A few days after having recorded the relegation to Ligue 2 of OL as a precautionary measure, Jean-Marc Mickeler was alarming about the economic situation of French football in an interview with The Team. The president of the DNCG calls for an overhaul of the model.
French football in need of reinventing itself
OL demoted as a precautionary measure, clubs on edge throughout the summer and others who will be forced to sell with all their might this winter
without even mentioning the symbolic case of the Girondins de Bordeaux, new residents of National 2 since the start of the season. The economic situation of French football, weighed down among other things by falling TV rights, “ remains complicated ” according to Jean-Marc Mickelerpresident of the DNCG. “ Operating loss (from French clubs) is of the order of one billion euros, offset by very good sales with 830 million euros in capital gains on player transfers. Which generates a net loss of around 250 million euros (150 in L1, 100 in L2),” he explains to The Team.
However, this model based on the resale of players may not be viable over time. “ Those who think that they will be able to continue to balance their accounts by selling for more than 800 million players are wrongalerts the financial policeman. During the last transfer window, the number of sales decreased by 9% in Europe. And clubs are now turning to players under 19, cheaper, with resale potential, and with a view to containing the wage bill.. »
Salaries in the viewfinder
The question of salaries, while the income of French clubs, which will no longer receive an exceptional dividend from CVC over the next three seasons, will go down another notch, is also the main fight led by the DNCG with the aim of economically perpetuating French football. “ Despite successive crises (Mediapro, Covid), French clubs have never worked on the payrollregrets Mickeler. When the Mediapro deal was announced, in 2018 (for the period 2020-2024)the clubs increased their payroll by 400 million euros. When we look at all the clubs monitored by UEFA, there is a payroll/revenue ratio of 53%. In France, it is 67%. The big operating imbalance in French football is due to this peak of 400 million. »
The economic model as it existed is dead
Jean-Marc Mickeler, president of the DNCG, on the economic situation of French football
Enough to encourage Jean-Marc Mickeler to argue that “ we reach the end of a model » and that “ the economic model as it existed is dead », taking as an example the course of Brest with “ money (which) is not everything ». « This model is not exclusively French. We too often forget that there are more clubs losing in the Premier League, Serie A or even La Liga than in Ligue 1… At the DNCG, we think in any case that the absolute priority for our clubs here next May is to reduce payroll », Supports the president of the financial control body.
In short, the DNCG says “ preoccupied » by potential bankruptcies of French clubs et « shares this concern with the managers and shareholders of clubs”. Also, the financial policeman, after condemning Bordeaux, proved with “ the warning » against OL which he did not take « no exceptional decision » according to the status and history of the clubs.
Photo credits: Johnny Fidelin/Icon Sport
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