“We're in the madhouse”: why Vincent Labrune will ultimately be without an opponent for the election to head the LFP ?

Labrune will be the only candidate for re-election. MAXPPP – Fred Dugit

The president of the Professional Football League Vincent Labrune, candidate for his own succession on September 10, will have no rival facing him, his main opponents having not obtained the necessary sponsorships to be a candidate, we learned Friday August 30 from a source close to the case.

Applicants had to collect two sponsorships: that of Foot Unis, the union of professional clubs, and that of the UAF (Union of Football Actors), bringing together the different “families” (players' unions, coaches, doctors, referees, administrative staff).

Following the candidate auditions conducted in recent days, Foot Unis has granted its sponsorships to Vincent Labrune, Gervais Martel, former president of Lens, Cyril Linette, former sports director of Canal + and former CEO of L'Équipe and PMU, and Karl Olive, Renaissance MP for Yvelines and appointed by the French Football Federation to represent it in the League.

The UAF has sponsored Vincent Labrune, Karl Olive and Alain Guerrini, the boss of Panini. This leaves only two personalities in the running for one of the three “independent” seats. on the LFP board of directors, from which the president of the body is generally elected: Vincent Labrune and Karl Olive.

The way is clear for Labrune

The latter not being a candidate for the presidency, the way is clear for Vincent Labrune, who arrived at the head of the League in 2020. Vincent Labrune has nevertheless been heavily criticized since the upheavals in the allocation of Ligue 1 TV rights to DAZN and beIN Sports for 500 million euros annually, after the failure of the call for tenders launched last year and the aborted promise to reach one billion euros.

To get French football out of the rut after the Covid-19 epidemic, Labrune also concluded a very controversial agreement with CVC, a Luxembourg investment fund, which provided 1.5 billion euros in exchange for around 13% of its lifetime commercial revenues.

“We will not let this sabotage between friends happen”

“By their decision, the “families” are depriving French football, in the midst of a crisis, of the necessary debate on its future, reacted on X Cyril Linette. They open the way to an election to the LFP without opposition, in contradiction with the vote of the club presidents yesterday. We will not let this sabotage between friends happen, which puts the interests of a small number above the general interest of French football."

"I am a little disgusted, declared Gervais Martel to L’Équipe. It's crazy stuff. It's as if during the election of the President of the Republic, there were fifteen candidates and for the first round it was decided that only two could run. Now we are in the madhouse. What does that mean? ? Where is democracy? ? I have no intention of letting this happen to me.