The Council of State validates the decision of the Professional Football League (LFP) to stop the French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 championships

Against the background of the pandemic, the Professional Football League was forced to put an end to the 2019-2020 sports season, by renouncing the organization of playoffs for certain clubs but maintaining relegations, according to the rankings it had organized. Several applications for interim suspension filed this summer by Olympique Lyonnais, Amiens SC, SC, Toulouse FC, Esperance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne and Clermont Foot 63 and Athletic Club Ajaccien Football, before the Council of State, before the Council of State, in order to request the annulment of the decisions of the LFP, in order to request the annulment of the decisions of the LFP for excess of power, were rejected by the high administrative court which validated:

• the rankings of the Professional Football League, (CE, ord., June 9, 2020, June 9, 2020, No. 440809, 440813, 440824, Olympique Lyonnais Group and others, SASP Toulouse Football Club and SASP Amiens SC)
• the absence of organization of play-offs and play-offs (CE, ord., 26 June 2020, 26 June 2020, no. 441163, Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne et Clermont Foot 63 et CE, ord., ord., 6 July 2020, 6 July 2020, no. 441314, Athletic Club Ajaccien)
• the established relegation system (CE, ord., July 9, 2020, no. 441559, 441585)

The judges thus considered, on the one hand, that under article 24 of the LFP statutes, the Board of Directors was competent to decide to end the championships early and definitively. On the other hand, that it was without disregarding its own competence or tainting its decision with an error of fact or law (under the emergency provisions to deal with Covid-19 of the law of 23 March) that the LFP Board of Directors decided to derogate from the championship regulations by suspending competitions. Having regard to the objective of fairness and integrity of sports competitions, the judges considered that the application of the same performance index to all clubs to establish these rankings was not vitiated by a manifest error of assessment on the part of the LFP. Considering the lack of visibility imposed by the health crisis, the League also did not commit a manifest error of appreciation by renouncing the organization of play-offs and play-offs, “including with regard to taking into account ethical interests and the goals of equity in sport” .Finally, the judges considered that a freeze in relegations would have involved too much complexity and an inevitable increase in the sporting calendar that is incompatible with uncertainties caused by the pandemic, the organization of the 2020-2021 season and the Postponement of the European soccer championship.