Ligue 1 shutdown: "We give the stick with which to be beaten" (Gérard Lopez, LOSC Lille)

"What is most disturbing about this decision to stop Ligue 1 is that we keep saying that French football must catch up with the other four countries (England, Spain, Germany, Italy) from a commercial and sporting point of view, and yet here we give the stick with which to be beaten. At a time when the others took the time to decide, the (French) government went there (shutdown) and even if it had obviously its reasons, it will slow us down even more compared to other championships," says Gérard Lopez, president of LOSC Lille (Ligue 1 Conforama), during a telephone exchange with the media organized by Premiere Ligue, one of the two unions (with the UCPF) of presidents of French professional football clubs, of which the Lille club is a member, on Monday 01/06/2020.

"With knowledge taken of the decisions and declarations of the Prime Minister (Édouard Philippe, during the announcement of the post-lockdown plan on 28/04/2020) and from the government, the LFP board of directors states the end of the 2019-20 season," announced the French League on 30/04/2020. For its part, the Bundesliga…