Lyon (AFP)
Olympique Lyonnais announced Friday evening that it had "officially" seized the Professional Football League so that it re-examines its position to definitively stop the 2019-2020 season taken on April 30 "in a hasty and hasty manner as OL continues to underline it ever since. "
"This request takes into account, first of all the very fortunately very positive development of the health situation in France since April 30, the government provisions announced Thursday by the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, and information communicated Friday by the LFP" , notes in a press release the Rhone club.
"The resumption of training possible from June 2 while friendly meetings can take place from June 22, perhaps even gradually with the public if the situation continues to improve", are all arguments retained by Olympique Lyonnais in the Prime Minister's announcements and confirmed by a League statement on Friday evening.
"Consequently, since the teams will be able to resume training from June 2 and friendly matches will be played in July, the conditions seem to be in place for professional clubs to compete not only in friendly matches but also in official matches", still points out the OL which thus requests the LFP to reconsider its decision "which it alone with the authorship as underlined Edouard Philippe".
The Rhone club thus asks the LFP "to study the conditions for a resumption of Ligue 1 so that its verdict is dictated by sporting merit alone in accordance with the recommendations of the Uefa".
Olympique lyonnais thus once again offers the possibility of ending the 2019-2020 championship in the form of play-offs and that the resumption of the season could possibly delay the start of the next financial year in September as in Spain with its broadcaster , the Mediapro group, now also that of Ligue 1 which could be interested like other broadcasters by this format of recovery.
OL recalls that this prospect "would generate revenue to partially compensate for the hundreds of millions lost by the LFP's hasty initiative to end the season".
At the time of the end of the championship, Lyon was classified 7th and not qualified for a European cup for the first time since 1997. Lyon can however be European by winning the final of the League Cup against Paris SG.
© 2020 AFP