It is the land of the world champions, but is it really a soccer country? That is the question that some in France have been asking this week while its European neighbors work to bring the sport back after the COVID-19 shutdown.
Debate has raged ever since Ligue 1 decided in late April to bring a premature end to the season with 10 rounds of matches unplayed.
By contrast, two weeks have passed since the Bundesliga restarted, while Italian Minister for Sport Vincenzo Spadafora on Thursday confirmed that Serie A would return on June 20, and La Liga and the English Premier League appear set to be back underway by then.
Photo: AFP
“Like Idiots” was the headline on the front of L’Equipe on Friday, as the sports daily questioned why such a hasty decision was made by France’s Professional Football League (LFP) to end the season.
The decision was based on French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe saying at the time that the season “cannot restart” as the pandemic raged, but France has been steadily easing its lockdown and Philippe said on Thursday that team sports could restart after June 21.
“We will be the only major footballing country in Europe to stick to this decision, and to have not conditioned it to the evolution of the pandemic and the easing of the lockdown,” Vincent Duluc of L’Equipe wrote.
France is not the only European soccer nation to have ended its season, with the Netherlands notably voiding the campaign altogether.
While Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) were crowned champions for the third year running, Amiens and Toulouse were relegated and have since launched legal action.
However, the leading voice against the early ending has been Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas.
The Lyon side were seventh when the season stopped in mid-March and so were denied European qualification.
Neither they nor PSG are to have any competitive action before the UEFA Champions League is expected to restart in August.
“I am fully convinced that what has happened was not for the good of the clubs or French soccer as a whole,” Aulas told Le Parisien.
His chief argument has been economic. Earlier in May, the league said it would need a government-guaranteed loan of about 225 million euros (US$250 million) to tide over clubs affected by the loss in income from broadcasters, because so many games were left unplayed.
While France’s national team won the FIFA World Cup for the second time in 2018, most of its leading players aspire to play abroad and the ongoing debate raises the question of whether its domestic league belongs in the same category as its rivals.
While other countries that have been hit harder by the pandemic find ways to restart the season by promoting arguments about the game’s economic and cultural significance, in France there is a feeling that it just does not matter enough.
“Other countries have had interministerial meetings with important representatives from professional clubs, and they are restarting,” one Ligue 1 executive said. “In France there have been none of those meetings. From afar, you could conclude that the state is not really interested in soccer.”
SWEEP THE LEG: Poirier, determined to best McGregor, after losing to him in 2014, used low calf kicks to throw ‘Notorious’ off his stand-up game, before dropping him American underdog Dustin Poirier yesterday shook up the world of mixed martial arts, beating up the legs of Irish superstar Conor McGregor before knocking him out at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi. “I’m happy, but I’m not surprised. I put in the work,” Poirier said, after the referee stepped in after 2 minutes, 32 seconds of the second round to save McGregor from further damage, after he was dropped by a fierce combination of punches. The 32-year-old Poirier was ranked second in the flyweight division going into the fight, but still rated a heavy underdog by bookmakers to beat his fourth-ranked opponent,
World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying yesterday eased past her Thai opponent to advance to the second round of the Toyota Thailand Open. The Taiwanese star toppled world No. 46 Supanida Katethong 21-16, 21-11 in 29 minutes at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. “I think I played OK today. I am feeling a little better than last week,” Tai said. Tomorrow, Tai faces Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. The two have faced each other six times, with Tai beating the world No. 21 in all six matches. Tai on Sunday reached the final of the Yonex Thailand Open before losing decisively against Carolina Marin of Spain.
LOOKING TO REPEAT: World No. 7 Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin advanced to the round-of-16 at the Toyota Thailand Open, after winning the Yonex Thailand Open on Sunday Taiwan’s world No. 7 duo yesterday eased past the US’ world No. 37 pairing at the Toyota Thailand Open to reach the round-of-16 in Bangkok. Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin beat Phillip Chew and Ryan Chew 21-14, 21-11 in just 24 minutes. Lee and Wang, who won the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Thailand Open on Sunday, next face the world No. 34 pairing, Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura. In men’s singles, Taiwan’s world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen again beat Thailand’s world No. 45 Suppanyu Avihingsanon, after edging past the Thai player in the opening round of the Yonex
Three new COVID-19 cases yesterday hit the Australian Open’s troubled buildup as a backlash grew against international tennis players flown in during a raging pandemic. Two of the new cases were players, state health officials said, taking the total infections to seven since more than 1,000 people arrived in largely COVID-19-free Australia on charter flights last week. The Victoria Department of Health and Human Services said that the two players and a third person associated with the tournament — a woman in her 20s, and two men in their 30s — had returned positive results. The year’s first Grand Slam, delayed three weeks,