PSG Confirmed as Ligue 1 Champions - Toulouse & Amiens Relegated Following Season Stoppage
By Tom Gott
The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) have confirmed that Paris Saint-Germain will be awarded the Ligue 1 title after the season was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Government officials in France recently decided that there will be no football played in the country until August at the earliest, bringing both the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 seasons to an abrupt end.
The unthinkable has happened in France and the Ligue 1 season has been cancelled, with three options on the table to decide the title, relegation, and European qualification.
— 90min (@90min_Football) April 29, 2020
But how would those potential outcomes look if the same happened in the Premier League? ?
The Dutch Eredivisie has also cancelled their season, but they decided to completely void the campaign and scrap promotion and relegation, as well as declining to hand Ajax the league title. However, the LFP confirmed in a press conference (via RMC Sport) that they would not follow suit and PSG would be awarded the title.
"We have marked the end of the 2019/20 season and we have awarded the title of champion to PSG in Ligue 1 and to Lorient in Ligue 2", said president Nathalie Boy de la Tour.
Chief executive Didier Quillot also confirmed (via beIN SPORTS) that the decision had been reached after calculating every team's points-per-game record, although given only PSG and 11th-placed Strasbourg had played one game less, it probably wasn't too tough to work out the final standings.
Finishing first will also earn PSG a spot in the Champions League group stage, where they will be joined by second-placed Marseille. Rennes will enter at the qualifying stage after finishing third.
Lille and Reims will earn spots in the Europa League group stage, while sixth-placed Nice will have to go through their own qualifiers.
It also means that Lyon, who finished seventh in the table, will miss out on any form of European football for the first time since the 2014/15 campaign. Not since 1996/97 have Lyon failed to even reach the qualifying stages of a European competition.
At the other end of the table, both Toulouse and Amiens will be relegated to Ligue 2, whereas Lorient and Lens have been promoted to the top tier.
Normally, the side in 18th (which this year is Nîmes Olympique) would face the team who wins the playoffs in Ligue 2, but since no football can be played until August, the LFP have scrapped that fixture and will instead simply proceed with two promotions and two relegations.