Former minister says French leagues were cancelled 'too early'

Patrick Kanner believes leagues felt pressured following PM Edouard Philippe’s televised pandemic address

PSG were declared Ligue 1 champions. Reuters

The French football leagues were canceled too early under government pressure, a former sports minister claimed.

The top two leagues in men’s football and the top league in women’s football ended early, as did the Top 14 rugby league, after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said they could not resume because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Patrick Kanner, sports minister from 2014-17, thinks the leagues felt pressured following Philippe’s televised address into calling their seasons off, and that play might have been able to go ahead in the right conditions.

"It was after his (Philippe's) announcement on April 28 before (parliament) that the leagues and the federations gave in," Kanner told France Inter radio. "They were not given any choice. I insist on this: there were health protocols being prepared by all the sports organisations. Maybe we could have resumed the competitions in June."

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France is the only one of Europe's five major leagues to cancel its season. Runaway leader Paris Saint-Germain were declared champions while Toulouse and Amiens were relegated.

Games in Germany have already resumed and they are set to do so in England, Italy and Spain in June — all without fans at the stadiums. The Premier League was given government approval on Saturday to press ahead with its June 17 restart.

Kanner regrets that French fans must turn their attentions elsewhere for entertainment.

“Quite honestly, I would prefer it that the French could watch Ligue 1 games on television rather than Bundesliga games,” Kanner said.