- The LFP board of directors rejected the idea of a Ligue 1 to 22 clubs
- Amiens, like Toulouse, pays the price
- Club leaders have not yet said their last word
It should be on Tuesday. Not really known for the cabriole, the General Assembly convened by the LFP should validate the decision taken Friday by its board of directors to block Ligue 1 to 20 clubs, leaving Amiens and Toulouse on the motorway service area. . A justified conclusion after a "thorough examination of the challenges of a League 1 to 20, 21 or 22 clubs on the calendar of competitions 2020-2021", as asked by the Council of State in early June, at the same time as decided to suspend the relegations of the 19th and 20th of the championship at the time of the end of the season.
To arrive therefore at the impossibility of bringing in 42 Ligue 1 days in a year already busy and turned upside down by the health crisis. Added to this is the refusal of most clubs to dilute the amount collected on TV rights with two additional clubs.
"When you want to kill your dog, you say he has rabies," reacts Amiens' lawyer, Me Olivier Martin. There is a will from the League not to organize a League at 22. This is not really a surprise. ” This is also why the club already says "ready" for the future. In Toulouse, and even if the club's lawyer, Me Claire Rameix-Séguin, explained to the Dépêche du Midi to wait to know "whether the club wanted to continue the fight or not", we are also preparing the rest.
"Infeasible"
What could it be? A new appeal to the Council of State, if of course the General Assembly on Tuesday goes in the expected direction. "The only place where you can have a fair discussion is before the judge," explains the lawyer from Amiens. Our strategy will be to tell him that in reality, the League did not respond to the injunction given to him because his decision to keep the format at 20 was taken on questionable elements. Clearly, the impossibility of entering the 42 days in the calendar, while Amiens had presented four scenarios by proving the feasibility.
Among the central stumbling blocks: the very first weeks of the season, when the resumption date is set late, August 23. "The services of the League have looked at the calendars, getting to cram 82 more games is impossible," said Raymond Domenech, member of the CA of the League, on the Chaîne l'Equipe. If we had left in early August, it was struggling, it was being discussed. Now it was unfeasible. "
August, good or false excuse?
Me Martin recognizes a "compression" over the month of August, largely because of the preliminary rounds of the European Cup and now the "Final 8" of the Champions League, but still hopes that we can start the championship before, to release some dates. "To date, there has been no official decision on the date for the resumption of the championship," he continues. We maintain that we have presented calendars that respond to the format of 22. But I do not believe that this is argument number 1 in the decisions that have been made. "
The dilution of TV rights, the calculation of their distribution for additional matches, the specter of a season with four relegations or the fear of seeing new remedies emerge were others. “The discourse of saying“ we cannot ”means that we are the only country that has not been able to adapt to an exceptional situation, concludes Olivier Martin. Some countries have been able to finish their championship, to be inventive, ingenious to satisfy everyone. UEFA, in three weeks, organized itself to make a competition format. And we we are not able to make four more games? "
Sport
Ligue 1: The LFP opposes a 22-team championship, a general meeting convened Tuesday
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- LFP
- Relegation
- Ligue 2
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- Amiens SC