the LFP plans to relocate the Monaco-Lyon match to China
The Professional Football League (LFP) wants to relocate an L1 poster in China and a Monaco-Lyon target next February, a source told AFP with knowledge of the case, an operation which still remains subject to “designation” by the Fifa.
The LFP “has targeted, with the agreement of the two clubs, the Monaco-Lyon match” of the 23rd day of Ligue 1 scheduled for the weekend of 5-6 February 2022, said this source, confirming information from L ‘ Team.
For a year now, the League has made its international development one of the lifelines of French professional football, while its international TV rights remain very low compared to other major European championships. The body hopes to make the L1 the first European championship to relocate a regular season game abroad.
According to L’Équipe, the meeting could be relocated to Shanghai and OL president Jean-Michel Aulas discussed it last Saturday with Monegasque leader Oleg Petrov on the sidelines of the OL-ASM match (2-0). “This is an ambitious operation for the image of the L1 and its distribution”, enthuses Jean-Michel Aulas, quoted by the sports daily.
The project still remains subject to the agreement of Fifa, which was already opposed in the past to projects similar to the Spanish La Liga, which tried unsuccessfully to organize a Girona-Barcelona match in Miami, then a Villarreal meeting. Atlético Madrid.
In 2020, the FIFA Partners Commission had ruled by opposing official matches relocated to a foreign country (excluding Super Cups, such as the Champions Trophy in France), confirming the position of the international federation.
The LFP still hopes to “serve as a laboratory” and “will initiate official steps to obtain an exceptionally exemption”, nevertheless underlines the source consulted by AFP.