"I want to clarify that major sporting events (...), all events that bring together more than 5000 participants (...) can not be held before September," the Prime Minister told deputies, a a calendar which in turn feeds the hopes of the Tour de France, rescheduled from August 29 to September 20.
The French sports ministry then clarified to AFP that there could not be a competition "even behind closed doors" before the end of July, nevertheless leaving the possibility of holding certain matches in August. This could allow Lyon and Paris SG to finish their journey in the Champions League in August, as envisaged by UEFA.
But for football, sport-king in the country of the world champions, the horizon suddenly stopped. The hypothesis favored by the French Professional Football League (LFP), namely to resume Ligue 1, the championship of the 1st division, on June 17 in camera, and finish it on July 25, is obsolete, generating immense financial uncertainty for a sector very dependent on its TV rights.
- "A disaster area" -
As it stands, the world of football will have to decide the issue of the title of champion (PSG occupied first place before the suspension), that of European places and any relegation.
And its economic stability is likely to be put to the test: "If we are forced to resume in August, it is very likely that the season will end now, otherwise we will kill next season", summed up the president of a Ligue 1 club with AFP, very worried.
"What about club finances? Six months without revenue, how do we do it? Like tourism or air travel, we are a disaster sector, it's official now," he added, while nearly a third revenue from TV rights risks going up in smoke.
According to an estimate by the Ministry of Sports, the losses for the six major professional sports (football, rugby, cycling, handball, volleyball, basketball), would amount to 1.45 billion euros in the event of non-recovery championships. Including 1.16 billion euros for professional football alone (1st and 2nd division clubs).
But for Sylvain Kastendeuch, co-president of the football union UNFP, it is a "responsible" decision. "The government has understood that the economic emergency should not take precedence over the public health imperative," he reacted in a statement sent to AFP.
This announcement goes against the will of UEFA, which hoped in the process to complete European competitions in August, at the cost of a busy schedule. But France followed suit in the Netherlands, the first European championship to seal its final stop last Friday.
- September, new course for rugby and cycling -
Concerning rugby, the Prime Minister's statement has the merit of clarifying the situation: the National Rugby League had already validated the solution of a resumption in September due to a period of tests and re-athletics estimated between eight and twelve weeks .
It remains to be seen whether the current season will be over before moving on to the next, which is supposed to start on the weekend of September 5 and 6.
"It's not a surprise. I thought that football would resume, behind closed doors of course. But it's so complicated to test (screen players, editor's note), etc ... it's very restrictive. And then in collective sport, there is proximity, even more so in rugby ", reacted the president of the French rugby federation Bernard Laporte, deeming the players' health" essential ".
For cycling, the gauge set by the Prime Minister to a maximum of 5000 people for sporting events mainly affects the Dauphiné and the start of the Tour de France.
The Dauphiné, the preparatory race for the Tour, must take place in August in the calendar currently being studied by the International Cycling Union (UCI). The Tour is supposed to start on August 29 in Nice, and the first three stages are concerned with the tonnage of 5,000 people.
At least, the French peloton has seen a first uncertainty lifted: for runners, confined like other sportsmen since March 17, the Prime Minister's announcement opens the way for the resumption of individual training on the road on May 11.
yk-mca-jm-ama / pga / jr
© 2020 AFP