Having participated in the Premier League International Cup since last season, OL will not be playing in the Espoirs League launched at the beginning of October.
Considering that young professionals have less and less playing time, between the longer benches and Ligue 1 days on Sunday compared to Saturday for the reserves, the LFP and the FFF have launched, as revealed by The teama brand new competition. The Espoirs League, as it is called, will be launched at the beginning of October.
Everything is not yet completely finalized, but the principle is that the teams involved will play six matches, plus the semi-finals and the final. For the format, these will be 1h30 matches without extra time, with a direct penalty shootout in the event of a tie. These matches will be used to give maximum time to the young players from the professional and reserve groups. The confrontations would take place on Monday at 2:30 p.m.
PSG, OM, Saint-Étienne and Nice will all be taking part.
Sixteen teams are strongly expected to participate: Toulouse, Monaco, Saint-Étienne, Nantes, Montpellier, Strasbourg, PSG, Paris FC, Ajaccio, Auxerre, Nice, Bordeaux, Rennes, Caen, Le Havre and OM. Clubs from the first and second tier of France, but not OL.
The reason for this absence is simple. Since last season, Olympique Lyonnais has been involved in the Premier League International Cup, a friendly tournament pitting it against English competitors, but also other U21 or U23 teams from European countries (Netherlands, France, Spain, Scotland and Portugal). With the PLIC already to play, to which must be added the National 3 championship, Gueida’s group Breathing already has a lot to do, especially since he has proven that he can perform at the level in these two events.
OL were up to the task in both competitions
Let us recall that the Gones finished sixth in N3 during the 2023-2024 season, after their relegation last year. They also came close to qualifying for the quarter-finals of the PLIC, being beaten only on goal difference by Chelsea. Their record was then two wins, one draw and one defeat in the classification phase.
