September 3 – French FA president Noel Le Graet (pictured) says he has no regrets about prematurely closing down last season’s domestic league campaign despite other European countries managing to complete theirs.
Le Graët, who was heavily criticised for the decision, said in a newspaper interview it was “by far the most difficult” he’s ever had to make but had no option.
“We applied what the state wanted. What was important was people’s health,” he said.
Le Graet admitted, however, that current protocols were not ideal and that games should not be postponed if just one or two players test positive for Covid-19 as has been the case at the start of the new French season.
“What we have done so far is not ideal,” he said. “The clubs have an average of 30 players under contract. We should be able to play with 20. To postpone a match for two or three cases is excessive.
“The players are controlled more than the rest of the population. I will propose to the Ministry of health the protocol applied by UEFA” whereby matches can go ahead of teams have 13 available players including a goalkeeper.
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