In the minds of many football fans, Ligue 1 does not radiate as much as the Spanish La Liga or the English Premier League. The fact remains that the French championship has many interests, often unknown to the general public.
The PSG Locomotive
For several years now, some L1 clubs have opened their capital to foreign investors. They then have greater means which allow them to be more competitive during European games. This is particularly the case with Girondins de Bordeaux, AS Monaco and, more recently, Olympique Lyonnais. Nevertheless, the Parisian example remains without doubt the most emblematic.
The Qataris indeed took possession of Paris Saint-Germain during the 2012-2013 season. They then injected significant funds which allowed the recruitment of stars on the scale of the French championship. For the record, during their first transfer window, the Parisian leaders had chosen to bring in players such as Jérémy Ménez, Mohamed Sissoko, Salvatore Sirigu, Javier Pastore or Blaise Matuidi. The ambitions of the Parisian club had changed, it now had to win the Champions League. To achieve this ambitious goal, PSG has further increased its recruitment requirements. In recent seasons, he has signed world-famous players such as the Brazilians Neymar, Marquinhos, Tiago Silva, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović, Frenchman Kylian M’Bappé and, of course, the unavoidable champion of the world and multiple Argentine Golden Ball Leo Messi. Even David Beckham came to Paris for six months!
Young talents
Ligue 1 has the immense advantage of offering considerable playing time to young players. The numbers of French clubs are indeed not as large as those of their European counterparts. The most talented apprentice footballers will therefore have the opportunity during the season to tread the lawns of the professional championship. It is not uncommon for them to start even before their majority, like Parisian Warren Zaire-Emery (first pro match at 16 years and 151 days), Lille’s Leny Yoro (16 years and 286 days), Rennes’ Désiré Doué (17 years and 65 days) and the Trojan duo formed by Wilson Odobert (17 years and 252 days) and Kyliane Dong (17 years and 314 days). Leny Yoro is also this season the youngest footballer to have started a meeting as a starter. He had indeed been established in defense against the TFC on September 17th. Just because you’re still a minor doesn’t mean you can’t score your first professional goal, as Désiré Doué and Wilson Odobert have already shown, respectively scorers against Brest on August 31, 2022 (17 years old and 89 days) and against Angers on August 28 (17 years and 273 days).
Now that you have a better understanding of the specificities of the French league, are you ready to bet on the results of Ligue 1 matches at the end of the season?
