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Resumption of L1: the letter that Jean-Michel Aulas wrote to the Minister of Sports

2020-05-28T16:14:47.285Z


The President of Lyon has written to Roxana Maracineanu to give the green light to the resumption of collective training and competi


He still heated his pen! Jean-Michel Aulas does not budge: it is necessary to resume the Championship of France, definitively stopped on April 30 by the Professional football league (LFP), with classification established and validated. OL are 7th. Wednesday evening, Aulas wrote to the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, to submit a recovery plan. We obtained this letter in full, of which AFP published an extract.

"Madam Minister, it would not be reasonable to continue to disadvantage football, which is the first popular sport in France, as in most countries of the world," declares the leader. We urge you that, as for the second round of the municipal elections, and under the cover and the control of the Scientific Committee, you can authorize from June 2 the resumption of collective training by group maximum of 11, in order to consider jointly with the LFP a clause of revoyure on June 15 which would make it possible to decide to resume (or not) the activity of the matches in camera around the beginning of July. "

He continues: "This provision would be essential to show the good faith of the government in the decision to stop the competition. Whether the government authorizes the leagues that wish to resume or not, which is the theme of your speech from the start, namely that it is the leagues that must decide in fine, and thus also respond to the LFP which claims that it is the State which has peremptorily stopped the championship, without the possibility for clubs involved in European competition to end the championship, for example by playoffs as suggested by UEFA and / or to prepare, by friendly matches which would take place during July, the finals of the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue, as well as the finals of the Champions League which concern, for both boys and girls, PSG and OL. This reasonable proposal seems to us to be decisive, and we would like it to be debated at the highest level of the State. "

The "central point of August 3"

At the start of his letter, he returned to the genesis of the L1 judgment, unjustified and based on a poor transmission of information to the government, according to him.

"You have always said it, Madam Minister, the LFP always indicated to you that it was necessary to obligatorily finish the championship before August 3 because of the cohabitation with the final phases of the Champions League and the Europa League, says Jean-Michel Aulas. However, on several occasions, UEFA has made it clear that we could go until the end of August, or even the beginning of September, and this argument of the deadline of August 3, not only cannot be held against you, but in more risk to put the LFP in difficulty vis-à-vis UEFA, because UEFA has always specified that the qualification rules for European Cups for 2020-2021 should take into account the specific situations of each league. This central point of August 3 might seem anecdotal, but it takes on its full dimension when we analyze more precisely who had an interest in stopping the French championship, when only 73% of the matches had taken place: it is as if we were stopping a 31st km marathon and that the prizes were awarded. Furthermore, I think that the distinction between amateur and professional sport takes on all the more importance as the resulting loss of chance will amount, for injured clubs, to hundreds of millions of euros. "

And to add: “You also said that the LFP could argue that Canal + had stopped its retransmissions definitively. The termination letter was issued on April 30 in the morning, even before the start of the meeting of the League office which was to take note of the unilateral decision (according to the LFP) to end the championship by the government. This coincidence could also suggest that there would have been coordination prior to the decision of the LFP, which will take place on April 30 afternoon and this is not trivial ... ”

“The health situation […] considerably changed”

Jean-Michel Aulas therefore sees in this judgment a collusion of interests. He asked for a about-face, especially since the situation had changed in a month, after the declaration by the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, announcing on April 28 the end of the seasons of professional sport.

"I must also tell you that if we had to, and it is certainly still valid, to continue broadcasting the championship, or the playoffs, as suggested by the title of UEFA sports merit (Editor's note: Mediapro had made service offers) , I imagine that in view of the enthusiasm developed today to broadcast the matches of the other major European championships, we would have had no difficulty in validating another broadcaster whose revenues would have come to mitigate the disaster economic looming for the 2019-2020 season, he argues. In addition, the health situation, between April 28 (date of the Prime Minister's speech) and your statements, referring to the date of August 3, has changed considerably. Today, the WHO, like the health committees of our European neighbors, shows not only that the pandemic is in very strong decline, but that it could disappear in certain regions. "

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“In the past month, not only have all of our European neighbors announced arrangements to manage the health crisis for top athletes, but some have put into practice the resumption of their championship behind closed doors and defined for the 'All of the major European countries, the executives of football activities, which would help, if we do not come back to this position, to accelerate the downgrading of France and of French clubs,' he insists.

"In the meantime, the French State is preparing to announce a number of flexibilities which have affected schools, public transport, horse racing, and which will concern shops, malls, places of worship tomorrow, markets, restaurants or the elections scheduled for June 28, "added the Lyon leader.

"A horrible misunderstanding"

Jean-Michel Aulas concludes his letter on financial and legal considerations. "Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the law under discussion and its unfairness, Madam Minister," he thunders. As much I imagine that the role of the State is to protect the Federations with regard to the decisions which have been taken by the Federations for amateur clubs. On the other hand, wanting to absolve the decisions that were made by the LFP on April 30, 2020 (at a time when we do not know if it was the LFP who gave you the date of August 3 which led to the stoppage of the championship ), seems to me to be fraught with consequences, and the financial stakes for those who have been either demoted or promoted or confirmed or not in their European qualification, are immense (several tens of millions of euros). Thus, putting on an identical level the stakes of amateur sport with others of several hundreds of millions of euros does not seem to me either fair or justified. I fear that this device is in its retroactivity an unjustified, even unconstitutional act. "

"I see that tonight (Wednesday) the national basketball league has just opted for the cancellation of the results of the 2019-2020 season, which shows the extreme fragility of the decision of the LFP while increasing the risk of conflict interests. I am at your disposal or at that of the Prime Minister's services to fix the most suitable outlines. "

“Thank you, Madam Minister, for listening and I am sure that my proposal will resolve a horrible misunderstanding that will cost the clubs hundreds of millions at first, and perhaps the state at second. "

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2020-05-28

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