Radical, the proposal is already reacting in the world of French football. Sunday in Europe 1 Sport, coach Antoine Kombouaré called on Ligue 1 players and coaches to strike to claim a 22-team championship next season, and to protest against the injustice, he said, of going downhill in Ligue 2 of Amiens, at the end of the season cut short by the coronavirus epidemic. Signatory, like Antoine Kombouaré, of the petition launched by the Picard club, Alain Roche, football consultant of Europe 1, however thinks that the idea of a players' strike is "utopian".
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"Antoine Kombouaré's objective was to raise awareness among players and coaches a little. To tell them, 'you too could have been in this situation', and that compassion for the players must be shown. people in difficulty ", he explains to the microphone of Europe 1. But for the former PSG player," the strike is always the last resort, an action that is put in place when a profession is This is not the case, even if many players will find themselves in great difficulty. "
Indeed, the descent to the lower level of Amiens and Toulouse will not be without consequences, warns Alain Roche. "About fifty players may be unemployed in a few months," he said.
"Everyone sees their personal interest"
But for a strike, "there should be a desire from the UNFP (the players' union). But I don't have the impression that this is the case. Their desire is rather to change governance, not motivate players to react to what is happening, "further analyzes Alain Roche. Contacted by Europe 1, the players' union confirmed that it would study Antoine Kombouaré's proposal on Monday. But if there is a strike, it will not be to defend Amiens, but to change the governance of football, we were indeed explained.
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Still, if he remains cautious about the possibility of a strike, Alain Roche supports the idea of canceling relegations. "With Antoine Kombouaré and Laurent Blanc, we thought that the calendar for next year would make it possible to have a Ligue 1 with 22 clubs", in particular with the suppression of the Coupe de la Ligue, he explains, while showing awareness of the difficulty of imposing such a solution in a context where "everyone sees their personal interest".
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"If you put a Ligue 1 in 22 clubs, when there will be an increase in TV rights of almost 60% next season, and that it will have to be distributed over 22 clubs and not 20, it does not please to everyone ", continues Alain Roche. And to conclude, about a possible treatment of two-speed clubs: "If Guingamp, the former club of President Le Graët, was 19th, we would have accepted that there were two descents? If Saint -Etienne, an emblematic club, had been in this situation, would we have accepted it? We ask ourselves the question. "