Several European leagues are still hoping to return to action this summer. Ligue 1 is no longer one of them.
The Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 seasons came to an end on Tuesday after France prime minister Eduuard Philippe suspended sporting events from taking place until September as the nation continues to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. The leagues had been aiming to potentially resume their campaigns in the summer, but that is no longer an option.
“The 2019-20 season of professional sports, including football, will not be able to resume,” said Philippe. “It will be possible, on sunny days, to practice an individual sporting activity outdoors, obviously respecting the rules of social distancing.
“It will not be possible, neither to practice sport in covered places, nor team or contact sports.”
What that means for French soccer is unclear right now. France’s governing body for soccer has yet to decide whether it will abandon the seasons with no champions and promotion/relegation or whether it will base the final standings off the current tables.
When the campaigns came to a halt in March, Paris Saint-Germain was the Ligue 1 leader via a 12-point cushion over Marseille. Meanwhile, Nimes, Amiens, and Toulouse occupied the final three spots in the table.
In Ligue 2, Lorient and Lens were in the automatic promotion spots when the action was paused.
How the UEFA Champions League is effected is also unknown. UEFA wants to try and finish the current tournament, which left off in the Round of 16 phase, but both PSG and Lyon remain in the competition.
Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 are not the only campaigns to come to an end as a result of the coronavirus. The Dutch Eredivisie and Belgian Pro League announced their decisions to not resume play in recent weeks, though both leagues are reportedly considering reversing course amid growing legal action.
I realize people want to watch soccer, but for leagues like this, where it was already determined who won. Just move on and focus on getting ready for next season
I went to one of the midMarch MLS games and then spent the rest of the month waiting for the proverbial “14 days” to pass. In retrospect I don’t want to watch soccer that bad and since everyone should be doing that calculus — until it’s safer to go — I don’t see the point. And there seems to be a disconnect where when some leader in an “open NC” movement (or church pastor) later tests positive, gets sick, or even dies, the consequences are viewed more through schadenfraude or hypocrisy as opposed to “here are the public health consequences spelled out for you.” Cause-effect. I mean, Italian public health authorities only view a CL game and an Italian league game as breeding grounds for what followed……and there have been leagues like Japan’s baseball league which opened, tested positive some more, and closed back up, and while people seem to see economic necessity in that attempt, to me it’s wasting valuable resources when a Depression may mean you only get so many chances to fiscally open back up short of mass team bankruptcy and a restart from zero. But then at some point entrepeneurial risktaking concepts overrode true financial conservatism that considers risks.