The election to the Professional Football League will be played out on Tuesday between the outgoing president and Cyril Linette in a poisonous climate.
« This election is rigged from the start. » At the end of the line, an influential figure in French football, wishing to remain anonymous, storms. Another, still without revealing his identity for fear of being ” the target of pressures “, abounds: “This is all just pretense and swindling, it disgusts me.. » Ambiance. This Tuesday in Paris, the fate of French professional football will be decided with, by choice, the re-election of Vincent Labrune, 53 years old, in office since September 2020, huge favorite much criticized, or the advent of Cyril Linette, also 53 years old, former director of Sports of Canal +former CEO of The team then from PMU. The college of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs will meet in the morning, then the General Assembly at 2:30 p.m. to designate their representatives to the Board of Directors, which will elect the new president. The two men will be informed of their fate at the end of the afternoon and the winner will be awarded the position for a four-year term.
Despite the fiasco of the TV rights, the amount of which was put forward by Vincent Labrune at one billion euros, before reaching an agreement of around 500 million euros with DAZN et beIN Sportsthe current incumbent has never been so close to starting over. Just a few weeks ago, the former president of OM (supported by Nasser Al-khelaïfi, president of PSG and a very influential figure in French football) was even heading towards re-election without any opposition, before the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and the president of the French federation, Philippe Diallo, intervened so that Cyril Linette could, at least, be sponsored by the UAF (Union des Acteurs du Football) in order to offer an alternative. Candidates but rejected, Gervais Martel (ex-president RC Lens) and Christophe Bouchet (ex-president of OM and ex-Mayor of Tours) were forced to throw in the towel, due to lack of sponsorships.
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Opaque system
« Democracy has been preserved “, the boss of the 3F said in our columns on Friday. An opinion that is far from being shared. Euphemism. ” This is a sham election “, attests for his part the president of RC Lens Joseph Oughourlian, who has given up on standing for re-election to the CA. Just like Waldemar Kita (FC Nantes). ” We tried to protect people inside different campsbalance at Figaro Gervais Martel, bitterIt is an opaque system and above all an incontestable crime against democracy.. »
For weeks, everything has been there, pressures, phone calls, secret meetings, arrangements between friends… Logical and as old as the world for some during election time, detestable for others. In addition to the calamitous issue of TV rights which are (already) weighing down the finances of the clubs, for which Vincent Labrune believes that ” no one could have done better “In its place, criticisms emanate from the statutes of the mode of governance (voted by the club presidents and which will be modified after this sequence), the absence of dialogue with Canal +a historic partner of French football, or the lifestyle of the LFP (purchase of a building for €127 million, annual remuneration of €1.2 million for the president)… Confident, Labrune is already looking ahead to the future, while Linette promises to ” resolve the various crises “White smoke late Tuesday afternoon.
