Le Championnat, the French football championship, starts this Saturday, marking the beginning to the European club season.
Because of Euro 2008 and the Olympics, the off-season has been squeezed on both sides, making for a much shorter down period than many would have liked. I, however, can not wait for the season to start, and if you remember the circumstances behind Lyon’s seventh consecutive championship, their quest for their eighth can not start soon enough.
Bordeaux, under new coach Laurent Blanc, transcended the gap between Lyonnais and the rest of the table. They sat only two points back of the champions on the last weekend of the season. In that 38th round, Lyon beat Paris St. Germain while Bordeaux tied Lens, giving the holders a four point gap. It was a gap that near evaporated after Blanc’s side went undefeated in their last nine, with six wins. Bordeaux had improved by eighteen points while Lyon only slipped by two, foreshadowing a 2008-09 rivalry that will define the season.
While the dominant summer story line has been Lyon’s quest for eight, it bears wondering why Bordeaux can not challenge for the title again. Their goal differential last season was +27, indicative of a team that was getting by on talent over timing. They bring back their team in tact, ready to shoot down Lyon, while having added young, star forward Yoan Gouffran from Caen.
My predictions for Ligue 1 will come later today, but if you are looking upon France football from a far and seeing a one team league, consider the first of ten reasons why you should follow this season’s Championnat.
1. Lyon will be pushed for the title
Bordeaux is not going anywhere. With a year’s experience chasing Lyon and a little more firepower, they will be as strong. Blanc’s side took 0 of 6 possible points from Lyon last season. If they can come up with one win (or draw both matches), the four point gap is closed. They do not need to improve that much to take the title.
Lyon has responded to this threat be restructuring their team. They let center back Sebastien Squillaci move to Sevilla, goalie Gregory Coupet go to Atlético Madrid, and famously sold Hatem Ben Arfa to Marseille. All of these players have been replaced, and in the case of the first two, Lyon’s taken the opportunity to get younger. How the new additions fit into the squad Claude Puel, in his first season managing Lyon, designs will determine whether Lyon can maintain the league while continuing to push for European success.
No matter if you are looking for continued Lyon excellence or toward Bordeaux to snap the string, it will be a story to follow into May.
2. Karim Benzema
Karim Benzema (pictured) has been knocked this summer for a Euro 2008 performance that was perceived as disappointing. I even saw a list that held his two games amongst the most disappointing aspects of the European Championships, a claim that made my jaw drop. Benzema was playing out of position for a manager who did not favor him. A classic lead striker, Benzema was lined-up to accomdate the legend Thierry Henry. Watch Benzema this season and you will see a player who should be accomodating nobody.
Follow Lyon and you will see a player that deserves his reputation. At 21, he is clearly the best player in the league and probably the best player at his age in the world. While he has gotten by to this point in his career on his superior athletic ability, he has continued to develop his technical ability and is on the verge of being a player who is consistently considered for World Footballer of the Year.
Get in near the ground floor on Benzema so you will be able to put his career and the French national team’s impending rise into context.
3. League of Young Stars
Le Championnat has developed Benzema and has readied Samir Nasri for Arsenal. They are only two of a series of French stars that are coming through the ranks. The France national team disappointed at Europe 2008 with a series of aged stars. The squad will reload for South Africa off the prospects blooming in Ligue 1 - prospects who can match technical ability with the youth of any country in the world.
4. Overall quality is right below the big three
There is this mild misconception that the Bundesliga is the fourth best league in Europe, and while there is no way to prove otherwise, I will argue this point with anybody: France has the fourth best football league on the continent. The success of their clubs in Europe can back up this claim, as can watching the games. The technical ability on display in France can be compared (if not favorably, then closely) to that of Spain and Italy. The league lacks the athletes present in La Liga and Serie A. The league is nowhere near as fast and demanding as the Premiership,and it does not have the same drawing power as any of the big three. But as far as quality of play technically, France is top shelf.
The league is ranked fourth in UEFA coefficients (and has been for a while), one spot above Germany; five above the Eredivisie.
I’m just saying.
5. Looking for the next, non-big three Champions League winners
It’s been almost five years since Jose Mourinho led FC Porto to the Champions League title. Since then, the big three have had a stranglehold on the Champions League, with teams from outside their leagues rarely showing well in the knock-out phases. It has become a quest to identify which club from other leagues might break back through. When you look around for candidates, Porto, the Bundesliga’s Bayern Munich, and Lyon jump out.
To a greater extent than even Munich, Lyon is turning their attention to Europe. Winning seven titles in a row will tempt you to do that. Last year, they lost 1-0 on aggregate in the Champions League Round of 16 to eventual champions Manchester United. Because they were drawn against United and knocked out so early, fans forget how good their team was.
This season, they have brought in Puel with the mandate to make Lyon a player on the continent. As the team adjusts its goals, maintains one of the strongest midfields on the continent, and continues to groom Benzema as a player that can steal matches, Lyon will grow as a threat to the continent’s mega-clubs.
6. For a broader Europe
As the big three leagues have continued to grow in power, wealth, and influence, us fans have seen our exposure to the great leagues in Germany, Holland, and Portugal dwindle. Russia’s performance in Euro 2008 with a team made-up exclusively of Russian Premier League players reminded the world: There are many places around the world where good football is being played.
French football has not been overlooked like the leagues in Russia or Brazil, but their exposure is more like that of those leagues than the big three. Supporting Le Championnat, the Bundesliga, the Eredivisie, and the Portuguese Liga helps broaden the game and, depending on how you view the implications of that, improves the sport by increasing its scope.
7. African presence in Le Championnat
The benefits of increasing the exposure of these leagues: diversity. As fans, we get exposed to more players - different players, different styles. It really excentuates the beauty of the game, to see how many different styles and forms can be employed to play the same, simple game.
In France, one product of diversification is the African influence. France’s history in northern Africa has led to a pipeline of African talent being recruited into Le Championnat. Some teams within Ligue 1 will have more than half of their starting XI made up of players with African origins.
The same multi-cultural spirit that’s defined the French national team over the last decade is seen throughout the French league.
8. The rebirth of Paris St. Germain
One of the interesting aspects of the French league is the lack of clubs in the country’s largest city. Paris St. Germain is the capital’s club, yet lest season they were almost relegated, needing a run of play over the last rounds to finish in sixteenth. They found themselves in this precarious position despite winning the Coupe de la Ligue and qualifying for this year’s UEFA Cup.
Their plight and their wont to recover has drawn the attention of a number of expatriate Frenchmen, including Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger and captain William Gallas. While that Gunner duo will not be in Paris this season, the club was able to convince icon Claude Makélélé to trade Chelsea for PSG to close out his career. Former Roma winger Ludovic Guily has also returned to try and reestablish the club, hoping to make last season look more anomaly than pattern.
9. It is the first league out of the gate
If you are like me and do not need a summer break, then the club season can not start soon enough. Le Championnat is the first of the big leagues to start. The Bundesliga and Premiership start next weekend, which gives us a whole week to either love French football or over-scrutinize the big three league.
I vote for France.
10. World Football Postulant will follow Le Championnat with you
Throughout the year, I plan to post match predictions and reviews on Le Championnat, even if time constraints have help me from watching as much as I would like. It is always more fun following a league with somebody else, so let’s do this together. Stay with WFP all season long as we follow these and all the other story lines which evolve from one of the best leagues in the world.
Together, we will either become experts on Le Championnat or be berated by an expert who finds us. I’m looking forward to both possibilities.
Later today, I will be posting my season predictions, as well as may picks for the first weekend of the season. Please post your own predictions and picks, and we can hold each other to them as the season progresses.
Welcome back, football. Welcome back, football fans.
Bojan Krkic is set to debut for Spain tonight.
