Covid-19: LFP asks French State for a meeting "in order to build an emergency support plan"

"The LFP asks for an emergency meeting with the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Recovery (Minister: Bruno Le Maire), and the Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports (Minister: Jean-Michel Blanquer) in order to build an emergency support plan," announced the French Professional Football League after a meeting of its board of directors on 09/02/2021.

The board of directors met "to take stock of the financial situation of professional football over the 2020-21 season following the agreement with Canal+ (04/02/2021) on audiovisual rights. In terms of overall TV rights revenue, the total is €759.1m, instead of the €1.307.1bn budgeted by the clubs for the 2020-21 fiscal year (i.e. a shortfall of €548m, which represents 41.9% of the initial expected total)," explained the LFP.

In the press release titled "The LFP requests 'an emergency support plan'", the League calls on the French State for support to help clubs overcome the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, and not, the league emphasises, to "compensate for the drop in TV rights and the failure of Mediapro".