Rarely have events so legitimized the existence of a senatorial commission of inquiry. That on the financialization of football, whose vitriolic 130-page report was revealed on Wednesday, will have accompanied the episode (still in progress) of the allocation of TV rights to Ligue 1 and the re-election of Vincent Labrune to the presidency of the Professional Football League. If he had wanted to aggravate his case with senators Laurent Lafon (UDI) and Michel Savin (LR), French football would not have done it any other way. “Mistakes were made and no lessons were learned,” regrets the first. They continue, and we see it with the attribution of the last audiovisual rights. These errors place clubs in a very delicate position. »
In the background, the senators raise the question of these chronic dysfunctions and call into question the professionalism of the college of professional football players, a concern nourished throughout the six months of mission which resulted in around sixty hearings, a control in the premises of the Professional Football League (LFP) and the discovery of a world where the rules of the game can be easily circumvented.
Vincent Labrune and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi take their rank
The work is such that Michel Savin proposes 35 recommendations to frame the LFP and its governance. One of them concerns the remuneration of sports league managers, with a recommended capping of 450,000 euros modeled on the compensation governed by the law on public companies. The amount corresponds to half of Vincent Labrune’s post-re-election salary, the two senators having once again tackled a facade reduction since the salary of the former president of OM corresponds to “double that which he had when “he was elected the first time” at the head of the LFP.
The commission also tackles conflicts of interest in the management of French football affairs and is also surprised by the numerous chairs occupied by Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, without expressly mentioning him. “It is not normal, as is the case today, that a member of the board of directors of a league can manage an audiovisual broadcasting company applying for the right. » The senators also regret that the president of PSG could not be heard, the latter having postponed several times a hearing which ultimately never took place.
The president of Le Havre hopes for rapid implementation
Finally, one of the commission’s notable proposals concerns solidarity via a fair redistribution of resources from commercial companies between the different French clubs in order to ensure the sustainability of the championship. The senators therefore recommend the setting of a “maximum distribution ratio of 1 to 3 of income between professional clubs”, an announcement which is welcomed by smaller clubs like Le Havre. The HAC recalls in a press release that this was “a measure to which all professional clubs had subscribed in 2016, to avoid a two-speed championship. » However, to date and according to the work of the senators, the current ratio would be “1 to 4.5”.
Le Havre’s president, Jean-Michel Roussier, is among the few outspoken opponents of Vincent Labrune, and hopes for rapid implementation of this agenda. “There is an emergency. Only the entry into force of these measures will make it possible to avoid the bankruptcy of the century. The sporting bankruptcy of our professional clubs, which need more fairness; the moral bankruptcy of our sector, which must accept the rules of transparency and ethics that govern our society. »
