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Note: to see my latest map-&-post of Ligue Un, click on the following: category: France.
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The Ligue Un season starts the weekend of 9th and 10th August. {Click here, for the official Ligue 1 site.}
Lyon has won an unprecedented 7 straight Titles. They will face competition from Bordeaux and Marseille. A big surprise last season was Nancy, who were only expected to avoid the drop, as they had no player acquisitions to speak of. Instead, they finished fourth, and will play in the UEFA Cup. Saint-Etienne finished fifth, and will also play in the UEFA Cup. But these latter two clubs are not expected to vie for the crown. Indeed, it is telling that the oddsmakers have a seperate betting category for “League, without Lyon” {click here, for odds to win Ligue 1 (Easy Odds site)}.
I am trying out a new type of map and chart for leagues, here. Basically, I have combined an attendance map with a zoom map, but without the “zoom lines”. Instead, each club’s thumbnail profile is positioned in order of their place in the final standings from last season; also, the clubs that qualified for European competitions are listed. For the Champions League, it is Lyon and Bordeaux, with Marseille into the CL 3rd Round Qualifiers. For the UEFA Cup, it’s Nancy, Saint-Etienne, and Coupe de la Ligue winner Paris St-Germain (click here, for info on the relatively new Coupe de la Ligue). The Intertoto Cup will feature Rennes. At the bottom of the chart, the three promoted clubs are shown (Le Havre, Nantes, and Grenoble).
This short article from June goes into the problem Ligue 1 has with comparatively low television revenue: {Click here (Reuters Soccer Blog)}.
I was having trouble finding previews of the Ligue 1 08/09 season, but I finally found this: {Click here (Center Holds It, via Big Soccer site)}. [It's the first installment, starting with the champions, Lyon.]
Here is the Sky Sports/ Ligue 1 page: {Click here}.
The Offside has pretty good French league coverage, with correspondents for 10 of the clubs…{Click here, for The Offside /France}.
Thanks to Colours of Football, for the kits {click here}.
