INTERVIEW
Quite clever whoever can say with certainty when football fans can review Ligue 1: to date, no date has been set in stone for a resumption of the French football championship, stopped at the 28th day, mid-March, at the start of the coronavirus crisis. The president of OGC Nice, Jean-Pierre Rivère, invited to Europe 1 on Tuesday, in any case does not wish to resume competition in the spring. He explains it on Europe 1, Tuesday morning.
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If the Professional Football League is actively working on a recovery scenario for June 17, with matches every three days until the end of July, Jean-Pierre Rivère is convinced that we must postpone the end of the current September season to December, by going even further: "You take a copy of the days we had to do, and you translate them into five seasons. We give ourselves time," he underlines.
"We can't compact everything"
"In a health crisis like that, you cannot do things in a hurry. It is paradoxical: the clubs are without revenue and with charges, but taking the time is absolutely necessary. We cannot do that. no matter how. (…) If you want to do it now, playing every three days, with logistical problems, it's extremely difficult. Translating allows you to play at a normal pace, to prepare, even if it means playing matches behind closed doors and make them more attractive to viewers. You can't compact everything to finish this championship, it's not the right solution. "
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As he assures him, the idea of resuming Ligue 1 in September "was not audible a month ago", but since then the crisis has worsened and the return to normal seems more complicated than expected. So much so that Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Olympique lyonnais, "told me two days ago that it was impracticable" before lining up in L'Équipe on Tuesday, behind the idea of finishing the current season at the end of the calendar year and resume the next in 2021. The professional players' union, the UNFP, is also campaigning not to resume in June.
The 2022 World Cup in sight
"When you have a crisis like that, you have to take a step back," insists Jean-Pierre Rivère. "Can we improve things? We have the World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022, which will cause us a calendar problem. Let us try to reflect on these three years how to accept a calendar which can change our football. football is a sport of gathering, of joy, of fun in stadiums. Playing football in December, January, February, I find it a shame. (…) We have had these rules for over a century where we play a show in the middle of winter which tires everyone. Now is the time to fill our stadiums in May, June and July. We have a little 15 day truce in the month of August and we're translating our calendar. "
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And even by resuming football after the summer, there is a great risk of not being able to relive the emotions of football as it was played until the beginning of March: "It is likely that in September, we will not be able to replay in full stadiums, this is unfortunately a possibility. "