For the first time since 2014, no French club will raise the flag in the semi-finals of the premier competition. The Lyonnaises, defending champions, have won it six times in this interval and the Parisiennes, double finalists (2015 and 2017), remained on three semi-finals in three years.

In April, the European spring will be animated this time by the English Chelsea and Arsenal, the German Wolfsburg and the Spanish FC Barcelona, finalists of the last three editions (defeats in 2019 and 2022, title in 2021).

For several months, players and coaches have been worried about a possible decline of French football, with momentum thwarted since the 2019 World Cup at home, outdated in ambition, professionalization and money invested by neighboring countries.

"Last year, OL's victory in the Champions League was the tree that hid the forest," Lyon coach Sonia Bompastor said at the end of February. "For a while, I have been warning about the competition that is being organized in Spain, Italy or England. At some point, we won't be able to keep up."

Between France and England, which organized the Euro last summer, "the difference is striking, we have fallen a lot behind," Estelle Cascarino told AFP in mid-February. The English "put a lot of means, we play in stadiums or on fields more suitable for women's football and there is public, a craze," says the PSG player, loaned this winter to Manchester United.

Dilapidated stadiums

In fact, the France championship seems to be stalling despite the presence of the two locomotives, Lyon and Paris, closely followed by Paris FC of president Pierre Ferracci, with the ambition assumed.

This season, criticism has been increasingly strong regarding the stadiums, small and often dilapidated, rarely adapted to the reception of spectators. The quality of the lawns was also debated, as were the conditions of transmission (fogged cameras and rain-touched, reduced field of vision, faulty lighting, etc.).

OL president and member of the French Football Federation's federal executive committee Jean-Michel Aulas at a press conference on Friday © FRANCK FIFE / AFP

These shortcomings have been identified by the French Football Federation, organizer of the Women's D1. In parallel with the reforms launched (approval for training centers, tightening of the second division and creation of a D3 ...), it has set up a licensing system obliging elite clubs to get up to speed.

This makes it possible to have "infrastructures that meet the needs of broadcasters" and "to punish those who do not follow", summarizes Jean-Michel Aulas, member of the federal executive committee. It is also a question of "fairness", he told AFP: "Why can the women's professional championship take place on lawns that boys do not accept?"

TV rights on hold

The status quo was not an option, anyway. The contract with the Canal+ group, exclusive broadcaster of the D1 since 2018, expires at the end of the season and for the moment the Federation has not found a taker.

Similarly, no French channel has put enough money on the table to acquire the television rights of the next World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (July 20 - August 20).

"Four months before a World Cup, it's surprising. We owe us more consideration at this level, "regretted the French international of PSG, Sakina Karchaoui, in March, to AFP.

PSG international Sakina Karchaoui (left) and midfielder Lena Oberdorf during the Women's C1 quarter-final second leg in Wolfsburg Thursday 30 March © Odd ANDERSEN / AFP

The arrival of new coach Hervé Renard, successor to the more divisive Corinne Diacre, could convince broadcasters to put their hands in their pockets, according to Aulas.

"For TV rights, there are ongoing negotiations and the arrival of Hervé Renard will simplify a number of things," said the OL president, interviewed Friday by AFP.

With this new face, the Federation hopes to turn the page Corinne Diacre, whose five-and-a-half-year mandate (2017-2023) at the head of Les Bleues has been crossed by various controversies, from the shattering sidelining of Amandine Henry to the internal upheavals born after the aggression of Kheira Hamraoui, in cold with other players.

© 2023 AFP