“Threatened with bankruptcy, Ligue 1 finally promises a show”

THEhe Ligue 1 will live a season on the edge of the abyss: the sporting chasm that separates PSG from other clubs and the economic chasm into which the latter threaten to sink. “They are bloodless,” Jean-Marc Mickeler said in mid-July.. The president of the national management control department invited a “Proactive, courageous and immediate reform”, without which there would be “No way out beyond the coming season”.

Are French clubs ready to rethink their economic model and their sports policies? Doubt is allowed, as they do not shine by the quality of their governance, but also all hopes, since we are at the start of the season.

So, let’s show a little optimism, let us be carried away by the fervor of the supporters back in the stadiums, by the promises of the summer, by the French youth ball in the foot, by the beauty of the new jersey of Lens…: threatened with bankruptcy, Ligue 1 2021-2022 finally promises a spectacle.

PSG ideally takes on the role of supervillain

Already, let’s discreetly take a part of chauvinistic satisfaction to see our Farmers League often mocked (starting with ourselves) to be proud of the presence of the three extraordinary players that are Neymar Jr, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, even within of the only PSG team.

Certainly, it will be difficult to escape the Messimania, which promises to be trying. What to do with the life-size poster of the Argentine proposed by The team in its edition of Monday, August 16, the daily imitating the magazines of our childhood in a surge of youthful fervor?

The Parisians’ squad suggests a supremacy likely to kill all suspense, but we will find excitement as much to see it evolve as to see it fall, if necessary, at the end of a match (or even of the season). , as in 2017 and 2021). The most admired and hated club in the country, PSG ideally takes on the role of the supervillain.

As for the show, the aperitif is offered by Canal +, which eats its hat by promoting the Argentinian on its antennas, that is to say of the lot 3 of the television rights which the channel no longer wanted, to the point of embarking on a legal marathon opposing it to the League and its ex-ally BeIN Sports.

Messi arrives at the right time to revalue, at least symbolically, the rights of Ligue 1. A few months after the defeat of Mediapro and the early extinction of Téléfoot the channel, we do not even know how many viewers will watch the competition through the through its new main broadcaster, Prime Video.

Is the prospect of seeing the six-fold Ballon d’Or facing Nicolas Pallois, Marcelo or Timothée Kolodziejczak worth the nineteen euros of the subscription and the embarrassment of becoming an Amazon customer? At least, if the League abandons its archaic management of images, Ligue 1 will have a potential for global influence with its animated gifs and videos.

Ideas for those without oil

The greatest excitement, at least the most unexpected, comes precisely from the side of “Ligue 1 fair football”, that of the nineteen other clubs. The day after a second day of 34 goals, we want to believe that it is no longer a thrill, but a tendency, to believe in the end of the championship of boredom, inferiority complexes and bad excuses.

Suddenly struck by the insufficiency of the proposed spectacle, suddenly convinced that the salvation would pass through the game and the emotions, several French leaders, taken of madness, named credible or exciting coaches at the head of their team.

Peter Bosz (Lyon), Jorge Sampaoli (Marseille), Vladimir Petkovic (Bordeaux) arrived this year. Christophe Galtier joined the Nice project, and Olivier Dall’Oglio, that of Montpellier, while the ambitious Franck Haise, Pascal Gastien and Laurent Battles continue their work in Lens, Clermont and Troyes.

Everything becomes possible again, even a sensible recruitment policy at the Olympique de Marseille. With the transfers of promising footballers during the summer, there is growing hope that the French championship will present ambitions on the pitch and go beyond its function of breeding players. May the sluggishness of the market allow the brightest among them to be seen for longer.

The intentions will not all withstand the pressure of the result, but we will rely on the confirmation of the renewed interest perceptible since last season. Let us hope that the best will win, that Ligue 1 better justifies its slogan of “League of talents” and its (fifth) place in the European “Big 5”. And let her jump over the abyss.