Jean-Michel Aulas, owner and president of Olympique Lyonnais, watches the Ligue 1 game against Saint-Etienne at Groupama Stadium in Lyon, France, March 1, 2020. /VCG
Jean-Michel Aulas, owner and president of Ligue 1's Olympique Lyonnais, said in an interview with L'Équipe du Soir that two legal actions are on the way against the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) over its decision of ending the 2019-20 Ligue season in advance.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on April 28 that no big sporting event will happen in the country before September and made it clear the suspended Ligue 1 season would not resume. Later, the leading club Paris Saint-Germain were awarded the championship of the season.
Moussa Dembele (R) of Olympique Lyonnais dribbles the ball in the Ligue 1 game against Lille at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, France, March 8, 2020. /VCG
"We hesitated a lot over doing it. The board of directors at Olympique Lyonnais, which is a company on the stock market, took the decision to file a lawsuit (in Paris courts). Money is not the major concern for Olympique Lyonnais. This is a club which has gone from the very bottom to the very top," said Aulas.
What really triggered the club's decision of turning to the law was LFP's decision over which teams could attend European competitions next season. According to the final rankings table, PSG (No. 1), Olympique de Marseille (No. 2) and Stade Rennais (No. 3) will participate the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League while Lille OSC (No. 4), OGC Nice (No. 5) and Stade de Reims (No. 6) go to the UEFA Europa League.
That means the No. 7 Lyon will miss European competition next season. Considering that they only trailed Reims by one point and there are 10 games left, Lyon have enough reasons to believe that there's hope for them to make European competitions if the season can be finished.
Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain celebrates after scoring a goal in the Ligue 1 game against Dijon FCO at Parc des Princes in Paris, France, February 29, 2020. /VCG
"We have first demanded to examine the possibility of returning to football. The decision from the Minister of Sports (Roxana Maracineanu) is based on the date of 3rd August, which does not exist at UEFA, whilst taking into account health and medical protocols. We can examine in detail with the Prime Minister (Édouard Philippe) and Minister of Health (Olivier Véran) the health protocols that have been given the green light in all the European countries and see if there is a possibility to return," said Aulas.
"The second (lawsuit) pertains to the way in which the league was stopped and the way in which the final standings were calculated, to see if they are legitimate… We need to analyse things, see if clubs are hurt by this decision. For the moment, we are not talking about financial prejudice."
The relegation area also led to controversy. The bottom 2 ranking teams, Toulouse and Amiens, were supposed to relegate, according to LFP's decision. Toulouse only have 13 points and basically have no hope to reverse the situation. Nonetheless, Amiens only tailed No. 18 Nîmes Olympique by four points and, remember, they chased PSG away 4-4 at home. It's only logical for Amiens to seek legal actions.