Ligue 1 Focus - Brand new stadia for Euro 2016 bid
Saturday 14 November 2009
A selection of Ligue 1 sides are facing the prospect of playing their top-flight football in shiny new stadiums after initial plans were put in place by the FFF in preparation for France’s Euro 2016 bid nearly 20 years after hosting the 1998 World Cup.
The FFF has this week announced the shortlist of cities pivotal to their hosting aspirations. The 12 cities named, include Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Lyon, Lille, Lens, Strasbourg, Nancy and the capital city of Paris. Montpellier and Metz have been cut from the initial 14 cities who put their name forward. Of the shortlisted 12, Lyon, Bordeaux, Nice and Lille look set to be the beneficiaries of new developments. The remainder, with the exception of the Stade de France will receive generous renovations in order to raise the standard of the stadia in France in time for the competition in 2016. From the shortlist only nine will be selected with the remaining cities providing back-up in case of construction difficulties with the chosen stadia.
LFP President Frédéric Thiriez spoke of his delight for France’s bid and said: "Euro 2016 is a historic opportunity for us to take a giant stride forwards: on average our stadia are 66 years old. Renovation of existing stadia is not just something which concerns football, what's at stake involves cities, regions and the central state.”
The President believes that the overall costs of the renovation and creation of new stadiums will cost in the region of 1.5 billion Euros and create over 15,000 jobs between now and 2014. The proposed project will surely modernise the ageing French stadia of which Thiriez speaks of and deliver higher revenue levels and release the pressure slightly on worldwide TV rights. The new stadiums for top Ligue 1 teams will see Lyon exceed the 60,000 capacity with league leaders Bordeaux expected to replace the Stade Chaban-Delmas with a 42,000 seater stadium. The bid should hopefully raise the profile of French football, at a time when Le Championnat’s top teams are performing so admirably on the European stage.
L’Hexagone faces stiff competition from Italy, Turkey and a joint bid from Norway and Sweden with a decision to be made at the end of May next year. If France are successful with their bid, it will be the third time that they have hosted the competition. Memorably the last time saw UEFA president Michel Platini leading Les Bleus to a victorious Euro 1984.
In relation to football’s grandest competitions is this week’s first leg play-off matches to determine who will be joining the world’s footballing heavyweights in next summer’s World Cup. There may be no domestic action this weekend, but a large selection of Ligue 1 players will be involved in their country’s quest for qualification for football’s biggest tournament . However Le Championnat is not just represented in the qualifiers by the 12 players in Raymond Domenech’s French squad. The French top-flight is also represented by other international players who hope to aid their country in qualification. Bosnia-Herzegovina will place their faith in Lyon’s Miralem Pjanic and Montpellier’s Emir Spahic to find their way past Portugal and clinch a World Cup spot for the Balkan State. At the same time Slovenia are set to face Russia, the Euro 2008 semi-finalists, with three Ligue 1 stars in the squad, including Bostjan Cesar of Ligue 1’s bottom club Grenoble, Bojan Jokic of Sochaux and Valter Birsa of Auxerre.
It is not just on the European continent that Ligue 1 will be represented this weekend, with key matches set to be decided in South America and Africa, where there will be a strong Ligue 1 contingent battling for their country’s route to the World Cup. Cameroon go into their clash with Morocco needing a win to assure qualification with Marseille’s Stephane M’Bia and Lyon’s Jean Makoun looking to guide their team to victory. The weekend’s matches are a testament to Le Championnat’s most talented stars as they will hope to make an impact on the international stage as well as on a domestic level. The players involved will be hoping to raise the profile of France’s top league in light of France’s proposed Euro 2016 bid.
In other news Sochaux’s international striker Charlie Davies has this week been released from hospital after being involved in a lethal car crash over a month ago. The American striker suffered multiple injuries in the crash near Washington D.C, with the other passenger, Ashley Roberta, 22, losing their life in the incident. Davies remains a long way from playing football and his recovery is expected to take anywhere from six months to a year. The slow process of rehabilitation will certainly mean that the striker will miss out on next summer’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Related Articles
| 