We can see it more clearly. The 2023-2024 Ligue 1 season, marked by the reduction of the elite from 20 to 18 clubs, will start on the weekend of August 12 and 13, 2023 and will be punctuated by an extended winter break, the Ligue de France announced on Wednesday. professional football (LFP). According to the schedule adopted Wednesday morning by the LFP’s Board of Directors, the L1 will resume a little later than in 2022-2023 – a year interspersed with the World Cup in Qatar (November 20-December 18).
The French first division, which had restarted its 2022-2023 season on August 5, will this time launch hostilities about a week later, by virtue of the reduction of the elite to 18 clubs, which makes it possible to reduce the number of matchdays. 38 to 34.
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The other change concerns the end-of-year break: while French clubs must play a “Boxing Day” this season (condensed day during the holidays) on December 28, the L1 will return to a winter break in 2023-2024, from December 20 to January 13-14, while waiting to know the calendar of the Coupe de France which traditionally provides for matches in January. The final day of L1 is scheduled for Saturday May 18, 2024, while the internationals will then move on to Euro-2024 in Germany (June 14-July 14).
In Ligue 2, the resumption has been set for the weekend of August 5, 2023 and the regular phase will end with the 38th day on May 18. The play-offs between L2 clubs ranked 3rd to 5th place will follow (May 21 and 24), then the winner will face the 16th in L1 in a climb-down barrage on May 30 and June 2. In June 2021, French clubs acted to tighten the elite to 18 clubs against the current 20, a reform intended to contribute to the recovery of professional football battered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the difficulties with its television broadcasters. The L2 for its part will be reduced from 20 to 18 teams from 2024-2025, after having absorbed the four descents scheduled in L1 at the end of the 2022-2023 financial year.