LFP board to weigh Lens-PSG delay, Strasbourg also seek shift | OneFootball

The LFP board meets on Thursday morning to rule on PSG and Strasbourg requests to move Ligue 1 fixtures squeezed between European ties, and could approve them despite Lens's resistance, according to L'Équipe.

PSG want Lens-PSG on 11 April shifted, it sits between their Champions League quarter-finals against Liverpool on 8 and 14 April. Strasbourg seek a new slot for Brest-Strasbourg on 12 April, which falls between their Europa Conference League quarter-finals with Mainz on 9 and 16 April.

The board is sovereign under league statutes. Article 22 empowers it to set and alter the calendar during the season, and it generally aims to help clubs before European dates. The matches could be reprogrammed between matchdays 33 and 34, the last available window.

Lens have cited guidance that postponed return games should, in general and to protect integrity, be played at the first available date and before the final two rounds. Chief executive Benjamin Parrot argued postponements usually have both clubs' consent, noting Nantes agreed to move PSG-Nantes from 15 March to 22 April, and questioned granting PSG's request so late.

Similar delays were granted in 2023-2024 to ease PSG before a semi-final against Dortmund and Marseille before a semi-final with Atalanta, both rescheduled at the very end of the campaign. Lens president Joseph Oughourlian, then on the board, voted in favour as minutes recorded a unanimous decision.

Any Lens-PSG delay, a meeting of the top two currently split by one point with Paris holding a game in hand, may not suit Ligue 1 and could again suggest PSG's clout. Eleven of 17 members are expected to vote, with Olivier Létang suspended, Pablo Longoria and Fabrice Bocquet departed, and Nasser al-Khelaïfi, Marc Keller and Victoriano Melero directly concerned.

Source: L'Équipe