LFP: "A particularly opaque and closed election" (Cyril Linette, candidate for the presidency)

"French professional football is in crisis" and in particular in a "democratic crisis with a particularly opaque and closed election to the presidency of the Ligue de Football Professionnel, as if the results and plans of the team in place couldn't even be debated," said Cyril Linette, candidate to become president of the LFP, in an article entitled "Club presidents, mobilise yourselves!" published in the French weekly La Tribune Dimanche on 01/09/2024.

The former CEO of L'Équipe (from 2015 to 2018) and PMU (from 2018 to 2021) should be able to officially stand as a candidate to succeed Vincent Labrune, the current president of the LFP. To do so, the dual sponsorship of Foot Unis and the UAF is required, according to the French league's statutes. Although Foot Unis had given its backing to Cyril Linette (as well as to Vincent Labrune, Gervais Martel, former president of RC Lens, and Karl Olive, MP for Yvelines, all of whom are candidates for one of the three independent member positions on the LFP board, the latter as a representative of the FFF and with no intention of presiding…