Although rejected three days ago, the former sports director of Canal+ obtained on Monday the second sponsorship necessary to run against Vincent Labrune.
Cyril Linette, who was rejected three days ago, finally obtained on Monday the second sponsorship needed to run for president of the Professional Football League (LFP) against the incumbent Vincent Labrune on September 10, we learned from UAF president Alain Belsoeur.
Applicants had to collect two sponsorships: that of Foot Unis, the union of professional clubs, and of the UAF (Union of Football Actors), bringing together the different “families” (players’ unions, coaches, doctors, referees, administrative staff).
Also readLigue 1: “Vincent, hello my friend!”, the Nantes coach calls out to Labrune
Or Cyril Linette, former sports director of Canal+ and ex-General Director of L’Equipe and PMU, had been sponsored by Foot Unis but had not received the support of the UAF on Friday, leaving Vincent Labrune alone in the running for the election.
Speech by Amélie Oudéa-Castéra
Faced with the outcry caused by this decision, and in particular the intervention of the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, according to several sources close to the case, the UAF decided to review its copy and grant additional sponsorship to Cyril Linette.
This is in addition to the three personalities already endorsed on Friday: Vincent Labrune, Karl Olive, Renaissance MP for Yvelines, and Alain Guerrini, head of Panini. The latter has not received the approval of Foot Unis.
“We drew our attention to democracy and it is a value that is important to us. So, we sponsored a fourth candidate. The conditions that we had set (to bring back Cyril Linette, editor’s note) were also fully accepted, that is to say that the statutes of the League are duly modified after the elections so that the UAF has in the future an independent position on the Board of Directors.”UAF president Alain Belsoeur told AFP.
It is therefore a Labrune-Linette duel which is looming to compete for the head of the LFP during the General Assembly scheduled for September 10. Karl Olive, who will sit on the CA within the college of “independent” as a representative of the French Football Federation, has not indicated his intention to stand for election to the presidency.
Elected president of the League in 2020, Vincent Labrune has been heavily criticized since the upheavals of the allocation of Ligue 1 TV rights to DAZN and beIN Sports for 500 million euros per year, after the failure of the call for tenders launched last year and the aborted promise of reaching one billion euros.
To get French football out of the rut after the Covid-19 outbreak, Labrune also struck a highly controversial deal with CVC, a Luxembourg investment fund, which brought in €1.5 billion in exchange for around 13% of its lifetime commercial revenue.
