Paris (AFP)

"We were faced with a fait accompli": several presidents of Ligue 1 clubs questioned Monday concerning the final cessation of the football season, which they said was decided by the government "overnight" in late April.

"On what basis did the government make this decision?" Wondered the president of Lille Gérard Lopez during a press conference call by Premier League, the union comprising the majority of the presidents of Ligue 1.

Accompanied by Bernard Caïazzo (Saint-Etienne) and Waldemar Kita (Nantes), Lopez denounced the lack of "concertation" that preceded the speaking of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, according to whom "the season of professional sports, especially football, will not be able to resume. " Two days later, on April 30, the Professional Football League (LFP) marked the end of the 2019-2020 season, a decision that has since been challenged by Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Olympique Lyonnais.

"We do not have the responsibility (for the end of the season), whoever has it is the Prime Minister, and the government. He has information that we did not have," insisted Bernard Caïazzo , the president of Premier League.

"At the beginning of April, we were the only ones out of the five major championships to make the proposal to resume the championship. We were ahead, and we didn't care (we). We were the locomotive and the other countries followed us more late ... But unfortunately, we stayed there, "regretted Waldemar Kita when the German, Italian, Spanish and English championships all started the recovery.

The government announcement, according to him, was "quite brutal, it's our biggest surprise", he added, Gérard Lopez estimating for his part that "it happened overnight".

In this case, can we backtrack and end the season? "Today, for organizational questions, it's too hard (...) we know that to resume, the players would need two months of preparation," noted Waldemar Kita.

"Broadcasters, we don't have any more," also stressed Bernard Caïazzo, while Canal + and beIN Sports have broken their contract to broadcast the championships.

© 2020 AFP