Football Ligue 1 – Monaco-OL in China, the Protestant Greens
In order to promote Ligue 1 internationally, the LFP would like to relocate the shock of the 23rd day between Monaco and OL in China.
According to the revelations of L’Equipe, the two clubs have agreed that their match of the 23rd day, the weekend of February 4 to 6, be relocated to Asia. The objective of the approach for the Professional Football League is of course to develop the image of Ligue 1 internationally, while the TV rights of the French championship abroad are being ridiculed. The president of OL, whose club has Chinese shareholders, Jean-Michel Aulas, spoke in favor of this unprecedented operation.
With the agreement of the two clubs, the LFP wishes to relocate the Monaco-Lyon match to Shanghai in early February.
FIFA’s consent must be requested. https://t.co/Fb0NyuNCKM pic.twitter.com/Txf02vdNnU
– THE TEAM (@the team) October 21, 2021
“The League, with its president Vincent Labrune, is at the origin of this project. I invited Oleg (Petrov, vice-president of Monaco) to dinner on Saturday night for the match (OL-ASM, 2-0). We talked about it at length. Monaco agrees, and I gave an agreement in principle on condition that the logistics follow because it still makes a big trip. But indeed, Monaco and we agree to relocate the match for the month of February. This is an ambitious operation for the image of the L1 and its distribution ” warned Jean-Michel Aulas, fully for this seduction operation in China from the French championship.
You say to yourself “I think the world of sport has understood, it is mature to start its ecological transition”, you believe it, naively … When suddenly … 🤦♂️🤬 https://t.co/zFJMfG3Zco
– Michaël Ferrisi (@MichaelFerrisi) October 21, 2021
Still, this unprecedented trip raises a number of questions. The recovery of players, the broadcast of the match or the movement of supporters can pose a problem. On social networks, some environmental activists go further and raise the question of the pollution that the displacement of the Lyon and Monegasque delegations will cause. Patron of the Ecolosport media, Michaël Ferrisi is outraged by this idea of the LFP and the clubs concerned. “You say to yourself” I think the world of sport has understood, it is mature to start its ecological transition “, you believe it, naively … When suddenly …” railed the environmental activist, annoyed, on Twitter.
Other similar reactions have been posted on social media, proof that the idea of relocating a Ligue 1 match to China does not appeal to everyone. “When you see the Euro, when you hear that Infantino wants several countries for the CDM, when you see that there are international truces every month and that the Sud Am come back every time You can only tell yourself, that they did not understand anything! “ another user posts, followed by several followers in this theory. “Hello @JeanMichelAulas? OL still want to become the first club to win an @ FairPlay4Planet label? Will the first Olympic be that of resilience @OM_Officiel? @OL? For once, can we federate for #TeamPlanet ” can we also read.
The relocation of Monaco-OL far from being validated
Anyway, this project to relocate a Ligue 1 match in China has not yet been ratified. And for good reason, it is necessary that FIFA gives its agreement for such an upheaval of the calendar to take place. And the least we can say is that it is not a formality. Because in the past, the Spanish Liga has already failed to convince the world football body. In October 2019, President Javier Tebas wanted to relocate Villarreal-Atlético from Madrid to Miami in the United States before a Madrid judge ruled in favor of the Spanish Federation, which firmly opposed this relocation. The previous season, it was Girona-Barça that La Liga wanted to play in the USA but again, the procedure had not been validated. Suffice to say that for the LFP, OL and ASM, nothing has yet been acted on.