‘A direct breach of sporting fairness’ – Lens supporters’ groups appeal PSG postponement | OneFootball

Could the decision by the Professional Football League (LFP) to postpone the match between RC Lens and Paris Saint-Germain, originally scheduled for 11th April, be overturned? This, at any rate, is the request made by representatives of the various RC Lens supporters’ groups to the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF).

In a letter sent on Tuesday to the body chaired by former Minister for National Education Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the thirty or so signatories condemn the fact that “this postponement was imposed on RC Lens without their consent, causing direct harm to sporting fairness” in the final stages of the French Ligue 1 championship.

Originally scheduled to take place on matchday 29 of the league season, between the first and second legs of the Champions League quarter-finals between PSG and Liverpool, the clash between the league leaders and their nearest challengers – a match that could decide the identity of the future French champions – has finally been postponed until Wednesday, 13th May.

And this is for a reason that Lens supporters reject, pointing out that the League can only decide to postpone a match “in exceptional circumstances”. “To justify this postponement (as well as that of Stade Brestois v RC Strasbourg Alsace), the LFP cites the request from the clubs concerned to prepare for their European quarter-finals and a strong strategic approach aimed at retaining France’s fifth place in the UEFA coefficient rankings,” they state in their letter, before refuting the validity of the event’s “exceptional” nature.

“We strongly dispute this interpretation of the regulations for the following reasons: A strategy is not an exceptional circumstance. (…) Maintaining the UEFA coefficient is a long-standing political and strategic objective of the League, and the presence of French clubs in the quarter-finals of European competitions is the logical outcome of the sporting season. There is no element of unpredictability here that would justify the invocation of Article 411 – relating to calendar changes by the LFP.”

In this regard, exempting PSG “from their domestic obligations during the season” would, in their view, amount to “simply distorting the Ligue 1 championship”.

GFFN | Léo Aschi