PSG's dominance is hurting Ligue 1

Soccer dynasties aren’t uncommon in France. Since the French league turned professional in 1932 Saint-Étienne, Marseille, Olympique Lyonnais and most recently Paris Saint-Germain have had the honor of ruling the roost for a significant period of time.

Saint-Étienne were the first club to stamp their authority, winning the league four times in a row starting in the 1966-67 season and then claiming a hat trick of titles by finishing first in ’73-74, ’74-75 and ’75-76.

Marseille were the next team to assert their dominance, winning four titles on the trot beginning in the 1988-89 season. It could have been an even greater streak had l’OM not been caught up in a match-fixing scandal that rocked French football.

Olympique Lyonnais then took up the baton, winning an incredible seven Ligue 1 crowns from 2001-02 to 2007-08. The finances of Les Gones during that period was greater than any of their rivals, and an incredible names like Juninho Pernambucano, Karim Benzema, Grégory Coupet and Michael Essien where among the team’s illustrious stars.

Now it’s Paris Saint-Germain’s turn to sit on top of the perch. The Parisian club, formed in 1970, have won the past three Ligue 1 titles and completed the domestic treble last season. But their dominance feels different. There’s a dangerous sense of permanence to PSG’s current dynasty.

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A cursory look at the Ligue 1 table tells its own story. Laurent Blanc’s side has won 18 games, drawn three and hasn’t tasted defeat once. They sit on 57 points, a full 21 points ahead of nearest rivals, Monaco. They have scored 51 goals and conceded just nine. The next best attacking side in Ligue 1 is Nice, who’ve netted 35 times, whilst surprise package Angers possess the second meanest defense, giving up just 13 goals.

Such is the dominance of PSG that the real stories this season in France’s top flight are the rise of Angers, promoted from Ligue 2 last season, the renaissance of Hatem Ben Arfa and the struggles of Olympique Lyonnais. There’s the possibility that next season could see a female head coach in Corinne Diacre pitting her wits in Ligue 1, should Clermont Foot gain promotion this season.

Paris Saint-Germain could go the entire league season unbeaten, win another domestic treble and still have those achievements met with a Gallic shrug. And so it should for a side whose transfer budget dwarfs their rivals by a ridiculous degree.

Just last summer PSG had a net spend of €98.7 million. In fact the total net spend of PSG since it was completely taken over by Qatar Sports Investments in 2012 comes to €400.6 million.

Compare PSG’s summer spend to that of last season’s runner-up, Olympique Lyonnais. Les Gones made a net profit of €3.4 million in the summer and have just sold striker Claudio Beauvue in the January window for €5 million, boosting the total to €8.4 million. Marseille made even more, turning a profit of €35.3 million whilst Monaco made a whopping €83.9 million selling key defender Layvin Kurzawa to PSG in the process.

The so-called pretenders cannot hope to cope with PSG’s financial muscle unless one of them lucks out and is taken over by super-rich owner or investment group.

In fairness it’s not the fault of Paris Saint-Germain that their competitors have differing goals and outlooks.

Monaco’s brush with big spending came to a crashing halt after their owner, Dmitry Rybolovlev, had to focus his attentions on a long running divorce case. Even with that settled, Monaco haven’t gone back to their bank breaking habits.

Lyon had to keep their belts tight in order to finance the construction of their newly opened stadium, the Stade des Lumières. This circumstance made Les Gones turn to their youth academy to supply players for the first team.

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It would also be churlish to say that Ligue 1’s profile hasn’t been raised because of Paris Saint-Germain. With the club bringing in the likes of Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani, Ángel Di María and, of course, Zlatan Ibrahimović, PSG have managed to add stardust to a league that otherwise would be unable to attract top talent.

However, the others can’t catch up. That’s to PSG’s detriment too. If the Parisian club are looking to make inroads in Europe and become one of the continent’s elite they need the competition to be tougher. It’s in their interest for Ligue 1 to become more competitive.

From a general point of view, French sides need to up their performance in Europe. This season, Lyon crashed out of the Champions League, Monaco couldn’t even reach the group stages of the competition and have been knocked out of the Europa League. PSG are joined by only Saint-Étienne and Marseille in flying the flag for France, and the latter two are in Europe’s secondary cup competition. If Ligue 1 slips further down the slippery coefficient slope, it will lose crucial Champions League spots to other leagues. The knock-on effect being that playing in Ligue 1 would be a less attractive prospect for ambitious players.

There could be some limited respite. Come the start of the 2016 season, a new television deal will kick-in lasting till 2020. Canal+ and beIN Sport bought the rights to televise Ligue 1 games for a record sum of €726.5 million, a full €119.5 more than the current deal. The new deal is worth more than the rights for the Bundesliga and on par with La Liga. That coupled with teams such as Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux and Nice playing in new stadiums means new commercial opportunities potentially available to exploit. If Euro 2016 is a success, that could be a catalyst to increase interest in Ligue 1 domestically, and perhaps internationally.

However, the new television deal, stadiums, the warm afterglow of a successful Euro 2016 are only nominal solutions. PSG struck the jackpot when they were taken over by Qatar Sports Investments, who took the club into the next stratosphere. However, Ligue 1 was ill-prepared for such a vast injection of financial muscle, with the other clubs and the organization itself unable to react quickly to the ever-growing behemoth that is Paris Saint-Germain.

Unless the league and clubs can somehow manage to boost revenues, Ligue 1 could be in danger of becoming as uncompetitive as the Scottish Premiership, with PSG hoovering up the best talent and leaving the rest with the dual problem of fighting for scraps while trying to retain their current stars.

Last season’s title race looks to be an outlier, and it will take something special from another team or a spectacular collapse from the Parisians to change the Ligue 1 landscape. PSG’s dominance is damaging Ligue 1, however, the solution to making the league more competitive remains elusive.