PSG Crowned Ligue 1 Champions After Coronavirus Cancels Ligue 1 Season

Paris Saint-Germain retained their Ligue 1 title despite being unable to see out their remaining games due to the coronavirus.

While PSG were crowned Ligue 1 champions, Lyon will miss out a spot in the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1997.

In Abril the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) outlined plans to restart the season in June with lockdown measures in France set to be lifted on May 11th. That clearly didn’t happen and French prime minister Edouard Philippe actually insisted that it was impossible during a national assembly on Tuesday. Philippe also revealed that no sporting events will take place until September at the earliest.

This announcement left several Ligue 1 teams waiting for their fates regarding their final positions in the standings. Paris Saint-Germain has a 12-point lead at the top of the standings, having played a game less than Marseille, who is in second place.

There was a vote over how the Ligue 1 standings should be decided and the LFP decided today that PSG are the champions for a third successive year. Lyon, who placed seventh, have failed to qualify for the European competitions.

The classification was established based on the average number of points that teams gained thus far in relation to the number of games. This means that Marseille and Rennes earned a place in the UEFA Champions League.

Didier Quillot, general director of the Ligue de Football Professionnel said that the 2019-20 Ligue 1 season is over and that their goal is to start the 2020-21 season no later than on August 22nd.

“There may be appeals, but our decisions are solid.

 We are not restarting the next championship after August, except in the event of force majeure and a new outbreak of the epidemic,” Quillot said.