Ligue 1 still has not found a broadcaster for next season after the departure of Kylian Mbappe, leaving newly promoted clubs without money to buy players.
France’s top football league lost its biggest name last week when Mbappe’s transfer to Real Madrid was confirmed. Mbappe’s huge influence caused the French championship to lose its fire and Ligue 1 desperately searched for a television station to broadcast next season’s matches.
According to Sport Business, a contingency plan is being prepared so that the league will create its own channel – which will operate as a subscription service.
An urgent solution is needed, especially for newly promoted clubs such as Auxerre, Angers and Saint-Etienne. According to RMC Sport, this trio cannot sign players while the broadcast situation of Ligue 1 is still unclear.
This is because there is currently no money being paid to clubs from a broadcaster – the body responsible for the majority of the finances newly promoted teams receive.
Mbappe became the latest superstar to leave French football recently, contributing to the decline in viewership of the National Championship. Previously, famous names that attracted viewers left France, including Lionel Messi, Neymar, Aurelien Tchouameni, Victor Osimhen, Jeremy Doku, Mauro Icardi and Lucas Paqueta.
PSG advanced to the championship this season by 9 points ahead of second-placed Monaco. They have won 10 of the last 12 Ligue 1 titles (the remaining champions since 2012 are Monaco in 2017 and Lille in 2021). It is PSG’s dominance and their easy victories in Ligue 1 that make the tournament boring. Now we see stars leaving, blaming TV stations for turning away.
PSG are yet to win the Champions League – their best performance came in 2020 when Bayern Munich beat them 1-0 in the final. This season, they lost 0-2 to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals, which was also Mbappe’s last European match for the club. He left as PSG’s all-time top scorer with 256 goals in 308 matches.
