Long a sea serpent, is the professionalization of women’s football about to materialize? Frequently questioned on the question, the French Football Federation (FFF) announced, Thursday, April 13, its plan to accelerate the process. “Aragon said that woman is the future of man. Women’s football is part of the future of football “, launched, lyrically, the interim president of the FFF, Philippe Diallo.
Before insisting on the historical nature of this plan. “The decisions that have just been made by our Executive Committee (Comex) mark the history of women’s football. There have been a number of ups and downs in recent months. The Federation wanted to seize this opportunity to take French women’s football to a new level. »
Noël Le Graët’s successor said he wanted to bring “the essential complement to its growth” to the first division and to the entire women’s sector. Concretely, the professionalization of the championship implies “an unprecedented economic effort”, representing “a 20 to 25% increase in the [federal] allocation, or approximately 4 to 5 million euros”.
President of the High Level Women’s Commission at the FFF, Jean-Michel Aulas then outlined the outline of this plan. “We have a triple ambition: global with Les Bleues, European with clubs and national with D1, which should allow it to regain legitimacy through audiences, attendance in stadiums and brand image” , exposed the president of Olympique Lyonnais, a model club for French and European women’s football – 8 titles in the Champions League.
“Respond to European competition”
At the next FFF General Assembly on June 10, 2023, the new Women’s Professional League (LPFF) will be presented for approval by vote, and will be effective July 1, 2024, if passed. This LPFF will be a pro league internal to the FFF, “not independent as with men,” said Jean-Michel Aulas. We are well within the Federation. We will look at the resulting results. “.
If this League now has a date of birth, the exact structure remains unclear, perhaps a commercial company. “The idea is to involve a number of partners. It can be financial investors, ”assured Jean-Michel Aulas who pleads for it to be chaired by a woman. The objectives are ambitious: after having been at the forefront, then having been caught up – even overtaken – by its English and Spanish neighbors, French women’s football intends to “promote and develop resources, as well as respond to European competition”.
So that this professionalization is not an empty shell, the FFF is revising its criteria for structuring clubs. To progress to D1, an excellence license is now required; and to obtain the approval of a training center, an elite license – the notch below – will be necessary. Deviating from this would prevent a club from participating in the competition – and receiving any revenue from it. “There will be a first year of transition with the implementation of the excellence license, but this is not yet an exclusion criterion for clubs”, specifies to World Philippe Diallo, convinced that “almost all of ‘between them will meet these first requirements. »
Improving television broadcasting conditions
Ticketing revenue being minimal, television remains the main source of funding for women’s clubs. And to improve its distribution, new specifications will emerge, in particular forcing clubs to beef up their game in terms of lighting and lawns. And each team will have to commit to playing at least three matches in a “premium stadium” – approved to host Ligue 1 or Ligue 2 men’s matches.
So many measures which, hopes the FFF, will encourage broadcasters to enhance their offers. “We have done our part to develop women’s football by proposing a comprehensive and coherent project,” said President Diallo. Broadcasters to take our efforts into account. And to insist on the need for the television ecosystem to support women’s sport in France. A tender for the period 2023-2027 will run until May 4, to succeed the current rights holder, Canal, and as currently, it includes at least ten free-to-air matches per season.
In addition to Division 1, whose title and three qualifying places in the Champions League will now be awarded after the playoffs, the other women’s football competitions have also been restructured. Like D1, the second division will change to a single group of twelve clubs, and a third division will be created.
Philippe Diallo did not hide his optimism about the future of women’s football. “The broadcasters, the clubs, the financial partners must be seduced by the environment that we have created and the means that we give ourselves, he explained, questioned by World on the sidelines of the announcements. A virtuous mechanism will be put in place and in the end, the status of the players will rise. For its president, the FFF must ensure the transition, “until the moment when women’s football is able to finance itself, with its own partners and its own income”.
Four years ago, the 2019 World Cup in France, which was to give impetus to women’s football, was a missed opportunity. But a fine Australian run by the Bleues of new coach Hervé Renard would be the ideal boost. “It’s our locomotive,” concludes Philippe Diallo.
