Paris (AFP)
"Financial interests" prevailed over the "solidarity" of French football, which on Tuesday rejected the enlargement of the L1 to 22 teams, confirming the relegations of Amiens and Toulouse, deplored the Amiens president Bernard Joannin, not excluding not a new appeal to the Council of State.
"The only thing that shows this vote, is that it is exclusively the financial interests which lead the members of the General Assembly of the LFP (Professional Football League, Editor's note) to position themselves against a format at 22, which I regret ", reacted the leader, in a statement sent to AFP.
"The question was simply whether French professional football was ready to show solidarity in this period of exceptional crisis and to share the amount of television rights at 22 rather than 20. The members of the GA of the League replied in the negative. I deeply regret it, "he continued.
In the morning, 74.49% of the members of the GA, mainly composed of representatives of professional clubs, voted to keep Ligue 1 at 20 teams next season.
Amiens and Toulouse, respectively 19th and 20th of the exercise interrupted in mid-March by the coronavirus, defended the hypothesis of an enlargement to 22 clubs which would allow them to be maintained.
"We have been told for months now that a Ligue 1 to 22 is impossible and that the unanimity of the football world would be opposed to this solution. However, I see that we have already managed to convince more a quarter of the voting clubs have the legitimacy of such a format, and we will continue to do so in the coming weeks ", explained Bernard Joannin.
Friday, it is the turn of the Federal Assembly of the Federation (FFF) to meet and vote on the new FFF-LFP agreement which sets the maximum number of participants in L1. A new unfavorable outcome could further darken the fate of Amiens and Toulouse.
"I now appeal to the members of the Federal Assembly of the FFF, who also represent amateur football, to refuse to validate this Friday the FFF-LFP convention which excludes the possibility of a League 1 to 22 the Next season, we are ready to file a new application for interim measures before the Council of State, "he said.
Amiens, just like Toulouse, first seized the Council of State which had suspended, on June 9, its demotion and enjoins the LFP to re-examine the format of the next season of L1.
© 2020 AFP