Bill targeting financial disparities in French football causing tensions among Ligue 1 clubs

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As part of a wider bill, proposed and passed by the Senate last Tuesday, which seeks to reform French football, the Senate also wished to decrease the financial disparity when it comes to the distribution of TV rights money. This facet of the bill is the source of tension between the haves and have-nots in the French game, as L’Équipe report. 

Should the bill be voted through by the National Assembly, as it was by the Senate, the receipts earned by TV Rights would be split more equitably than they currently are. Paris Saint-Germain currently earn the most from TV rights, and whilst that would still remain the case, the bill proposes that the financial divide is significantly bridged by giving ‘smaller’ clubs, in Ligue 1, as well as in Ligue 2, more. 

Some of the larger clubs are unhappy with this proposed bill and have tried to lobby, through senators ‘friends’, to counter this new measure. There have been three proposed amendments to the original bill, all of which have been rejected. 

This change in TV rights distribution income is now the source of tension between the big clubs and smaller clubs in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, whilst the head of the FFF, Philippe Diallo, is also not spared from criticism from clubs. Some club presidents believe that it is Diallo, through his supposed proximity with some senators, who is behind the idea to more equally share TV rights income. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

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