Ligue 1 season 'over' for FFF chief Le Graet

Paris (AFP) – French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet said on Tuesday he thinks the Ligue 1 season is over due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had announced the competition could not resume until September.

France’s sports ministry told AFP after Philippe’s speech that sports fixtures could not take place even behind closed doors before the end of July, leaving open the possibility that some matches could still be played in August.

“We informed the executive board, what it already knew, that Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will not start, that the National (third tier) will not start or the Women’s D1 either,” Le Graet told Brittanny-based newspaper Le Telegramme.

“These four competitions are definitively over for the 2019-2020 season,” he added.

The French league (LFP), which runs the top flight and the second tier, which have been on hold due to the COVID-19 outbreak since mid-March, are meeting on Thursday to draw its conclusions from the government’s announcement.

The FFF said later they had asked the LFP to finish the two league seasons.

Le Graet said two sides instead of three will be promoted from Ligue 2 with the same amount of clubs going in the opposite direction.