UR TV CAST

Almost all the great French stars play abroad.What is the response of French football to all this? To change the name of the league and – counter-intuitively – increase the number of clubs in the top division from 18 to 20.The new name – Ligue de Football Professionel – is supposed to bring French football in line with the more modern, thrusting image of the Premiership, Bundesliga and La Liga.After five seasons with 18 clubs, the return to 20 clubs, with three up and three down, in what is now called Ligue One, is already recognised as a mistake. The 20-club Spanish and English leagues have done pretty well in European competition but France does not have the financial muscle or the depth of talent of the Premiership and La Liga.Television earnings will be spread more thinly and the top clubs will face the kind of fixture jams which have been decried in England – by Ars? Wenger and G?rd Houllier, among others.The crass performance of Les Bleus in the World Cup in the summer has already robbed French football of the aura of excellence generated by the national team’s victories in 1998 and 2000. The larger French First Division, Michel Platini has warned, will delay the day when French professional football can compete at an equal level with the Real Madrids, Manchester Uniteds and Bayern Munichs.Olympique Lyon, last year’s last-gasp champions, believe that they can prove him wrong. They have ambitions to become the dominant club in French football and have assembled a squad capable of making an impression in the Champions’ League. However last year’s coach, Jacques Santini, now manages the national squad. It is not clear whether Lyon’s collection of Brazilians and rising French stars will play consistently for the new man, Paul Le Guen.A 6-1 thrashing of Sedan in the second game of the season proved what everyone knew already.

Lyon – with Sonny Anderson, Sidney Govou and the “other” Juninho in attack – are capable of thrashing the French strugglers.But how much strength in depth will they have once the Champions’ League starts in September? The most likely challengers to Lyon’s title are the perennial under-achievers, Paris Saint-Germain, last year’s runners-up, Racing Club de Lens, and the bucolic, small-town miracle-workers, Auxerre. (Imagine Yeovil Town as one of the big players in English football.) PSG have had a solid start to the season, beating Auxerre 1-0 at home and holding another championship possible, Bordeaux, to a 0-0 draw on their own ground.Paris, who were last champions in 1994, have thrown off their reputation as show ponies under the management of the former France international, Luis Fernandez. They have a tough defence and midfield and, in the Brazil World Cup star, Ronaldinho, the outstanding player in the French league.However, unless their other Brazilian, Aloisio da Silva (six goals last year) begins to show better form, it is difficult to see who will score goals for PSG this season. Racing Club de Lens may suffer, like Lyon, from their commitments to the Champions’ League. They have been weakened by transfers in the close season.Their hopes rest on the gigantic frame of the former Lille striker, Dagui Bakari (six feet five inches), their only significant signing since last year. Unlike Lens, Auxerre, against all expectations, have held on to all their home-bred, young stars – the best generation of youngsters at the club since the mid 1980s generated Eric Cantona and the Boli brothers.

In particular, Auxerre’s perpetual coach, Guy Roux (approaching the French record of 800 matches in the dug-out) was delighted to hold on to Djibril Ciss?21, who rivals Sydney Govou as the hottest, young French striker.Auxerre have had a slow start and Roux has, as usual, written off his chances in advance. Since his heart-attack last year – or, as he puts it, since he was “candidate to be trainer of the national squad of paradise” – Roux claims to have mellowed. His players have yet to notice the difference.The new French league management has at least had one sensible idea (originally an idea, promoted by Roux). They hope to reduce the cost of employing footballers in France by persuading the Government to accept a de facto reduction in the crippling level of taxes and social charges which both clubs and players have to pay.If the finance ministry accepts the idea, French players would be paid in future partly in (high-taxable) salary and partly in (low-taxable) “image rights”. The long-term hope is that this will tempt the great French stars – the Zidanes, Henrys and Vieiras – to play once again in France. For the time being, the traffic in football talent in France is still mostly an export trade.

THREE TO WATCH IN LIGUE DE FOOTBALL PROFESSIONEL RONALDINHO (PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN)Ronaldinho Assis de Moreira, the man whose free-kick put England out of the World Cup, showed fitful genius in his first season with Paris Saint-German last year. After the 22-year-old’s impressive performances in South Korea and Japan, the attacking midfielder is expected to be the centre-piece of PSG’s challenges in the French league and the Uefa Cup this year Ronaldinho is a free spirit, however. Critics suggest that he does not respond well to the stifling tactics of his coach, Luis Fernandez.SIDNEY GOVOU (OLYMPIQUE LYON) Since he burst on the scene with two goals against Bayern Munich in the Champions’ League two years ago, the home-grown 23-year-old has been a delight and a frustration to the fans of the French champions, Olympique Lyon. He has extraordinary pace and is capable of scoring beautiful goals – and missing simple ones. He finished last season with only 10 goals but much more is expected of him in Lyon’s European and domestic challenges this campaign.DJIBRIL CISS?(AUXERRE) With 22 goals in an injury-interrupted season the 21-year-old was the great revelation of the French league last year.