On the 19th of September, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) launched the next step in its plan to change the public perception of French football and shed the criticism of Ligue 1 as a “farmers league” with the release of a short video.
According to a transcript provided by L’Équipe, Vincent Labrune, the recently re-elected president of the LFP, set out the organisation’s vision to a select group of journalists on the 18th of September. Labrune noted that he would be taking steps to tackle Ligue 1’s image problem, through “The transformation of the product. We have been working on this for more than two years and basing it around three strong pillars: image, experience, and culture.”
Jérôme Dumois who has been placed in charge of the league’s rebrand explained, “We might love our league, our season, our clubs, but in the end, we have this image problem: Ligue 1 is not sexy.” Dumois continued his point, “We need this change of image to work on our brand. This is not an advert, it is a new behaviour to instil a need for change. Maybe we won’t have the best players in Ligue 1 but we can become the coolest league to follow.”
The video entitled “Football à la Française” has no images of Ligue 1 matches but instead focuses on the Anglo-Franco sporting rivalry.
The LFP recently came under criticism for the delays in agreeing to a domestic broadcasting deal which was only finalised a few weeks ahead of the start of this season. International deals similarly struggled and in the UK and Ireland, there was no broadcaster announced until the second game week.
GFFN | Nick Hartland
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