Ligue 1 to resume on June 17 as LFP announce their intention to complete season by July 25

Ligue 1 to resume on June 17 as LFP announce their intention to complete season by July 25 following coronavirus disruption

  • Ligue 1 chiefs plan to restart the season on June 17 and complete it by July 25
  • Clubs face playing every three days to allow time for end of season play-offs
  • The clubs could also compete in the Champions League and Europa League
  • Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID

Ligue 1 chiefs plan to restart the 2019-20 season on June 17, with a scheduled end to the campaign a month later on July 25. 

French publication L’Equipe reported that clubs face playing every three days to ensure enough time for the relegation and promotion play-offs.

That would also allow those clubs competing in Europe to wrap up the Champions League and Europa League competitions following a UEFA proposal to play ties during August. 

Ligue 1 clubs face playing every three games to complete the 2019/20 season by July 25

The last matches in Ligue 1 were played on March 16. 

In a statement released to L’Equipe on Monday, following a meeting held last Friday, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) confirmed that the intention is to stage fixtures again from that date but it was not made clear if games would be played behind closed doors.

The Coupe de France final between PSG and Lyon has been pencilled in for June 27, with the Coupe de la Ligue final featuring Thomas Tuchel’s side and Saint-Étienne to be played on July 11.

The announcement follows the world’s biggest sports rights holders the beIN Media Group withholding its upcoming payment for domestic Ligue 1 rights due to the suspension of competition in France. 

Ligue 1 officials have was not made it clear if games would be played behind closed doors

Ligue 1 officials have was not made it clear if games would be played behind closed doors

The move by beIN SPORTS, part of the beIN Media Group, follows a similar decision by Canal Plus, which comes on the back of an extension of the lockdown in France designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus

Streaming company DAZN is reported to have told leagues it holds rights for that it will not pay for any cancelled fixtures, while the Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent) has said it will not report media rights costs for postponed sporting events in its income statement until such time as the events take place.

BeIN SPORTS’s four-year deal for Ligue 1 rights in France expires at the end of this season.

In a legal letter, the chief executive of beIN SPORTS France Yousef Al Obaidly said the decision not to make the next payment due to be made to Ligue de Football Professionnel on April 5 ‘mainly takes into consideration the total lack of real visibility on the actual resumption of matches in the current season’.

Al Obaidly added that the situation ‘has just been aggravated by the decision to maintain confinement for an additional period of two weeks’. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk