Saturday marks the beginning of the 2011-2012 French Ligue 1 season and this year it will be more exciting than ever. For a number of years French football has been catching up on its more reputable rivals in Europe and there are a number of reasons why this campaign really could be the turning point that sees the league evolve into being one of Europe’s most important competitions.
It has been impossible to miss Paris Saint-Germain’s presence in this summer’s transfer window since the takeover of the club by Qatar Sports Investments and their objective of becoming France’s biggest club is well underway. With former player and transfer guru Leonardo on board, PSG have set about changing the face of French football and so far they are doing a pretty good job. Breaking the French transfer record to sign Javier Pastore for 43 million and replacing a number of ageing players with a mix of hungry young French internationals and experienced squad players, the club have undergone some major cosmetic surgery over the last few weeks but these swift changes have long been needed in the capital.
Over the past decade or so since the golden era of the mid ‘90’s les Parisiens have been slowly stagnating as a force in French football. Reduced to a mid-table outfit that was flirting with relegation, Antoine Kombouaré and former club President Robin Leproux helped pull the club from the mire with last season’s impressive fourth placed finish despite having a small squad. However to truly complete the turnaround, massive investment was needed and that was not forthcoming under previous owners Colony Capital. Now with a big pot of cash to play with the club are raising the profile of the league by bringing in a number of big name players. The Javier Pastore deal shows that with the ambition shown by PSG, the French league can now compete with the likes of Serie A and the English Premier League and win.
The signings of exciting players such as Pastore, Kévin Gameiro, Jérémy Ménez and Blaise Matuidi ensures that European football fans will be enticed by the prospect of watching PSG play this season. The squad, now a mix of internationals and exciting young players, of which the French ones have strong links to the club from their childhoods, means le Rouge-et-Bleu will finally re-enter the title race after a long absence.
Whilst Qatari money is generally frowned upon in Europe, it has been welcomed with open arms in France with the club’s rival chairmen welcoming the boost to the league’s profile that QSI will bring. Lille chairman Michel Seydoux, Lyon supremo Jean-Michel Aulas and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger have all stated their happiness at PSG’s re-birth and bitter rivals Marseille have even acknowledged the positive contributions that the changes will have on French football, albeit with one eye on how it will further ignite their fierce rivalry.
“They’ve had a huge summer of recruitment, and that’s really good for the league” said goalkeeper Steve Mandanda. OM’s Sporting Director José Anigo then added: “You can’t build a great team simply by spending millions to get big names and that’s perhaps where PSG’s weakness will be. We’ll do our best to exploit it.”
The capital club aside, Ligue 1 has been evolving steadily over the last few years and this season it stands on the brink of being able to compete with the bigger European leagues. PSG’s situation obviously helps but the competition in recent years has thrown up some great teams and French sides still enjoy good showings in European competitions. Ligue 1 in recent seasons has boasted strong teams from Lyon, Bordeaux and Lille and although they have not generally stuck together for too long, they have provided some great memories for French football fans. Lyon have had some memorable nights in Europe, as have Lille and Monaco although the latter will now toil in Ligue 2 next year, whilst Bordeaux enjoyed incredible success in 2008-2009 winning the double and earning a foray into the Champions League under Laurent Blanc’s expert debut guidance.
Blanc now finds himself as manager of Les Bleus, tasked with the challenge of harnessing the great developing talent in France and forming a national side capable of challenging for next year’s European Championships in Ukraine and Poland, the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and setting the foundations of a team capable of restoring national pride when the Euros come to French shores in 2016. France currently has an outstanding crop of youngsters coming through which is unsurprising given that Ligue 1 has the best reputation for bringing through young talent and giving them the opportunity to play regular football.
Statistics from 2009-2010 showed that France remains Europe’s top producer of footballers with Rennes being the best example. The research found that French sides have the healthiest youth academies in Europe and are behind only Brazil and Argentina in terms of player exports. Blanc has now urged his best young talents to stay in France ahead of the 2012 Euros and it is a message that has been heeded by a number of players. Yann M’Vila of Rennes spurned opportunities abroad to stay with Rennes and Kévin Gameiro even credited part of his motives behind a move to PSG to Blanc’s speech.
“I took into account Laurent Blanc’s words, who advised young players to spend another season at a big French club before going abroad. It is important to me as my objective is to participate at Euro 2012. I must prove I can become a regular in the starting XI” he said upon his move to Parc des Princes before the QSI takeover.
With the Euros in 2016 comes investment in new stadiums which a lot of clubs are looking to benefit from and addressing this issue will also make the domestic game more popular. Many French fans biggest gripes are regarding the stadiums and how awkward and uncomfortable they are to watch matches in. With measures in place to develop the game’s infrastructure domestically and a coach in charge of the national team willing to take a risk on young talent, Ligue 1 is an exciting place to be right now.
But that is another thing that people unfamiliar with French football claim; that the football is boring and that there are only a handful of sides worth watching in the league. This is complete rubbish. Since Lyon’s domestic hegemony of seven consecutive titles ended three years ago there have been three different champions. Last week’s Trophée des Champions is another fine example of how exciting French football can be with the match between Lille and Marseille ending 4-5 with five goals being scored in the last ten minutes. Granted, it won’t be a regular occurrence but it goes to show that Ligue 1 can compete with the Bundesliga, Premier League and La Liga in terms of entertainment.
Last season’s campaign is further proof that French football is very under-appreciated and anything but dull and predictable. The title race was decided in the penultimate week when Marseille finally surrendered to Lille’s unrelenting march and the last day of the season when seven sides were battling it out to avoid relegation. This storyline made the last day of the season a tense and frantic affair with teams swapping positions at different points of the games and sides getting sucked in and then dragging themselves out of the last relegation place.
In addition to this, a lot is made of Ligue 1’s style of play being too defensive and tedious just because stats show that there are a low amount of goals in an average match. This again is not an accurate reflection. The league enjoys a mixture of styles with players from France, Africa, South America and other European nations coming together to form an exciting, vibrant brand of football. This variety of talent helps throw up great stories like last season’s heroic efforts from Sochaux to finish fifth and Brest’s brave struggle against relegation which they ultimately succeeded in avoiding, having led the league for a number of weeks earlier in the season.
Although PSG will undoubtedly attract most people’s attention to Ligue 1 this year, hopefully that interest will then expose those viewers to the other interesting teams in the league and demonstrate just how far the league has come in the past few years and how close it is to being on an even footing with other European league in terms of entertainment and being a marketable product. Obviously the competition has a long way to go before it can become as profitable as the Premier League, Bundesliga or La Liga but this season will be a giant step towards realizing that aim. I hope that some of you will share it with us.
Jonathan also writes the ‘Le Gossip’ column for skysports.com and is a member of the French Football Weekly team where he co-hosts the podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @Jon_LeGossip and can find his work on French football at French Football Weekly.
