Governance of French football: "Now is not the time for marginal adjustments but for a complete overhaul"

"Now is not the time for marginal adjustments. It's time for a complete overhaul. The future of French professional football is at stake," wrote Frank McCourt (owner of Olympique de Marseille), Joseph Oughourlian (owner and chairman of RC Lens), Guillalume Cerutti (chairman of the board of Stade Rennais FC) and Jean-Michel Roussier (chairman of Le Havre AC) in an column published on the website of the daily Le Monde on 13/02/2026.

The four leaders of Ligue 1 McDonald's clubs are speaking up following a week marked by the announcement of the forthcoming resignation of Nicolas de Tavernost, CEO of LFP Media. The former chairman of M6 is considering leaving his position due to the loss of the 2026 World Cup broadcasting rights which he thought he had acquired from FIFA (for around €19.5m, including €2.5m in production costs, according to L'Equipe) for the Ligue 1+ platform, but which were ultimately awarded to beIN SPORTS France (for approximately €27m, with the Qatari group also securing the 2030 World Cup for €34m, again according to L'Equipe) in a process that Nicolas de Tavernost…