‘La Ligue Espoirs’ – LFP to launch new youth league | OneFootball

The LFP and the FFF are set to create a new youth league, La Ligue Espoirs, designed to give young players coming through the academies of elite French clubs more game time.

With young players’ game time reduced, the LFP and the FFF have come up with a solution. A new competition, consisting of 16 teams (Toulouse FC, AS Monaco, AS Saint-Étienne, FC Nantes, Montpellier HSC, Paris Saint-Germain, Paris FC, OGC Nice, RC Strasbourg Alsace, AC Ajaccio, AJ Auxerre, SM Caen, Girondins de Bordeaux, Stade Rennais, Le Havre AC and Olympique de Marseille) is set to be launched this October, as per L’Équipe.

All teams, all of which are considered to have elite-level academies, will play six matches, whilst the competition will conclude with a semi-final and a final. The creation of La Ligue Espoirs does not mean that clubs will remove their reserve sides from the lower divisions of French football, many of which now compete in N3. Instead, the league is supposed to be a supplement to the development of the young players.

Some teams, however, have already removed their teams from the lower reaches of the French game, like Monaco, who for the past two years have competed in the Premier League International Cup. Les Monégasaques’ CEO, Thiago Scuro, spoke positively about the potential creation of a youth league when questioned about the concept by Get French Football News in May:

“When ASM created the Groupe Élite, we were criticised when we created and moved out of the lower division. Three or four years later, clubs did the same thing, realising that it helps them transition to the first-team and this is driving the discussion to create a league for these teams next season. We hope that it happens. It would be positive for French football; it would be awesome for us.”

“One of the weaknesses of the Groupe Élite is that there is no official competition. There are lots of friendlies and it’s not the same, even if it gives good minutes. Having competitions would give us a stronger platform. We hope we can make this league happen.”

“This country is losing a lot of talent at a very early stage for not being able to provide a path. This league could be important for the country to be able to make players develop longer here. We monitor French players playing abroad and the number of talented French players struggling abroad is very high, for different reasons. They are very young, just teenagers, so it is always easy to help them develop at home so I hope we can create this league because it will benefit ASM but also French football.”

That competition, desired by many clubs, not just Monaco, now looks set to see the light of day.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle