They are attentive to things. Laurent Lafon (Centre Union) and Michel Savin (Les Républicains), respectively president and rapporteur of the Senate information mission on the intervention of investment funds in French football, denounce, in a statement published on Wednesday, October 2 at the end of the day, the “Trompe l’oeil reduction” of the salary of Vincent Labrune, president of the Professional Football League (LFP), announced the same day.
During his re-election for a new term at the head of the LFP, on September 10, Vincent Labrune announced his intention to reduce the amount of his annual remuneration (currently 1.2 million euros per year), in order to reduce expenses of the League. The LFP faces a significant drop in its income from television rights since it signed new contracts with the British streaming platform DAZN and the Qatari channel BeIN Sports for around 500 million euros annually from 2024 to 2029.
Thus, on Wednesday, the board of directors (CA) of the LFP announced that the salary of Vincent Labrune – and that of its general director, Arnaud Rouger – would decrease by 30%, thus remaining at 840,000 euros per year. But, for MM. Lafon and Savin, this decline is at risk, contrary to “sustainably charge income [du] French football.
“An additional charge of €420,000”
“The work carried out by the fact-finding mission made it possible to verify that the increase in the salary of the president of the LFP from 420,000 euros to 1.2 million euros, voted in September 2022, was financed, from 2022 to 2024, not in the budget. of the League, but in the envelope (…) of 1,500 million euros paid by [le fonds] CVC as part of its acquisition of a stake in the commercial company » of the LFP, they indicate in their press release.
Continuing with their demonstration, the two senators explain: “This salary increase, which was not planned to last beyond 2024, (…) Therefore, it now sustains, on a lasting basis, an additional burden of 420,000 euros on the League’s operating costs at a time when it should start a savings plan.”.
During Wednesday’s CA, the LFP “decided to reduce the organization’s payroll by 22.4% for the current fiscal year 2024-2025”a source told AFP. According to the latter, this reduction will not be accompanied by an employment protection plan.
