Vincent Labrune has achieved a modest victory. On Tuesday 10 September, with the announcement of his comfortable re-election (85.7% of the votes of the general assembly, after the massive support of the board of directors) to the presidency of the Professional Football League (LFP) for a second four-year term, the former journalist with long silver hair did not boast.
His rival, Cyril Linette, former leader of the PMU and The teamHe was undoubtedly soundly defeated at the polls after having obtained the necessary sponsorships to compete thanks to the intervention of the resigning Minister of Sport, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, and the Elysée. But Labrune knows well that he faced these elections against the wind, under a deluge of criticism.
The difficulties encountered in the allocation of Ligue 1’s national television rights for the 2024-2029 cycle (almost 500 million euros per season following the validation, this summer, of the offers of the British platform DAZN and the Franco-Qatari channel BeIN Sports) have considerably weakened Mr. Labrune. The head of the LFP had set himself an ambitious financial target (one billion euros per year including international rights), which ultimately remained unattainable.
Supported from a distance by influential leaders of French football, such as the head of Paris Saint-Germain and the BeIN Media group, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, and despite certain disaffections, the former coach of Olympique de Marseille (2011-2016) was able to count on an electoral system described as “Soviet” by its opponents, and tailor-made since a statutory reform of 2022, validated by the public authorities.
Reduction in remuneration
From the beginning, Mr. Labrune was committed to “return to work immediately” giving promises to his detractors, promising “lead by example” and reduce his salary (1.2 million euros gross per year), while the lifestyle (purchase of a new Parisian headquarters for 120 million euros, significant expense reports) of the LFP is causing controversy. In July he had already renounced a bonus of 5.4 million euros in the event of his departure.
“Vincent Labrune’s success is clear. But the crisis in professional football is noticeable, reacts to the World Yvelines MP (Renaissance) Karl Olive, re-elected member of the LFP board of directors. The economic model must change radically in substance and the governance mode radically in form. And as an independent member of the board of directors, I intend to make my contribution to this building, otherwise we will crash into the wall honking our horn. »
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