the real false good idea of ​​the play-offs to relaunch the women’s championship

Set up this season for the first time in order to relaunch the attractiveness of D1 Arkema, the play-offs convinced neither the coaches nor the public, and gave rise to a final with a taste of déjà vu between the PSG and OL.

OL-PSG, episode 6. After the Trophée des champions, two days of the championship and a double confrontation in the semi-finals of the Champions League, the two leading clubs of D1 Arkema will once again meet on Friday May 17 in Lyon , for the final of the play-offs of the French championship. Never have Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain met so often in one season, despite the FFF’s stated desire to revive the competitiveness and attractiveness of the championship with this new format to shake up the hierarchy. Without success.

With its eleven points lead over PSG at the end of the regular season, OL, who should have won their 17th French championship title, have never been a big fan of the model presented by their former leader Jean-Michel Aulas, who became president of the new Women’s Professional Football League. “The play-offs are neither cultural nor fair in terms of meritocracy.railed Vincent Ponsot in the columns of Progress last May 9. And for good reason: the format put in place could see the Fenottes lose everything with these play-offs: the title and qualification for the Champions League, in the event of defeat in their first semi-final, against Reims, which they are ahead of by 26 points at the end of the regular season.

Except that the illusion of competitiveness embodied by these play-offs clashed with reality. Olympique Lyonnais won their home semi-final 6-0 against Stade de Reims on Sunday, after seeing PSG win against Paris FC the day before (2-2, 5-4 tab). And the logic of the championship, which ranked OL first, ahead of PSG, Paris FC and Reims, is finally respected. Goodbye to the objectives of “suspense until the end of the championship” presented by Aulas to Canal+ when renegotiating the television rights of D1 Arkema. Worse still, the results confirmed the abysmal gap between two teams like OL and Stade de Reims, despite being 4th in the regular season.

Facing Olympique Lyonnais, Stade de Reims, whose budget is twelve times lower than that of its opponent, had even decided to forgo its semi-final, knowing full well that it would not be able to win against to the eight-time Champions League ogre. “The most important match is next Friday, proclaimed Amandine Miquel, the coach of Reims, at the microphone of Canal+ after having taken six by OL. We played on Wednesday [en championnat] with our typical team so today, we managed the organizations.” Implied, the Champenoises – who largely turned around against Lyon – have bet everything on the small final, where they will face Paris FC on Sunday at 6 p.m., with, at stake, qualification for the Champions League for the third .

At Paris FC, the staff has long believed they could secure a place in the final, taking Paris Saint-Germain to the penalty shootout on Saturday in the semi-finals. But Sandrine Soubeyrand’s players broke down in the final stretch, without disappointing their coach. “Overall, I am very proud of my teamwelcomed the legend of the France team at a press conference. There is still a very significant gap with Lyon and PSG that we are trying to reduce. And let’s say that we are getting closer, we are reducing the gap in each match.”

In the meantime, the prospect of yet another clash between Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain this season – who have shared the first two places in D1 in 12 of the last 13 seasons – no longer excites many people, not even Sonia Bompastor, coach of the Lyonnaises, still not reconciled with this play-off format. “This new formula ultimately leaves few surprises, it is once again a final between Paris and OL. We are going to play an opponent that we know by heart, who also knows us very, very well and whom we recently faced in the Champions League.” she lamented in the mixed zone on Sunday.

These play-offs did not find their audience either, with only 5,971 spectators present at the Parc des Princes – second lowest total for women’s PSG this season – Saturday at 9 p.m. for the fourth duel of the season against Paris FC , and 11,110 at Groupama Stadium, a far cry from the record attendance of 38,466 reached during the Champions League semi-final first leg on April 20 against… PSG. If French women’s football tries in vain to catch up with its European neighbors, the play-off format – which is not implemented anywhere else on the Old Continent – ​​does not seem to be the one that will turn the corner to the future First League.

In France, we no longer want there to be such a gap between the top of the ranking and the others. It makes no sense and it kills popular football.

Jean-Michel Aulas

Le Progrès, May 10, 2024

Especially since the only element which gave a little salt to this format resided in the fight for the third qualifying ticket for the Champions League. But from next season, the allocation of this final place will be revised to be modeled on the allocation model desired by UEFA, namely that the three teams qualified for the Champions League must be the first three of the season regular. The play-offs will therefore only be used to decide the winner – with a small final without any stakes – and this until at least 2029, the play-off formula being guaranteed in the contract which binds the Women’s Professional Football League at Canal+.