A number of Ligue 1 clubs have been left on the brink of financial ruin, following the collapse of a lucrative TV contract. In 2018, the LFP – French football’s governing body – sold the broadcasting rights to Mediapro and BeIN Sports, in a deal worth upwards of €1.15bn per year – the second biggest TV deal in Europe. This saw a drastic 60% increase in TV revenue for Ligue 1 sides. Mediapro’s Ligue 1 gamble has not paid off It was hoped that this would revitalise the French leagues, given that they have had no success on the European stage since Marseille’s Champions League triumph in 1993. However, the TV deal has fallen apart, leaving French football at risk of a financial collapse. Spanish broadcaster Mediapro, who were supposed to be paying €814m per year for the broadcasting...
Thomas Tuchel says he “understands” criticism of Paris Saint-Germain but dismissed its credibility when coming from fans and journalists watching from a “sofa”. PSG were out of sorts in the Champions League on Tuesday, as last season’s beaten finalists scraped a narrow 1-0 win at RB Leipzig. The decisive goal, an 11th-minute Neymar penalty, was one of just three shots on target mustered by PSG over the course of the match. Tuchel said after the game that he would not apologise for winning in a somewhat ugly fashion, with Leipzig enjoying 63 per cent of possession and managing 15 shots in total. He put the underwhelming performance down to fatigue caused by the team’s packed schedule, though it was not their only unimpressive display in recent months. Before Tuesday, PSG had lost three of t...
Nigeria head coach Gernot Rohr has backed Samuel Kalu to rediscover his best form for club and country. Kalu struggled to get near his best for French club Girondis Bordeaux last season. The pacy winger managed just one goal and two assists in 20 league appearances for Les Girondis. He fell out with former manager Paulo Sousa, who criticised him for his lack of effort in training. The former KAA Gent of Belgium player was also linked with a number of clubs during the winter transfer window. The 23-year-old is now enjoying a new lease of life under Jean-Louis Gasset. Kalu scored his first goal of the season in Bordeaux’s 2-1 away loss to Lens last weekend. “There’s this Kalu who was playing very, very well with me and Nigeria, who lost a bit of confidence last season. It was not going very ...
Had Olympique Lyonnais’ Memphis Depay and Karl Toko Ekambi found the back of the net in the opening 16 minutes against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, the Champions League may have had its first ever all-French final. Instead, Paris St Germain will now face the German champions while Lyon return home empty-handed and without the opportunity of righting those wrongs next season after they failed to qualify for Europe’s premier club competition. Ligue 1 was the only top-flight league from the ‘Big Five’ to prematurely end its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Lyon in seventh place on a points-per-game basis — thereby missing out on the Europa League as well. The 3-0 scoreline flatters Bayern as Lyon had their chances but playing in only their second semi-final on the big stage, their ...
French police have arrested a man wanted internationally for managing child porn sites on the darknet, Bordeaux Prosecutor Frederique Porterie said on Monday. The 40-year-old French citizen was “one of 10 global priority targets,” and had enabled thousands of people to access child pornography, Porterie alleged. The man had admitted the alleged offences when held for questioning after his arrest last week, she said. French police had been cooperating with EU policing agency EUROPOL on the case. He was placed under formal investigation on charges of distributing and possessing child pornography, incestuous rape, and incestuous sexual assault on a child aged less than 15, and remanded in custody. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Da...
French women’s football giants Lyon will be declared league champions for the 2019-20 campaign, collecting the title for the 14th consecutive year after the season was ended by the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was confirmed to AFP by a source close to talks held Monday by the French football federation as well as a source at Lyon, backing up an earlier report from RMC Sport. Lyon, winners of the past four Women’s Champions League finals, have claimed the French title every year since 2007. The women’s top flight in France was halted in mid-March when Lyon held a three-point lead over Paris Saint-Germain. Last month, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that professional sport could not return until September. The men’s Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 divisions were ended, with PSG na...