Unlike the football competition, French championships, German, Italian, Spanish, and English have all initiated the recovery.Bleachers empty at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), may 30, 2020. (FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
“It was put in front of the accomplished fact”. Several leaders of Ligue 1 clubs are interviewed, Monday, June 1 on the final stop of the football season because of the outbreak of coronavirus, a choice that they deem to be “brutal enough” and now irreversible, and which they attribute responsibility to the government. “On what basis has the government taken this decision ?”, asked the president of the club from Lille Gerard Lopez during a press conference call of the premier League, a trade union comprising the majority of the presidents of Ligue 1.
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With Bernard Caïazzo (Saint-Etienne) and Waldemar Kita (Nantes), Lopez denounced the lack of “consultation” that preceded the announcement by Prime minister Edouard Philippe on April 28, according to which “the season of professional sports, especially football, can not resume”. Two days later, the League of professional football actait the end of the season and 2019-2020, a decision contested since that time by Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Lyon.
Four championships neighbours have taken
“We don’t have the responsibility (of the stop of the season), the one who is the Prime minister and the government. It has information that we had not”insisted Bernard Caïazzo, the president of the union premier League. “One may wonder if the government has not decided too quickly. Has there been consultation with the clubs ? No. Has there been consultation with other countries ?”
“In early April, we were the only ones on the five major championships to make the proposal to resume the championship. It was in advance and we fucked out of [us]. It was the locomotive and the other countries, we have follow-up later… But unfortunately, we, we stayed on-site”, a late Waldemar Kita, while the championships, German, Italian, Spanish, and English have all initiated the recovery.
Is it possible to backtrack to finish the season, as hope Jean-Michel Aulas ? “Today, for organizational issues, it is too hard (…) we know that to resume, the players would need two months of preparation”, writes Waldemar Kita, also stressing that many of the players are abroad. “Broadcasters, we are no longer”, stresses Bernard Caïazzo, while Canal+ and BeIN Sports have broken their contract to broadcast the championships. “This would require a general mobilization without any financial support (…) We can not do it from the machine, and then machine the rear”.
