February 11 – The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) has called for emergency support from government to ward off the risk of bankruptcy for French clubs.
“Measures already taken by the government for the current season last November have unfortunately turned out to be insufficient or unsuitable to continue the activity of the sector. All the more so as these announcements did not take into account the continuation of the closed doors in 2021,” the LFP said in a statement.
“Consequently, the LFP requests an emergency meeting with the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, and the Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports to receive the leaders of the LFP and a delegation of clubs to build an emergency support plan.”
The league body said collective losses of more than €1 billion meant “the survival of the professional football industry is at stake”. Last May the French government loaned the league €224.5 million to cover the immediate loss in revenue from the global pandemic.
“There is no question here of asking the state to compensate for the drop in TV rights, or the failure of Mediapro. On these subjects, the clubs have already made great efforts to adapt to this major drop in income,” wrote the LFP.
French football was plunged into renewed chaos when its domestic broadcast partner Canal Plus terminated its deal in December. The loss of the Mediapro partnership had already meant the league was learning to live without the €800 million per season guarantee that was taking it through to 2024.
Last week, LFP agreed a new deal with broadcaster Canal Plus but on reduced terms. The league calculates the impact of behind-closed-doors matches during the coronavirus pandemic at a drop of about €500 million against its forecast for the 2020-21 season. It now reckons overall revenue will be about €759.1 million.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1727666527labto1727666527ofdlr1727666527owedi1727666527sni@o1727666527fni1727666527