Will Ligue 1 2020-2021 be played by 20 or 22 teams? - PASCAL PAVANI / AFP

The Professional Football League (LFP) is still against a Ligue 1 to 22 teams for next season. Meeting at the Board of Directors on Friday, it voted "unanimously of the votes cast (23 votes for, 2 abstentions) a resolution proposing to the General Assembly to maintain the format of Ligue 1 at 20 clubs for the 2020 season / 2021, ”she said in a statement.

This extension of 20 teams to 22 is requested by Amiens and Toulouse, initially relegated to Ligue 2 after the end of the season due to the coronavirus pandemic, but whose relegation was suspended on June 9 by the Council of State. In an order, the latter had "enjoined" the League, "in connection with the competent bodies of the French Football Federation (FFF), to re-examine, by June 30, 2020, the question of the format of Ligue 1 for the 2020-2021 season, (…) and draw the consequences regarding the principle of relegation ”.

A French boxing day to be able to play at 22? The UNFP is against https://t.co/xzL4Jdls5x

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The LFP therefore tackled it this Friday. The resolution was voted “after an in-depth examination of the challenges of a Ligue 1 to 20, 21 or 22 clubs on the 2020/2021 competition calendar after having obtained the opinion of the joint committee of the FFF / LFP calendar, and consequences on the players' health, "the statement said.

Amiens indignant but not surprised

First concerned by this decision, the club of Amiens took note “with indignation but without surprise” of the vote of the CA of the League. "As long as the authorities remain deaf to the legitimacy of our approach, we will exercise all the necessary means of appeal before the competent courts so that the future format of Ligue 1 is examined in accordance with the injunction of the Council of State", a declared Picard president Bernard Joannin in a press release.

Tuesday's General Assembly will therefore be decisive. And the vote is probably less unanimous. The GA brings together all the professional clubs as well as the football families (players, coaches, etc.). It is she who is legitimate to "change the format of competitions organized by the LFP within the limits of the provisions of the agreement binding the LFP to the French Federation (FFF)", according to the statutes of the LFP.

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  • Picardy
  • Toulouse
  • Amiens
  • LFP
  • Soccer
  • League 1
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