To reform professional football in crisis, the LFP will disappear and make way for "a society of clubs"

"We're going to move from a league that was an association under the 1901 law to a commercial company in which the clubs will be shareholders," the president of the French Football Federation (FFF) explained on Monday, summarizing the work resulting from the general assembly of professional football that he initiated in March. "And tomorrow, there will no longer be an elected president of the league, but rather professionals appointed and paid to run this future commercial company."

"This means that the corporate purpose of LFP Media, which you know today, which consists solely of promoting products, is extended to the material organization of the championship," he further explained.

"It's a breakthrough project," Philippe Diallo finally explained, "because I want the Federation to play a significant role in it."

In this takeover of the Professional Football League by the Federation, which operates under a delegation of powers, a certain number of powers currently exercised by the LFP would be transferred to the Federation, such as the DNCG, the financial watchdog of professional football, or the disciplinary committee.

Philippe Diallo's plan, if implemented, also provides for giving the Federation a right of veto on matters of general interest, such as changes in the format of competitions and the number of promotions and relegations between divisions, for example.

This reform, which would be inspired by the English model, would bury the League as it exists today. Vincent Labrune, its president re-elected last September until 2028, has nevertheless expressed himself as "very favorable to a move towards a model close to that of the Premier League, which has largely demonstrated its effectiveness."

"French professional football has everything to gain from drawing inspiration from this. It's a direction I've long advocated, and I'm delighted that it's now at the heart of discussions. This model must be based on a commercial company in which clubs are shareholders alongside the Federation in order to strengthen governance and increase the attractiveness of our competitions," Labrune said.

Still a long way to go

However, there is still a long way to go before the revolution desired by the president of the "3F" becomes a reality. Philippe Diallo must move "to the legislative level" to implement such a reform and wants to use the Senate's examination on June 10 of a bill by Michel Savin (LR) and Laurent Lafon (UDI) on the governance of professional sport.

The proposed law, which has been strongly criticized by the various professional leagues, offers federations the possibility of withdrawing the "sub-delegation of public service" that they exercise in the event of "failure to protect the general interest of the discipline."

Depending on the legislative calendar and the back-and-forth between the two chambers, combined with the current parliamentary uncertainty, the creation of this "French Premier League" could not see the light of day for several months, or even a few years, "at best for the 2026-2027 season," according to Diallo.

Degraded image, drastic reduction in TV rights, uncertainty regarding the broadcasting of Ligue 1 next season, piracy, club deficit estimated between 1.2 and 1.3 billion by the DNCG: there is nevertheless an urgent need to act for the professional sector.

Philippe Diallo welcomed the arrival of Nicolas de Tavernost, the former head of M6, at the helm of LFP Media last month.

"I've had a lot of discussions with him, and he must, by the end of May, come back with a certain number of recommendations, the relationship with DAZN (main broadcaster of Ligue 1, editor's note) ending, on how the championships will be broadcast from August 2025. This is a point of attention in the short term and obviously essential."

Diallo also wants to enable clubs to return to "a balanced trajectory" when they have to present their forecast budgets for next season to the DNCG at the beginning of June.

"For example, through staff limitation measures, a cap on the payroll, and a more careful look at multi-ownership issues," he lists.

Finally, Diallo will invite the clubs to open negotiations on a different distribution of audiovisual rights, to ensure that "those who have nothing have something."