All football is in danger! You’re losing your blood, and you don’t know when you’re going to be rescued – he says.
The sector has been shutdown since the start of containment on March 14. The stadiums are empty. Inert clubs. The confined players. Money, on the other hand, evaporates.
A 2019-2020 season ended
The president of the Premier League union, which brings together 19 clubs and nearly 90% of the economy of French football, is worried. And he is even more worried when he learns through the official government that the sports season will not resume in the coming weeks.
He can only bow to this decision “I consider that from the moment the government, plus the president of the Fed (FFF), have made decisions, we must respect these decisions, which are due to a health situation. They are not due to a whim is the health of the French “ he adds.
Classification “I do not care”
This Thursday, April 30, the world of professional football is holding its breath.
The Bureau of the Board of Directors of the Professional Football League (LFP) must meet to fix the fate of Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and the National championship.
The sporting and economic consequences of government measures should be studied. Many other questions are pending: What about the ranking? Will he be stopped on the last days (27th and 28th) of the championship disputed before confinement? Who will be relegated? Promoted? Who will compete in the European Championships?
The task promises to be difficult for the League, Olympique Lyonnais could be deprived of the Champions League and AS Saint-Etienne, of the Europa League.
But for Bernard Caïazzo, the priority is elsewhere “I don’t care about decisions, that’s not what interests me “che chants. “What interests me is first of all the health of the players and the French.”
Alternative solutions to the championship
A season ended, an unfinished championship. The clubs are hungry.
Some presidents, such as the Lyonnais, Jean-Michel Aulas, and the Lille Gérard Lopez in particular, have suggested alternative solutions to the championship, to define a classification. Ads that are not to the taste of Stéphanois “There are bodies, a Fed, a League, people who vote democratically, we must let them work”. He adds “For me the ranking aspects, it’s even shameful to hear about it.”
Aid is expected
For the time being, the sector, like tourism, trade or aviation, is disaster.
Without revenue and with significant charges to pay, professional clubs also expect state aid. Enough to survive 6 months.
Premier League President says so “we are going to try to make our football survive with government aid. Today football no longer exists”.
Will the players and staff of the French championships follow the approach of their Italian colleagues from AS Rome, by waiving several months of salary?
The clubs, the players, thought they would take over the management of the stadium at the end of April, then at the end of June, July, August, September? “We do not know” concludes Bernard Caïazzo.
The Forézien relies on sports authorities. He hopes that no club will be left by the side of the road. Thinking also of restaurants, shops.