Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas demands restart to cancelled Ligue 1 season

Published on: 28 May 2020

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has reacted with fury to news that the English Premier League is set to restart next month after the Ligue 1 season was cancelled.

The Premier League has agreed to restart the season on Wednesday June 17 following the Covid-19 shutdown with Manchester City vs Arsenal and Aston Villa vs Sheffield United lined up as the first fixtures back.

But the French authorities took the decision to cancel Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 - their top two divisions - back in April with 10 rounds of fixtures still to play.

Paris Saint-Germain were declared champions as the final table was decided on a points-per-game formula, with Amiens and Toulouse relegated.

Lyon ended up in seventh position, outside the European places, and Aulas is taking legal action against the decision to curtail the season prematurely.

It came after he wrote to French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu to argue cancelling the season would have catastrophic financial consequences.

Having heard the Premier League news, Aulas took to Twitter to make his feelings known and tagged his club Lyon, the Prime Minister and the Sports Minister.

He wrote: 'The Premier League will therefore restart on June 7 [actually June 17]. @OL @Matigon @RoxaMaracineanu Madame Minister allow us to resume training from June 2 and then play behind closed doors from July, 15 days after the English and all the others.'

Lyon have joined with Amiens and Toulouse in their legal bid to overturn the early finish to the season.

A Paris administrative court deferred the case to the Council of State, the highest administrative court in France, to issue a ruling on the matter.

Aulas argues that other leading leagues across Europe, such as the Premier League and Germany's Bundesliga, have already restarted or are planning to.

And with lockdown restrictions in France set to be eased on June 2, Aulas wants the government and the football authorities to 'rectify their error.'

He has claimed that French clubs could lose '700 to 900million euros' as a result of the curtailment.

He wrote: 'June 2 will allow the organisation of the relaxation of lockdown, to bring into line the decision relating to collective worship, horse racing or even the next municipal elections.

'Many developments and hopes are expected on this date for France to finally regain a positive dynamic.

'Could we imagine that June 2 is also a great opportunity to rectify the error concerning French football and allow, with a health protocol used everywhere, to give the starting point for a gradual resumption of training and, why not, a resumption of the 2019-20 league season in the months of July or August?'

Lyon finished seventh in the final standings, calculated on a points-per-game system and so missed out on qualification for the Champions League and Europe League.

PSG and Marseille, the top two, qualified for next season's Champions League group stage, while third-placed Rennes will start in the Champions League third qualifying round.

Lille, who finished fourth, have been handed qualification for the Europa League group stage.

However, Lyon can still reach next season's Champions League by winning this season's competition. They lead Juventus 1-0 following the first leg of their last-16 tie.

Source: m.allfootballapp.com

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
Learn more