Let‘s not beat around the bush: The French Ligue 1 is PSG‘s league. Even though the Parisian are not consecutive champions like for example Bayern Munich (eleven years in a row), even the Bundesliga title race was sometimes exciting and came down to the last game of the season. Not so in French football, but we cannot blame PSG for it. It‘s the French state which allowed other independent country (and a wealthy one) to buy a club, effectively ‘killing‘ all other clubs. Since the state of Qatar bought PSG in 2011, the club has been Ligue 1 champion 10 times already. It was Montpellier who won the title in their first year in charge (PSG came second), while Lille‘s and Monaco‘s lone titles were more a product of PSG‘s bad seasons than their superiority. Nobody can compare with the Parisians, especially since UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and the club‘s supremo Nasser Al-Khelaifi made a pact. So, don‘t have any illusions – PSG are bound for another title in 2025, even without Kylian Mbappe, unless they don‘t ‘shoot‘ themselves in the foot. But, that doesn‘t mean that the league itself will be boring. If we exclude the wealthy Qatar club, there are eight teams fighting for the European football and this will be a pretty tense battle. So let‘s see what‘s in the Ligue 1 preview.🏆12 L1🏆12Trophées des Champions🏆15 Coupes de France🏆 9x Coupes de la Ligue🏆1 Ligue 2🏆1 Coupe des vainqueurs de coupe 🏆1 Coupe Intertoto Notre Paris Saint-Germain fête ses 54 ans ! ❤️💙🎉LE plus grand club de France c’est nous !!!🔴🔵 🙌😎 pic.twitter.com/4NzAbzxeeK— revonsplusgrand (@revplusgrand2) August 12, 2024 The only true candidate for the titleIn the last 12 seasons in Ligue 1, there were only two clubs who won the league and were not called PSG: Monaco (2016/17) and Lille (2020/21). So far, the Parisians are on a roll with three straight titles and from this point in time, it looks that they will earn another one come May 2025 with ease. They have the spending power, UEFA always approves their financial accounts and everything is always in order, no matter how much money they spend, and looking at their strength and current transfer dealings, there is no reason to believe they they won‘t be champions again. Their current money spent on new transfers is 119.92 million euros while the income from sold players is only 16.5 million. Majority of that money was spent on João Neves from Benfica ( 60 million, even though they payed almost as much for Ugarte just a year ago) and Willian Pacho (40 million Frankfurt), and they are yet to buy a new striker. Maybe it will be Victor Osimhen, maybe it will be somebody else, but the Parisians already have Ousmane Dembélé, Marco Asensio, Gonçalo Ramos, Randal Kolo Muani and Bradley Barcola as forwards, but they still need a classic striker after Kylian Mbappe‘s departure. Even if they don‘t buy anyone, they are still strongest club in France.PSG bring another 60 million midfielder from PortugalPSG‘s followers Monaco has to be the second favorite. The well organized club from the French Riviera has finished second last season, and third in the last five years in France. On top of that, they have a balanced squad with enough depth, since they are almost regulars in the European competitions. They lost their long time striker Wissam Ben Yedder, but bought George Ilenikhena from Antwerp for 10 million euros. They still have Arsenal‘s former striker Folarin Balogun and Switzerland‘s Breel Embolo as first option strikers. After selling Emerson Royal to Milan, Tottenham are apparently asking for Monaco‘s Vanderson but the club is well known for selling talented players for large sums and still finding valuable replacements.No Nketiah, it’s Wahi who is coming to MarseilleIf we look at the capacity of the club and recent coaching and squad changes, the biggest rivals to Monaco will be Olympic Marseille. The ‘sleeping giant‘ of French football with the biggest support and with the Champions League trophy (still the only one in France) has been on the wrong side of the table for many years. In the past 10 seasons, they have been into the top four only five times (twice at the second place) which is terrible by their standards. So, they acquired coach Roberto De Zerbi (their ninth coach since 2021!) and he, just like all other coaches before him is requesting a total rebuilt. So far no less than 10 players have arrived for a combined fee of 85 million, but don‘t let that fool you, they have already sold players for 76 million and first-team players like Jordan Veretout, Chancel Mbemba, Samuel Gigot and Pau Lopez are still on the transfer list, which means their sales will give more spending money to the new coach. The most notable signings are Mason Greenwood and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg but, Aubameyang left to continue his career in Saudi Arabia, signing with Al-Qadsiah. His departure leaves a significant hole in Marseille’s attack as he striker recorded 17 goals in Ligue 1 and ten goals in the UEFA Europa League, but the Italian thinks that Greeenwood and recent signing from Lens Wahi will be enough for scoring goals. The coaching legend Fabio Capello recently called De Zerbi a ‘third-tier coach‘. The former Brighton manager only has a Ukrainian cup with Shakhtor so far and playing in a club which can force coaches to quit (remember Marcelino last season) will surely put big pressure on the Italian, the pressure which he never witnessed in Sassoulo or Brighton. The expectations are high in Marseille, and he has to train 10 new players and form the team spirit quickly. Unlike PSG, Monaco, Brest, Lille, Lyon or Lens, Olympique is not playing in Europe this season, which can be crucial as they will have time to focus only on Ligue 1.M̶o̶u̶r̶i̶n̶h̶o̶ Pep Genesio 🧠Lille is one step closer to the UCL league stage! 👏🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/05eiPNRWpU— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) August 13, 2024 On paper, clubs like Lille and Lyon should actually be challenging Monaco for the second spot, not (yet) Marseille. French champion in 2021, Lille had one bad season after coach Christophe Galtier left to coach PSG, but soon rebuffed under Paulo Fonseca who is now gone to coach AC Milan. They just eliminated mighty Fenerbahce led by Jose Mourinho and are only 180 minutes away from the Champions League. They played in the Conference League last year (as they finished fifth) so they do have a bigger squad, but if they manage to get into the elite competition, new additions will have to be made. They only lost one player so far – Leny Yoro, but his 62 million euros transfer to Manchester United was enough to get the funds available. They also have a new coach, but Bruno Génésio is a six-year veteran in Ligue 1 (Lyon, Rennes) and will need no time to adapt. But, with the likes of Marseille, Lens and Lyon, Lille will have to buy more players by September 1st.Who’s excited about Sunday? 🦁🔜 #SRFCOL pic.twitter.com/IjS9W1z3P7— Olympique Lyonnais 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@OL_English) August 15, 2024 Another big club in League 1 which is struggling for years now (is it a coincidence that they are also owned by Americans, like Marseilles) is Lyon. It was the beginning of century when the club from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region was Ligue 1 champion for seven consecutive seasons and knocked out Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Champions League. But those day are long gone and since 2019 when they finished third, they managed only one fourth place. After first 15 rounds of the last season, Olympique Lyon was at the bottom of the Ligue 1 table with just 10 points. The team’s performance was disastrous, and it would have been hard to find a single fan who believed that Lyon would be fighting for a European spot in May. But they managed it, led by unknown youth coach Pierre Sage and finished the season in sixth place, along with the Cup final (lost to PSG). But apart from gambling with Sage, the American owner John Textor had to make up for managing the club badly for years and spent a lot in the January transfer window, when all other smart clubs are staying put. So they signed former Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matić for 2.6 million euros, the Botafogo duo—goalkeeper Lucas Perri (3.25 million) and center-back Adryelson (3.58 million)—as well as the Gent pair, Gift Orban (12 million) and Malik Fofana (17 million).They also added Orel Mangala from Nottingham Forest and Saïd Benrahma which was more than enough for the run from bottom of the table to the top six finish. But they didn‘t stop there and added Georges Mikautadze (18.5 million), Moussa Niakhaté (32 million) and Ernest Nuamah (29 million). So, a top six finish is a must (at least) and the club is yet to sell their veterans Rayan Cherki, Maxence Caqueret and Dejan Lovren in order to balance the books.Todibo stuns Juve, choosing West Ham over the Old Lady!In this group of around six clubs who are targeting places two to six are certainly Nice and Lens. The South France club owned by Manchester United’s minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been trying really hard to push up in the pecking order and be among those five places behind PSG and had various success in doing so. Their biggest coup of this season is certainly coach Franck Haise. The coaching wizard took Lens from Ligue 2 to the UEFA Champions League and to within a point of PSG in the 2022/23 season. With thin squad and injuries he couldn’t do much the following year (they finished 7th) and is now taking a new challenge in Nice. His task will be a difficult one as Nice lost Kheprem Thuram to Juventus (20 million) and Jean-Clair Todibo to West Ham (loan) among others. Veterans Jonathan Clauss (31) and Morgan Sanson (27) came from Marseille and Aston Villa, while Tottenham’s Tanguy Ndombélé came as a free agent. By the end of the transfer window they will have to make a quality replacement for Todibo and they might even lose Jérémie Boga, who is on Roma’s radar. If Haise brings them another season of European football, his place will be cemented.Festive et authentique ❤️💛C’était l’ambiance 𝑀𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑒𝑟𝑡 de #RCLLFC 🏟️#FiersDEtreLensois pic.twitter.com/BmqoG8M9zu— Racing Club de Lens (@RCLens) August 12, 2024 His former club is certainly up for the challenge. Remember the French speaking Englishman/Belgian Will Still? He took the Ligue 1 by storm, becoming the youngest manager in Europe’s top five leagues at 30 years of age in 2023. He did not even had a UEFA Pro License, so Reims was fined 25,000 euros for every match Still managed, after he was appointed from an assistant position. He was unbeaten at Reims for 17 matches, setting a new Ligue 1 record. But his flirting with England clubs over managerial vacancies brought his tenure at Reims to a premature end. He failed to go to England but was hired on a three year deal to replace the almighty Haise at Lens. He has big shoes to fill. Striker Elye Wahi was allowed to go to Marseille, so a new striker is required, just two weeks before the transfer window closure. Defenders Malang Sarr (Chelsea) and Jhoanner Chávez were brought in as Still will change the formation and play with four at the back. This team also plays in Europe for the second season in the row, and they must learn from their experience last year, when they participation in the Champions League resulted in bad performance in France. This will also be a maiden European campaign for Still, so this looks like a development year in Lens.Bayern defeated again: French wunderkind choses PSGFrom seventh place to relegation fightWell, this group of clubs are all in the mix for either a surprise by achieving the top six spot, or by advancing to the Cup finals or simply by being in a relegation fight out of the blue. Teams like Brest, Reims, Rennais Montpellier and Strasbourg will be somewhere in the middle of the table and some of those teams might have a stellar season and use the weakness of above mentioned clubs to finish among the first seven spots. On the other side, all of those team are just three-four injuries away from the surprise relegation battle. Some of them have new coaches (Reims, Strasbourg), some are highly damaged by the modest TV deal by Ligue 1 (Montpellier) and some have surprisingly won the Champions League spot but don’t have the depth or other capacities to battle on two fronts (Brest). Out of this group, Brest has been maybe underestimated, but their success last season and almost no transfer dealings so far will probably see them in the mix for a 5-7th place. Rennais is a fantastic ‘well’ for talented players and they really went ‘over the top’ this June. They sold Fabian Rieder, Le Fée, Guela Doué while Arnaud Kalimuendo and Désire Doué are most likely to leave too, not to mention that Martin Terrier went to Bayer Leverkusen. Such a talent will hardly be replaced, considering they haven’t been active in buying players, so anything between sixth and twelfth place is possible for them.Le Chaudron 💚#UnJourUnClub pic.twitter.com/4TfVGRnaK0— Ligue 1 McDonald’s (@Ligue1) August 13, 2024 Relegation battleNantes and Le Havre lead the group of five teams which are set to fight for relegation. Both clubs stayed in Ligue 1 but were close to a relegation battle and haven’t done anything so far to reassure the pundits are odds makers that things will change in the 2024/25 season. Joining them are three clubs fresh from Ligue 2: Auxerre, Angers and Saint Etienne. As usually the case with club changing the leagues, they tend not to spent too much in the first year in Ligue 1, fearing a potential financial disaster if they fall straight back to Ligue 2. Bordeaux’s fiasco and a relegation to the third-tear is something which struck fear into these clubs.LIGUE 1 – MATCHDAY 1Friday 21.45: (7.00) Le Havre (4.50) PSG (1.45)Saturday 18.00: (2.80) Brest (3.30) Olympique Marseille (2.55)20.00: (3.40) Reims (3.50) Lille (2.25)22.00: (1.53) Monaco (4.20) Saint-Etienne (6.25)Sunday 16.00: (3.10) Auxerre (3.20) Nice (2.40)18.00: (5.60) Angers (3.70) Lens (1.65)18.00: (2.10) Montpellier (3.50) Strasbourg (3.80)18.00: (2.15) Toulouse (3.35) Nantes (3.80)21.45: (2.40) Rennes (3.50) Olympique Lyon (3.10)***odds are subject to change***
