By Andrew Warshaw
October 25 – Professional clubs in France have decided to go on strike for the first time in over 40 years in protest at the government’s proposal to tax business incomes of more than €1 million at a massive 75%. The clubs have unanimously voted in favour of boycotting fixtures scheduled for November 29 and December 2, the first walkout by French players since 1972 and affecting the two top leagues.
“We are talking about the death of French football. That’s why we are fighting and we will continue to fight,” the president of the French professional clubs union (UCPF), Jean-Pierre Louvel, told a news conference in Paris. “How can you tax businesses that have been in difficulty over the last three or four years?”
The so-called supertax initiative, due to kick in next year, is a campaign promise of French President Francois Hollande, earning the government an estimated €420 million but hitting football hard in a country where most clubs, with the exception of the likes of Paris St. Germain, have been struggling financially, unable to compete with other top European leagues .
Under the proposals, companies rather than players would be liable to pay the high tax rate on the part of employees’ salaries that exceed €1 million.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s office said in a statement that football clubs “were businesses like any other”, while the French Communist Party labelled the strike plans as “outrageous lobbying”.
Talks between the clubs and Hollande are scheduled to take place next week. According to Ligue 1 teams, the new bill, if implemented, would take €44 million out of the game, based on the highest salaries of around 120 players from 14 clubs in the French top flight.
Jean-Michel Aulas (pictured), president of Lyon, defended the strike action. “This proposal is retroactive, we’re being taken hostage,” said Aulas, whose club’s fixture with PSG would be one of those lost.
Louvel criticised Ayrault’s claim that football clubs should be treated like other businesses. “Look at the drama which football is experiencing, we are the only country which taxes companies that are losing money,” he said.
According to official French figures, the combined loss of France’s first and second divisions in 2011-2012 amounted to €108 million. Louvel, who is also president of division two side Le Havre, warned that unless next week’s discussions bore fruit, the strike would definitely go ahead.
“This is a historic decision, made unanimously and with determination, to save soccer,” the French Football Federation said in a statement on its website.
For some clubs, the extra burden will threaten their very survival, according to the French Football League (Ligue de Football Professionnel). “The consequences of this measure will be dramatic,” said LFP boss Frederic Thiriez.
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