Frédéric Thiriez, the former president of the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the French football league, has claimed that French President François Hollande’s intervention in the tender for the current cycle of domestic media rights represented a “serious breach of competition law.”
Hollande (pictured) revealed in a new book, ‘A President Should Not Say That: Secrets of Five Years in Office,’ that he suggested to the Emir of Qatar that pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports – which had been aggressive in bidding for sports-rights since entering the French market in 2012 – should not adopt the same approach in the auction for top-tier Ligue 1 and second-tier Ligue 2 rights over four seasons, from 2016-17 to 2019-20.
To the surprise of many observers, and the disappointment of several clubs, the league only secured a 20-per-cent increase in the total rights fee by awarding Canal Plus the bulk of the packages, including live coverage of three Ligue 1 games per week. BeIN Sports picked up secondary rights to only one live game per week.
“We saved Canal,” Hollande said in the book.
Thiriez, who announced he would not seek another term as LFP president earlier this year, told Le Canard Enchaîné: “I was very shocked by the revelations of the president. We had suspicions. Now we have proof. This is a serious breach of competition law.”
Thiriez said that Hollande should be taken to court in order for the league to seek compensation and damages.