Following challenges encountered by most Ligue 1 clubs- financial problems due to the adverse effect of a deadly virus which has turned the world upside down- Olympique Marseille President Jacques-Henri Eyraud has called for a reform in the French topflight.
Recall that Paris-born business tycoon has some stumbling blocks in managing his club smoothly as fans of the club got fumed with the OL chief on some decisions he took on the club- forcing club manager Andre Villa Boas to tender his resignation letter due to some strict sport policies.
“I do think playing in a 20-club league is no longer sustainable. A lot of reforms need to be talked about.” Jacques-Henri Eyraud said
The Frenchman has berated the unpalatable situation in France, concluding that the topflight league would not able to survive, he proffered a way out. He said the twenty teams playing in the league are ‘too much’, calling for a downsize of the league.
“I think there is a growing feeling, maybe not in the UK from what I heard, but certainly in France and maybe in other parts of Europe that nowadays having a league with 20 clubs is probably too much,” said the OM chief said
Across Europe, the German Bundesliga is the only league parading eighteen clubs among other leagues
“We run on a business model that is widely dependent on transfers and player trading. Around 17 out of 20 clubs in Ligue 1 do turn a loss and a pretty significant one prior to generating income from transfers” he said
Eyraud, who is a representative in the UEFA, the overpopulation of the clubs in the league and the calendar has compounded a major setback.
“We at Olympique Marseille have been playing a game every three days for the last four months and that is going to continue to be the case in February and March,” Eyraud explained
Though, uncertain about the long-run results of some reforms he proposed, but they are needed to be tabled.
“There are a lot of reforms to be discussed, this is certainly in the pipeline, I don’t know the outcome of it but we are certainly part of these discussions and that is why I think there will be a pre and post-Covid world when it comes to Ligue 1 for sure and probably other leagues in Europe.”
Marseille is placed seventh on the Ligue 1 table- eighteen points behind league leaders, Lille- after they fell before OGC Nice, 3-2 it went. They face Nantes next Saturday.
