D1 Arkema: the real false good idea of the play-offs to relaunch the women’s championship
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.”
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