For the first time in its history, French football is breaking the truce of the confectioners. Between December 26 and January 2, the 16e and 17e Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 days. An unusual meeting, the only niche found by French football authorities to decongest a second part of the season overloaded by the fall organization of the World Cup in Qatar.
In addition to France, Spain and the Italian Serie B (second division) have also decided to play during the holiday season to end their championships earlier. In France, the Professional Football League (LFP), which named the two days of the championship “Celebration Week”, was inspired by Boxing Day, a tradition across the Channel.
Boxing Day, December 26, has been a public holiday since 1871. According to historians, some of whom date Boxing Day back to the 15e century, the hypothesis according to which domestic workers were rewarded by their bosses with a day off the day after Christmas, with the bonus of a box containing the remains of the feast of the previous day and gifts, remains the most commonly accepted.
A custom of the cultural heritage of the United Kingdom which quickly spread to football. On December 26, 1888, the first meeting of Boxing Day between two professional clubs was disputed, a few months after the birth of the “First Division”. Now known for kicking off a week of sales across the Channel, this period is a highlight of the Premier League season, with three league matches played in one week..
“The players need to be able to rest”
It is different in France. Asked about the subject on the sidelines of a friendly match on December 22, Rennes coach Bruno Genesio did not hesitate to scold the leaders of the LFP: “I hope they’ll be at the games…that they won’t be at the beach on vacation, because they’re the ones who had this great idea. I don’t think that’s what excites players the most. In England, yes, but it’s a different culture. It’s different “, had ironically declared the Breton technician.
For its part, the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP), the only players’ union, is keen to preserve the usual rest period scheduled between Christmas and New Year’s Day, included in the collective agreement. “The players need to be able to rest. They don’t have an office beat. They make more and more physical efforts given the intensity of the competitions, alerts its president, Philippe Piat. At the end of May, players can’t even get three weeks of rest since we have to resume training at the end of June to prepare for the next championship. »
So that the 16 can competee and 17e days, a derogation from the said agreement was requested by the LFP. A request validated in December 2021 during a board meeting bringing together all the representative bodies of players, coaches and clubs.
Joined by The world, Riad Nouri, who plays for Ajaccio in Ligue 1, for his part did not hide his enthusiasm at the idea of playing these two matches. Of the fifteen days of rest granted by his club, the striker made the choice to cut only one week in order to begin his preparation before the collective recovery. “I like it because I don’t really like Christmas breaks and long cuts. I find it exciting to play 1er January, as in England. »
The Corsican winger does not see in this period a disruption of his off-field habits during this holiday season. “The hygiene of life, you have it or you don’t have it. It’s not with Boxing Day that you’re going to get it or lose it. On the club side, it doesn’t seem to bother, it can attract a lot of people in front of the TV and at the stadium »completes one of the deans of the elite, 37 years old.
An uncertain attractiveness
With 2.62 million spectators present in the Ligue 1 enclosures after eleven days, the 2022-2023 championship has made a historic start. High standards that the LFP would like to maintain with its end-of-year posters.
“The clubs will increase the entertainment in the stadiums on the occasion of these two days, to consolidate the very good dynamic of the crowds observed since the start of the season, with an 81% occupancy rate”, rejoices for its part the instance. On Boxing Day, Premier League fixtures often sell out. For France, there is no guarantee that the public will be there.
“At Christmas and New Year’s Day, we are most of the time in bad weather conditions with snow or cold. We rather recommended bringing the championship forward to the end of July “, tempers Philippe Piat for his part.
In the stadium or in front of the screens, the attraction looks uncertain. The daytime schedules (at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.) of certain matches on Wednesday December 28 and Monday January 2 will not help. Witness the call for a boycott of the match against Troyes at La Meinau at 3 p.m. launched by the Strasbourg supporters. And, on the players’ side, the winter break is often the only time to spend time with the whole family.
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“We no longer allow players to have a lot of vacations with the family. They resume training at the start of the long school holidays. If we maintain these end-of-year meetings in the future, they will no longer have free time at the same time as their children,” deplores the boss of the UNFP.
With a championship reduced to eighteen teams, the next exercise will undoubtedly pose fewer calendar constraints. Thus, the “celebration week” should therefore not be renewed for the 2023-2024 season. Supporter of maintaining the winter break, Philippe Piat does not exclude any eventuality: “It should not happen again, because the collective agreement does not provide for it. Unless voices are raised. If attendance is much better than at the end of July or [au] early August, the question could arise. There would then be a total upheaval of the calendars. »