A telephone meeting of managers of professional clubs was held this Friday at the end of the morning, in the presence of Nöel Le Graët, the president of the French Football Federation, Nathalie Boy de la Tour and Didier Quillot (respectively president and general manager Executive) of the Professional Football League. It was also Noël Le Graët who opened this conference call by once again showing his desire to finish this season and to go beyond June 30 to get there. While adding that FIFA and UEFA had realized that it was necessary to consider playing in July.
Before letting the various speakers debate on the subject, the FFF leader asked that we do not forget, in the different scenarios of the future calendar, the two friendly matches of the Blues (against Ukraine and Finland, which were scheduled in March) and the final of the Coupe de France.
Three recommendations to end the season: June 30, July 31 or August 31
It is a document of about fifty pages which was finalized on Thursday evening by UEFA and sent in the morning to the various European Federations, but also to the leagues and club members of the ECA. Recommendations to try to find solutions to imperatively end this 2019-2020 season, but without knowing the date of resumption which depends, of course, on the evolution of this health crisis caused by the coronavirus.
From its basic proposal to succeed in finishing on June 30 by including the domestic championships, the national cup finals and the two European cups and the international matches (play-offs for Euro 2020), the European body has quickly realized that this had become almost impossible to achieve, even by changing the formats of the Champions League and the Europa League. Returning to something more reasonable, the European body added two new work options: finish on July 31 or August 31, knowing that the European preliminary rounds for 2021-2022 would, in these cases, be postponed in autumn. This will further delay the start of the next season.
And in these two end-of-season date options, two possibilities: finish the domestic championships, play the national cup finals, drag an international period and finish the two European cups in the same calendar; or finish the national championships and cups and then finish the two European cups. “It takes at least two months to finish the season,” said an executive.
From there, the different federations will work on these scenarios with their professional leagues, clubs and the UNFP for France. The players’ union has been working for several days on solutions to the contracts that expire on June 30, 2020. A subject that worries club bosses if football ever continues after this date. Another subject, partial unemployment. And on this point, no common decision to date, each club is free to do as it sees fit. Amiens, OL and OM have already positioned themselves for partial unemployment, the others are hesitating with the holidays, while having suspended training and providing their players with individualized programs.
Quickly find financial arrangements for clubs
One thing is certain, the clubs are very worried about their treasuries, in order to be able to keep their commitments. You have to pay the salaries and expenses without any income … The clubs and the League have asked the current broadcasters of the championship (BeIN and Canal +) to position themselves in relation to the last two expiries of TV rights (125 million euros for end of March and the same amount for the end of April).
The two audio-visual groups were asked to make a gesture, despite the fact that they do not broadcast any match of this season since March 8th. A meeting between the UNFP and the professional clubs was held this weekend and allowed all delicate matters to be raised in a spirit of solidarity. “We have mentioned a possible reduction in wages over the period, as a kind of war effort, given the historical side of the situation. There is a spirit of openness but it must now be realized”, a explained to RMC Sport one of the actors in these discussions.
Finally, to work in parallel with UEFA, French football is getting organized. A steering committee will be set up by the start of the week to reflect on these end-of-season projects. A kind of Task Force which will be helped in this by two working groups: one on the financing and the treasury of the clubs with the presence of the DNCG and another on the calendar and the different scenarios proposed by UEFA. French football, aware of the seriousness of the health situation, continues to work at a distance without the possibility of meeting, like all those who are professionally undergoing the evolution of the pandemic, and respecting the confinement imposed by the French government. It’s not always easy to work and have a conference call.
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