Didier Deschamps has voiced his concerns about football returning during the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting the top leagues are only finishing seasons for the money.
The France head coach has pointed out the ‘inconsistencies’ in the Bundesliga’s heath and safety measures against COVID-19, and has backed Ligue 1 chiefs for not following their counterparts in Germany, England, Italy and Spain.
The 2019/20 season has back in full swing in Germany, sort of, with fans watching the second round of fixtures from their homes over the past weekend as cardboard cut outs have taken their place in the stands in a number of stadiums.
The Spanish prime minister has also confirmed LaLiga can resume in June, while the English Premier League and Italian Serie A are hoping they can return to action next month, too.
France’s Ligue 1 will be the only one of Europe’s top five leagues not to resume the 2019/20 campaign.
With the French government suspending all sport until September at the earliest, Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) chiefs decided, like in Scotland, to end the top flight campaign prematurely and crown Paris Saint-Germain champions for the seventh time in the past eight years.
A number of clubs have threatened legal action against the ruling after the final table was decided on a points-per-game basis, most notably Lyon after they just missed out on a European place.
But Deschamps believes his nation have made the right call, as he revealed his misgivings about the return to football elsewhere in Europe.
“I don’t want to judge, to condemn, to blame,” he told Le Parisien.
“The containment conditions are not the same for everyone.
“I have watched the Bundesliga since the resumption of matches in Germany. It certainly looks like football. I’m not going to talk about the pace or intensity of the matches, but some images seem so incoherent to me.
“I see players playing a game with all the elements specific to football: namely contact and tackles. And then, we see in the stands masked substitutes two metres away from each other.
“Honestly, I don’t understand. They are in the same enclosure, likely to come into play at any time. In the stands, is the risk increased? What an inconsistency. I do not like it.
“Life resumes with a lot of restrictions in all areas. In football, the resumption of certain leagues obviously responds, first of all, to an economic problem.
“Look at the decisions made in Spain and England. These two major football countries are planning the resumption of La Liga and the Premier League, but they have decided not to resume the women’s championships, which generate much less revenue. That says everything.”
Deschamps also raised his concerns for the wellbeing of players who are made to play throughout the continued global crisis, saying they risk suffering major injury by returning after such a large break.
“It worries me,” he added.
“Whether you are a coach or president of a club, we all have interests specific to our function. The physical integrity of my players is my main concern.
“Some abroad will resume competition without having carried out full preparation. No matter how much you say, such a break requires six weeks of refresher training with at least five friendly matches. That’s far from being the case.
“They will play matches every three days in the summer, in high temperatures. The risk of injury is increased. I was already denouncing very busy calendars. It will not work out and it looks even more concerning with very few breaks.”
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