Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille were scheduled to face each other this Sunday, September 21, at the Stade Vélodrome at 8:45 PM (CET) for matchday 5 of Ligue 1. However, the match was postponed due to thunderstorms and rescheduled for Monday evening at 8 PM. This decision has caused considerable controversy, as it coincides with the evening of the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony, where some PSG players hope to receive recognition. The French Professional Football League (LFP) had actually preferred Tuesday, but ran into resistance from an uncooperative OM. This is what L’Equipe reported on Tuesday.
“OM even threatened legal action if another day was chosen for the match.”
“The LFP also wanted to avoid this scheduling conflict, but the regulations clearly favored Marseille, who were keen to play on Monday evening. Article 548 of the LFP competition regulations states: ‘When, due to adverse weather conditions, a match cannot begin, it is postponed, or if it is definitively interrupted, it resumes from the minute it was interrupted, the following day (except in extreme conditions), at a time set by the LFP.’ ”
According to the LFP, OM threatened legal action if another day was chosen for the match. OM’s management made its position very clear during discussions with the League.
Given this situation, the LFP did not insist, but maintains that it wanted to avoid the current situation, with two major events for French football taking place simultaneously.
We remain cautious; such a situation inevitably leads to accusations and rumors. It was a difficult decision in a challenging situation, and there will inevitably be some unhappy parties. Here, one can regret that one of the biggest matches in French football is taking place while the football world’s attention is focused on the Ballon d’Or. There’s also the issue of the Paris players not being able to attend the ceremony, although that’s a minor problem.
Playing on Tuesday would have made sense, even if it would have impacted the players’ preparation and the subsequent fixture schedule. But given the need to make adjustments, it was a perfectly viable option. However, the rules were simply followed, perhaps because OM didn’t want to do otherwise.
Above all, we hope that we can quickly move on from this minor scheduling “drama.”
