MANCHESTER (FRANCE) – The French league has to be reduced in size as part of the post-coronavirus recovery of the sport, said the president of Olympique de Marseille.
Twenty-team leagues were no more feasible, said Jacques-Henri Eyraud, who is also a member of the French League (LFP) board.
“I think we need to think about our governance and that includes format. I think there is a growing feeling, maybe not in the UK from what I heard, but certainly in France and maybe in other parts of Europe that nowadays having a league with 20 clubs is probably too much,” he said on Wednesday.
Ligue 1 features 20 clubs just like the Premier League, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga. On the other hand, Germany’s Bundesliga has 18 teams.
Eyraud, who is part of UEFA’s Club Competitions Committee, said that fixture congestion is part of the problem.
“We at Olympique Marseille have been playing a game every three days for the last four months and that is going to continue to be the case in February and March,” he said.
“I think it is harmful to the players, it is not good for the organisation and I don’t think it is good for the fans and this is certainly something that we should be thinking about very seriously because right now I do believe that playing in a 20 club league is no longer sustainable,” he added.