French scold Spanish league for attacking PSG, Mbappe

By: Rob Harris, The Associated Press Posted: 8:20 AM CDT Thursday, May. 26, 2022

PARIS (AP) — The French league has written to Spanish competition president Javier Tebas complaining about his attacks on Paris Saint-Germain's finances after Kylian Mbappé chose to stay with the team rather than join Real Madrid.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/05/2022 (1544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PARIS (AP) — The French league has written to Spanish competition president Javier Tebas complaining about his attacks on Paris Saint-Germain’s finances after Kylian Mbappé chose to stay with the team rather than join Real Madrid.

After Mbappé signed a new three-year contract at Qatari-owned PSG, Tebas said the Spanish league would file complaints to UEFA, the European Union and French administrative and fiscal authorities because it believes the “scandalous” agreement attacks the economic stability of the sport.

“We want to express in the strongest possible terms our disapproval, and also our incomprehension, of your latest attacks against Ligue 1 and one of our clubs,” French league chairman Vincent Labrune said in a letter to Tebas on Wednesday that was obtained by The Associated Press.

PSG striker Kylian Mbappe shows his jersey during a press conference Monday, May 23, 2022 at the Paris des Princes stadium in Paris. Kylian Mbappé's decision to reject Real Madrid and commit to Paris Saint-Germain for three more seasons marks the start of a large rebuilding project at the French league champion. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

“The fact that you publicly and repeatedly take this position against Ligue 1 on this topic and denigrate our league and our clubs is both unacceptable and manifestly false.”

Tebas has long questioned the reliance of PSG on Qatari sponsorships, which he said are of “doubtful valuation,” and doubted how the club could comply with rules given heavy losses.

Labrune wrote, “Your attacks on Ligue 1 and one of our clubs Paris Saint-Germain and one of our players Kylian Mbappé are based around your own interpretation of financial unsustainability and competitive imbalance, which you repeatedly attribute to Ligue 1 and one of our clubs.”

Labrune pointed out that the European Court of Justice ruled Real Madrid and Barcelona benefitted from illegal state aid and how Spanish top division clubs have spent almost a third more on players than the French league in the last 10 years.

Labrune highlighted how Tebas in his role as a UEFA executive committee member helped to create new European financial sustainability rules. The replacement for Financial Fair Play has no rules blocking funding of clubs from sovereign wealth funds like Qatar.