Last Tuesday, the “The Football we love” list, led by the outgoing president, Philippe Diallo, was campaigning near Astragale, headquarters of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté football league.
Seven members of this list were in Dijon. And among them certainly the best known: Jean-Michel Aulas, former president of OL, now at the head of the new Women's Professional Football League (LFFP). A logical continuation for the one who had set the Rhone club on the path to feminization in 2004.
10% of licensees
“In France, we have 52% women and we have 10% female football players. This means that more than 50% of France is set apart. I won't hide from you that this is why I committed myself to Lyon in a very precise way for years and now to the Federation,” breathes the 75-year-old businessman, Philippe Diallo's list having announced want to double the number of graduates over the next four years (250,000 today). “There is awareness and credibility to be done and this happens through the elite. »
Foreign investors on the lookout
Hence the creation since this season of this professional league after observing what was being done in the United States, in England… “We therefore developed an ecosystem based on the principle that competitiveness was needed. We have put in place a licensing system which requires all clubs to have pitches, supervision, medical services, coaches, etc.,” notes Jean-Michel Aulas.
“Dijon is one of the clubs that respects the game,” he adds, appreciating seeing the DFCO evolve at Gaston-Gérard. “When the matches are broadcast, it gives more effect,” adds the president of the “L2FP”, the First League having signed a contract with Canal + until 2029.
“We have a spectacular increase in people watching matches and going to stadiums. This is also due to the arrival of popular clubs like Strasbourg and Nantes,” says Jean-Michel Aulas.
Despite this, the DFCO, with around 50 subscribers, is struggling to attract a large audience to the stadium, but also specific partners in women's football. A file of which the French leader is aware. “I had to deal with several cases: Orléans, Bordeaux. At the moment, there is the case of Dijon which is playing the game. I had the current president (Pierre-Henri Deballon) my friend Olivier Delcourt too. The solution is to open the clubs to allow outside investors to come and lend a hand. And that’s good because we have a lot of English and American investors who are interested in women’s football,” explains Jean-Michel Aulas. For example, OL was purchased at 52.9% by the American Michele Kang through YMK Holdings, in May 2023.
“There are three types of investors: French investors who only want to deal with women's football. English investors: generally, these are funds. And American investors. And there, it can be funds, but also individuals and in particular very well-known people,” he specifies. And to add: “I will not hide from you that the cities which interest them in particular are either Paris, or Lyon which was the case, or wine cities because everyone knows Burgundy abroad, champagne, burgundy… » A path to explore for the women's section of the DFCO?
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