Ligue 2 is now closer than ever to Amiens and Toulouse. Meeting in General Assembly on Tuesday, June 23, the professional clubs of French football have maintained the principle of a Ligue 1 to 20 teams, next season, as well as the relegations of these two clubs, almost doomed to resume the path of recourse.
Meeting this Tuesday, June 23, the General Assembly of @LFPfr adopted by a majority of 74.49% of the votes cast the resolution proposed by the Board of Directors to maintain the format of Ligue 1 at 20 clubs for the season 2020/2021.
Press release ➡️ https://t.co/C4GW4Gqdxd pic.twitter.com/zxOWhZhzqg
Reinvigorated on June 9 by the decision of the Council of State to suspend relegations and to enjoin the Professional Football League (LFP) to re-study the format of the L1, Picards and Toulousains may have to resolve to the second division, after a new vote of the authorities of the round ball against them.
In a few days, they will have understood that they were isolated in their fight: successively, the Office of the Professional Football League (LFP), then its board of directors, then finally its general assembly bringing together all the professional clubs and families of football, spoke out against the organization of a Ligue 1 to 22 teams in 2020-2021.
Tuesday, maintaining the format at 20 clubs was adopted at 74.49% of the votes cast by the General Assembly, a sign that Amiens, though very active in the media in recent days, has not managed to convince enough others teams.
"The only thing that shows this vote, is that it is exclusively the financial interests which lead the members of the GA of the LFP to position themselves against a format at 22, which I regret", regretted Bernard Joannin, the president Amiens, in a press release.
A question of big money
The Picard club, 19th in the championship during the early interruption of the season due to coronavirus, had however tried until the end to overturn convictions, proposing several calendars allowing to dispute the four additional days required by the hypothetical enlargement format.
Monday, on the eve of the General Assembly, Bernard Joannin had even played the sentimental card in a letter addressed to his counterparts, of which AFP obtained a copy.
"Of course, a championship at 22 causes more constraints. I'm just saying, and like many great characters in French football, that none of them is insurmountable if you have the will to make it sports equity and solidarity, the key words of French professional football, "wrote the manager.
But the arguments did not seem to hit home with other clubs, particularly concerned not to act an evolution that would shake de facto the distribution of juicy television rights next season.
Amiens considers new remedies, on the merits
If Toulouse (20th of L1), about to be bought by the American investment company RedBird Capital Partner, remained discreet from start to finish on this file, Amiens has already promised recourse.
The legal loop is therefore likely to start from zero, until a possible new passage before the Council of State for interim measures, a possibility for which Amiens says "ready".
The club will have one less argument to make. Indeed, the Council of State had suspended relegation in early June on the grounds that the LFP had based on an obsolete League-Federation convention to pronounce the demotion of the two clubs at the end of April.
But since then, a new convention has been adopted by the League for next season. And the Federation, a supporter of maintaining relegation on all levels of football, must do the same Friday in the federal assembly.
"I now appeal to the members of the FFF federal assembly, who also represent amateur football, to refuse to validate this Friday the FFF / LFP convention which excludes the possibility of a League 1 to 22 the next season ", urged Joannin before this meeting synonymous with ultimate hope before the remedies.
Whatever happens to this meeting, it will not prevent Amiens from contesting his relegation during the proceedings on the merits before the Council of State to obtain compensation. The legal series of the most curious season of French football is still far from its end.
With AFP
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