French football, still in uncertainty for the end of the season due to the coronavirus epidemic, acted Friday at a meeting of the Bureau of the League of "privileged" dates for resumption of the next season (2020- 2021), hoping to start Ligue 1 on August 23, we learned from concordant sources.
Without being able to record a resumption date for the end of the 2019-2020 season, which depends on the authorities, it is on that of the start of the following season that the Office of the Professional Football League (LFP) has reflected . The dates of August 23 for Ligue 1, and that of August 22 for Ligue 2, were unanimously agreed Friday morning during a meeting of more than three hours, according to several sources close to the file, confirming the Team information.
"It helps secure next season"
"It gives clear bases, it allows everyone to work on something conceivable", justifies one of them, while insisting that these dates are "subject to the calendar of the 'UEFA and changing health conditions'.
"This helps secure the next season", that of the new cycle of TV rights (2020-2024), exceeding for the first time the billion euros annually, explains another source close to the matter.
In this scenario, even if the current season ends in early August, as UEFA has recommended so far according to these same sources, this will leave "three weeks of re-athletics" between the two seasons.
Ligue 1 has been stopped since March 13
For several days, certain club presidents, such as Bertrand Desplat (Guingamp, L2), had insisted on the importance of fixing a date before the start of next season. "A recovery at Saint Glin-Glin should not transfer the problem to the next championship," for example hammered to AFP Pierre Wantiez, general manager of Le Havre (L2). "The real question is back-planning: what is the ultimate date for starting 2020-2021 well".
The proposal, initially shared by 19 L2 clubs and seven L1 clubs (Dijon, Amiens, Lyon, Angers, Brest, Metz, Strasbourg), to which has since been added an 8th elite club (Nîmes), aimed, according to a source familiar with the matter, "favor the Mediapro contract", the future broadcaster of the Championship, over the Canal + and beIN Sports contracts, current broadcasters having frozen their payments. "In this way, we can take the question backwards and decline the entire calendar from that," we continue from the same source.
Like all major championships in Europe, the L1 has been stopped since March 13.