It is a greatly revisited women’s D1 which begins on Friday, now including a play-off phase at the end of the regular season, a new formula put in place in order to strengthen the attractiveness of the French championship.
The players of Olympique Lyonnais, title holders, will play the opening match against Le Havre on Friday (9:00 p.m.).
OL, who managed to steal from PSG, their great rival, star Kadidiatou Diani, voted best player in the championship last season, have a new quality weapon to defend their crown. The fight promises to be fierce between the two clubs who have maintained a stranglehold on the first two places in the ranking for six years (five titles for Lyon).
Especially since the organization of the championship was revised this season, with the creation of play-offs bringing together the four clubs that came first in the regular season.
To win the title of French champion, you will therefore have to make it through the semi-finals on May 12, 2024, then win the final, scheduled for Sunday May 19. The two finalists as well as the winner of the small final, which took place the day before, will qualify for the Women’s Champions League.
These changes demonstrate the desire to increase interest in the D1, the president of the French Football Federation Philippe Diallo having even announced an increase “from 20 to 25%” in allocations, which represents “4 to 5 million ‘additional euros’, in order to allow in particular the creation of a professional league specific to women – which will be effective on July 1, 2024.
“Why do it? To satisfy ambition and respond to European competition, according to Jean-Michel Aulas, member of the FFF executive committee in charge of high-level women’s football. We were at the forefront, we were probably caught up. It is important that we maintain competitiveness.”
A sign of the end of French domination, OL, the most successful club in the history of the Champions League with eight victories, has seen two C1s escape it over the last three years. The 2022-2023 season was particularly disappointing, with no French club reaching the semi-final stage, a first since 2014.
Conversely, other European countries have committed to the recognition and promotion of women’s football, such as Spain, whose championship became professional in 2020. Since then, Barça has risen to the top of Europe, in winning the first two C1s in its history, and the Catalan nugget Alexia Putellas has also won the last two Ballon d’Ors.
France, fifth in the FIFA rankings, was unable to capitalize on the 2019 World Cup – organized in France and followed by more than a billion viewers around the world – to further develop women’s football, but it intends to correct the shot.
A new broadcast agreement has thus been signed with Canal, which retains the rights to D1 until 2029. For each day, two posters will have the honors of a “bonus” live “on the channels and services of the Canal group », Friday and Sunday evening at 9:00 p.m.
The sports streaming platform DAZN will co-broadcast these two posters, following an agreement with the FFF, it announced on Thursday. Since July, DAZN has already had a partnership with Canal to co-broadcast the two Ligue 1 matches per week held by the encrypted channel.
The program for the 1st day:
Friday
(9:00 p.m.) Le Havre – Lyon
SATURDAY
(3:00 p.m.) Reims – Saint-Etienne
Montpellier – Dijon
Lille – Paris FC
Fleury – Guingamp
Sunday
(9:00 p.m.) Bordeaux – Paris SG