Ligue 1: "Sponsorship by trading companies was not illegal" in 2015-16 (Mathieu Ficot, LFP)

"When five Ligue 1 clubs have partnered with these trading platforms, the activity of these companies had a character that was certainly risky, but not illegal at the time in France. The LFP itself had been approached by such companies, but we decided, as an institution, that such a partnership was not appropriate," said Mathieu Ficot, director of economic development for the French Professional Football League, on 01/06/2016.

In 2015-16, five Ligue 1 clubs partnered with platforms of binary options or currency trading sites (forex): Paris Saint-Germain (OptionWeb), Olympique Lyonnais (24Option.com), AS Monaco FC ( EZ Trader), AS Saint-Étienne (Investing Area) and OGC Nice (InteractiveOption.com). The AMF, the court of Paris Court and other French financial authorities decided, on 31/03/2016, that the sports sponsorship "provides massive visibility to these companies, and so also these financial practices", which they advise the general public to "flee" from because of the very high probability of losses for French customers in these trading platforms: nine out of 10 customers lose…