Lyon (AFP)
The season of Ligue 1 definitively stopped, according to the advice of the government? "I'm not sure," assured AFP Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Olympique Lyonnais, posing Tuesday against the tide by advocating "an alternative solution", for example in the form of "play -offs ".
Q: What is your reaction after the declarations of the Prime Minister who advocates stopping professional competitions at least until August?
A: "I have a reading, not different, but I think that the Prime Minister's words and prolonged by the exchanges that we had with the Ministry of Sports go in the direction of a reprogramming of what had been proposed by the League (a resumption of the season mid-June, note) (...) I understood that from the beginning of June we could resume training anyway. And given the fact that UEFA maintains the finalization of the matches of C3 and C1 in August, I wonder if there is not an opportunity to find a format that would allow to finish the championship in July and perhaps August and to make sure stay in the spirit of what the League wanted to know, to finish the championship at all costs. (...) So I think we will have to wait a little more precisely for the League office which will meet from here the end of the week (Thursday, Editor's note) and who will convene a board of directors for the start of the professional week channel, which will be able to decide on the final cessation of the 2019-2020 season. "
Q: Have you already consulted with other Ligue 1 presidents?
A: "There are several tendencies among the presidents. Those who are currently in a position to be eligible in a classification which makes it possible to qualify the first for the European cups, I should think in particular of the second ( Marseille, editor's note) and third (Rennes) of the championship, imagine that it is a positive point to stop the championship compared to the current classification. This is why we must think about all the hypotheses related to the UEFA. "
Q: Is the idea of ending the season in the fall and switching to a spring-summer championship still valid?
A: "You have to look at whether it is economically worthwhile and especially if UEFA accepts it. I had said that UEFA had to give the green light, but currently this is not the scenario it wants. UEFA wants the competitions to end. They would have liked the championships to end at the beginning of August but given the French State's decision I think we should discuss with them because there is surely the possibility of postpone until next September 15 the start of the next season and allow UEFA to make its decisions in terms of (European) qualifications for the following season. (...) People interested in ensuring that their decision either the good, obviously today are those who are qualified at the moment T. But as the championship is not finished, I think that everything must be done to find an alternative solution, either by playing a number of play-offs during the month of August , or by postponing until September 15 the start of the championship. It is more realistic than the solution (by) Jean-Pierre Rivère (end the season in autumn, Editor's note) which was not approved by UEFA. The Prime Minister's decision not to accept the plan (of the LFP) which made it possible to deconfine May 11 shifts all the same (the calendar). Does this mean that the championship is over? I'm not sure of it."
Interview by François-Jean TIXIER
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