The dean of French football is fighting back. Since its accession to Ligue 1 in June, Le Havre Athletic Club (HAC) has been battling what it considers to be a “inequity” with regard to it: the distribution, decided in April 2022, of the sums paid to L1 and L2 clubs by the Luxembourg investment fund CVC Capital Partners, shareholder of the commercial company of the Professional Football League (LFP). “We are the cuckolds of this story”assures World Jean-Michel Roussier, the president of the Norman club.
The HAC is at the heart of an imbroglio that it is struggling to unravel. “On a strictly economic level, we are no longer a Ligue 2 club, but not yet a Ligue 1 club”considers the manager, who believes that Le Havre is “punished for moving up to Ligue 1”since, concretely, he would have received more income if he had not been promoted.
As such, Le Havre initiated two proceedings against the LFP before the Paris judicial court and requested a postponement of the General Assembly (AG) of the LFP scheduled for November 23, according to information from the World.
The crux of the affair dates back to spring 2022. While the health crisis linked to Covid-19 and the abrupt withdrawal of the broadcaster Mediapro have jeopardized the economic balance of French football, the LFP created Mediaco, a commercial company, in the aim of better promoting its audiovisual rights. The CVC investment fund, one of the largest on the planet, then injected 1.5 billion euros into this new structure, in exchange for 13% of its lifetime income. A sum, paid in several installments, welcome for French clubs, divided between those of Ligue 1 – for the most part – and Ligue 2.
“We don’t want a privilege, just to repair an oversight”
Unanimously (including with the voice of Le Havre), the general assembly of the LFP validates in April 2022 the agreement for the distribution of the windfall paid by CVC, then ratified – in May – by the board of directors of the LFP. Problem: the hypothesis that a team not present in Ligue 1 in 2021-2022 enters it a season later does not seem to have been anticipated. “Among the eligibility criteria, the possibility of a club moving from Ligue 2 to Ligue 1 between the dates of the first and last payment has been completely obscured”, notes Jean-Michel Roussier. Considering himself a victim of this “legal unthinking”the oldest club finds itself between two waters.
The article of the LFP regulations specifying the conditions for distributing Mediaco’s money, cited by The Team in June, is as follows: “Ligue 2 clubs in 2021-2022 will benefit from aid of 1.5 million euros in 2024-2025 on the condition that they have remained in Ligue 2 in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 without interruption, “They will definitely play in Ligue 2 in 2024-2025, and that they have positive equity as of June 30, 2024.”
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