Paris (AFP)
Marseille against Saint-Etienne to start, PSG-OM from the third day: the 2020-2021 Ligue 1 season, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, will quickly offer beautiful posters to weaned supporters, with an opening between historic clubs, then, mid-September, the usual Classic to the taste of the Champions League.
Unveiled Thursday by the Professional Football League (LFP), the calendar of meetings of the French Championship 2020-2021 version promises to be full of entry for Olympique de Marseille, qualified for the next edition of the Champions League which will begin in October.
From the first weekend of L1, that of August 22, the Marseillais will have to negotiate a poster against Saint-Etienne. And above all, two days later, a duel at the top facing Paris SG, which will precede the reception of Lille (4th day) then a hot trip to Lyon (6th day).
This first Classic of the season between the men of André Villas-Boas, convincing second in the shortened 2019-2020 edition, and those of Thomas Tuchel, reigning champions who will leave a busy summer between friendly matches, national Cup finals ( July 24 and 31) and the final tournament of the Champions League, is scheduled for September 13. Or just after the first international break scheduled after only ... two days of the championship. The two clubs will meet for the second round at the Velodrome stadium on February 7, the end of the season being scheduled for May 23, before the Euro-2020 rescheduled in the summer of 2021 (June 11-July 11, 2021).
- Dense season -
This is one of the peculiarities of this 2020-21 exercise, disrupted by the coronavirus: the Championship resumes late - two weeks after the scheduled date - and it will be condensed, with five days scheduled in the middle of the week, very few dates fallback in case of postponements and a very short end-of-year truce.
It will only be denser for PSG and Lyon, who will both have resumed competition at the end of July with the Cup finals and the Champions League. The first day of Ligue 1 will coincide with the C1 final, scheduled for Sunday August 23 (9:00 p.m.) in Lisbon, which leaves some uncertainty about its programming.
Thus, the opening matches of PSG (against Metz) and Lyon (in Montpellier) will be postponed if one of these two clubs advances to the final of the largest European competition. In addition, certain schedules will have to be modified during this first day so as not to overlap this European final, or that of the Europa League, scheduled for Friday August 21 at 9:00 pm in Cologne.
Other major events of the season, the first Saint-Etienne - Lyon derby will take place on November 8, and the long-awaited North Derby between Lille and the promoted Lens is scheduled for the weekend of October 18 at the Bollaert stadium. In Ligue 2, which begins on August 22 and ends on May 15, the ambitious duel between Amiens and Toulouse is scheduled for the weekend of October 31.
- How many supporters at the stadium? -
The viewer will have to do so at the new season schedules, since the L1 will adopt a new program: the typical day must begin with a match on Friday evening on Telefoot, the new channel of the Mediapro group (9 p.m.), followed by two others on Saturday (5 p.m. on Telefoot and 9 p.m. on Canal +).
Most matches will be played on Sunday, at 1 p.m. (1 match, Telefoot), 3 p.m. (4 matches, Telefoot), 5 p.m. (1 match, Canal +) and 9 p.m. for the most anticipated match of the weekend on Telefoot.
As for spectators eager to find the stands, will he be able to return to the stadium? The maximum tonnage is currently limited to 5,000 people for an event of this type (teams, officials, press, security included) from July 11, and the authorities have still not announced an easing for the following weeks .
The League, it hopes for a more massive influx: at the end of June, it had transmitted to the government a specification comprising two scenarios, the first with a full filling of the stands, the second with a gauge up to 30 to 40% of the stadium capacity.
© 2020 AFP