EDITORIAL - "Jean-Michel Aulas lost his appeal match"

The Council of State rejects the appeal of Olympique Lyonnais. The Ligue 1 season is over. But the descents of Amiens and Toulouse in Ligue 2 are suspended. It is up to the League and the Federation to decide now whether the championship will be played at 20 or 22 clubs. For you, the only possible solution is 20 clubs. 

There is no more season my good lady. In any case, the 2019-2020 season is well and truly over. Jean-Michel Aulas lost his appeal match. And his Olympique Lyonnais, 7th in the standings after 28 days, is today much worse off than Amiens and Toulouse, the last two in the championship. The State Council yesterday suspended their relegation to Ligue 2.

So I see these clubs express their joy and their relief since yesterday as if their future in Ligue 1 was assured. Uh, that's far from the case, again. They know this very well, but we cannot blame Toulouse either for enjoying good news. When you have scored thirteen points in 28 days, it is difficult to temper the exhilaration of a victory that we have so rarely tasted. Even if it is temporary. 

What does the Council of State say? It only plays its role, recalling that legally, the championship, next season, can be played at 20 or 22 clubs. Both possibilities exist and are legal. But its role ends there. Fortunately, it is not he who decides what is most legitimate sportingly. It is up to the League and the Federation to do it now. It is up to them to fix a new convention. To choose how many clubs Ligue 1 will play in the next financial year, and therefore whether there will be relegations or not. 

And for you you have to choose 20 clubs.

It is a question of logic and sports equity. How could we record the end of a season, with a champion, with clubs qualified for the European cups, and on the other hand, no relegated clubs? It would be a sort of in-between out of nowhere. Either we validate everything, or we validate nothing. That is to say that either there is a classification with the rewards and the sanctions which go with it, or there is no classification and it is a white season.

If we chose to play at 22 next season, that would mean that we respond to Lyon "you finished 7th, that's how it will not budge", and on the other hand we say to Amiens and Toulouse "you have finished in the last two places, but since the championship was cut off, you might have been able to do better. " No, again, it's all or nothing.

In addition, and that is another problem, the Federation has already said no to a League 2 to 22 clubs. So the least thing is that everyone is in the same boat, right? Otherwise, clubs relegated from Ligue 2 to National will appeal. And it would be difficult to prove them wrong. Why are we relegated and not them? What do you answer to this question?

We are not going to spend the summer examining appeals and going around in circles. But if Amiens and Toulouse are relegated at the end, we will have to talk about compensation anyway.