From the first day of resumption of Ligue 1, the competition is likely to be strongly disrupted, on the grounds as in the stands. Five days before the restart of Ligue 1, uncertainty hangs over French football, affected by numerous Covid-19 contaminations within clubs ...
At least 37 infected players
At least 37 L1 players from 11 clubs have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent weeks. The vast majority of them contracted the virus after resuming training in June, resulting in more or less solitary confinement depending on the case and cascading cancellations of friendly matches.
With only one positive case announced, Bordeaux, Dijon, Lens, Marseille, Monaco and Nîmes were not too disturbed. On the other hand, Lille (4 cases), Saint-Etienne (5) but especially Montpellier (6), Nantes (7) and Strasbourg (9) saw their preparation truncated by the coronavirus.
By way of comparison, Spain, where the season interrupted in March by the pandemic was able to end in July, is also experiencing a second wave of contaminations. Thus, there are 37 new cases in D1 and D2 while the new season is due to start on September 12.
Preparations truncated in several clubs
With many cases of positive players, Montpellier, Nantes and Strasbourg had to cancel several essential preparation matches to find automatisms. “When they become negative again, we can recover them. But in what state, I do not know, “lamented Strasbourg coach Thierry Laurey on Saturday.
In Nantes, the medical protocol in place requires extensive cardiac examinations at least one month after the first positive test, even in the absence of symptoms, before any resumption of training. A positive player is therefore a priori excluded from any competition for at least six weeks.
"We find ourselves deprived of important players, this is not trivial ... And in the season that may still happen because we do not know how long the antibodies last," said the technician from Nantes to AFP. Christian Gourcuff.
What precautions for the players and the public?
The Professional Football League (LFP), which has said since the beginning of August "extremely attentive" to the situation, has set up two protocols for several weeks.
The first, sanitary, aims to secure the reception of the public in the stadiums by applying the maximum level of 5,000 people (except exemption), barrier gestures and wearing a mask in stands.
The second, "medical", will regulate all the precautions that the clubs will have to take, the pace of the tests preceding the matches, the process in the event of a positive test, the isolation of infected people and any cases of postponement of meetings. This protocol, already tied, was sent to the Interministerial Crisis Committee (CIC), which must validate it Tuesday according to the League.
In particular, subject to validation, these documents, of which AFP has obtained a copy, include the designation of a "Covid referent", the preferred contact on health issues, the obligation for players to comply with a test between 72 and 48 hours before each game, or the obligation to carry out a 14-day isolation for each positive player.
The first day of L1 disrupted?
Already cut by two matches, Paris SG-Metz and Montpellier-Lyon, due to the qualifications of PSG and OL for the semi-finals of the Champions League, the first day of Ligue 1, scheduled from Friday to next Sunday , risk of being disrupted by meetings behind closed doors or in almost empty stadiums, or even by postponements in the event of new contamination.
"The clubs have great fears for the resumption of the championship", slips a leader of Ligue 1. "We are afraid of being in the situation where for three months we had the car in the garage without being able to take it out, and when finally we can resume the road there is a risk of breaking down. "
OGC Nice has decided to play its first match behind closed doors, next Sunday against Lens. Marseille will host Saint-Etienne on Friday in a Vélodrome stadium which will ring hollow with only 5,000 people, since its request for an exemption to play in front of 20,000 people was rejected by the prefecture. The one filed by Bordeaux was also rejected.
According to the medical protocol of the League, it is a “Covid commission” which will have the power to pronounce the postponement of matches, in particular in the event that more than three players or supervisors test positive in the same team.
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