Paris (AFP)
Amateur football clubs can "hope to resume" their activities "in early September", said the president of the French federation (FFF) Noël Le Graët, believing that the world of football "will start again very quickly" despite the coronavirus pandemic.
"We can hope to start again at the beginning of September. I wish it were a little earlier for the football schools because in August there are a lot of kids who are a little lonely and I believe that football can to be a welcoming place like schools, "said the leader in an interview broadcast on Sunday by Canal +.
"We are discussing with the ministry (Sports, Editor's note). Football fortunately will leave very quickly, and fortunately much faster than certain businesses or stores or a few people who will be unemployed and in difficulty," he added. in this sequence, broadcast on the program "Canal Football Club".
With the gradual deconfinement started on Monday in France, sports practice has been supervised by the authorities, which for the time being are restricting the practice of collective or contact sports, two qualifiers that directly concern football.
Regarding the resumption of professional football, whose 2019-2020 season was stopped on April 30 at the behest of the government, Noël Le Graët did not specify a calendar. Authorities have suggested that competition may resume in August.
The leader reaffirmed his conviction that the finals of the Coupe de France (PSG-Saint-Etienne) and the Coupe de la Ligue (PSG-Lyon), suspended due to the pandemic, can take place in curtain raising the next season, even if they take place behind closed doors to meet health requirements.
"Today we have to imagine a PSG - Saint-Etienne behind closed doors," he said.
The final of the Coupe de France "will take place, as the Coupe de la Ligue will also take place. It is in the interest of Olympique Lyonnais to find, outside the courts, a formula for being at UEFA" (qualified in the European Cup), he concluded, while OL initiated two appeals to the administrative court to contest the judgment of the championship which deprives it of European qualification.
© 2020 AFP