Xinhua News Agency, Paris, April 12 (reporter Su Bin) di Kiyo, CEO of the French professional football league, revealed in an interview with Chinese media on the 12th that in order to take care of the experience of Chinese football fans, since the 2020-2021 season, there will be a kick-off in the evening prime time of Beijing time for each round of French games on Sunday.
The French professional football league operates the French league and the French league, as well as the French League Cup and the French Super Cup Cup. Kiyo said that since the 2020-2021 season, one match in each round of French a Sunday will be scheduled to kick off at 1 pm local time. This means that Chinese fans can watch the broadcast of the French armour at 7 o’clock (French daylight saving time) or 8 o’clock (French winter time) in the evening of Beijing time, compared with the late night or early morning games, this undoubtedly brings better experience to Chinese fans.
In the past two seasons, France A has begun to try to advance the kick-off time of the match. According to the data of the French professional football league, last season, the match between Paris Saint Germain and nice attracted a record 2 million Chinese fans to watch.
Kiyo regards China as the “most important market” for overseas development of the French league “. He said that compared with the Premier League and La Liga, France A, as a “latecomer”, needs to improve its exposure on Chinese social platforms and the copyright value of the league, and maintain good cooperative relations with broadcasters, tell the story of French armor in a brand new way.
Kiyo hopes that France will become the third largest league in Europe in 2022. In his view, the Premier League and La Liga occupy the top two positions. At present, France Liga gradually catch up with Serie A in terms of brand value and influence, the next goal is to catch up with the Bundesliga, “but this is a long road”.
Kiyo believes that in the final analysis, this whole set of planning requires the French team to show good performance and achievements in the European war. “The French league has high technical and tactical standards, but we still need to do better, at present, our main goal is to achieve success in the Champions League”.
Paris Saint Germain only needs to get a draw in the away match against Lille on the 14th to get their sixth French champion in nearly seven seasons in advance. It is difficult to win the Champions League of “Grand Paris” in the domestic arena, which has been blocked outside the top eight for three consecutive seasons. This season, they wasted the advantage of winning two goals away from home in the first round. After returning to Prince park, they were defeated and eventually eliminated by Manchester United due to the disadvantage of away goals.
Kiyo does not think that there are fewer challenges in the French league, which is the main reason for Paris Saint Germain’s “civil war insiders and foreign war laymen.
“It is true that Paris Saint Germain occupies the dominant position in France A, but other leagues have similar situations, such as Juventus in Serie A, Bayern Munich in Bundesliga, Barcelona in La Liga and Real Madrid, that is, who will win the championship in each season in the Premier League is more suspense, so the strength of Paris Saint Germain in the league is not much different from other leagues.” Kiyo said.
“Paris Saint Germain is hard to succeed in the Champions League, but they are a little unlucky. Neymar could not play in the next round against Manchester United, and they gave penalty kick to their opponents at the last moment, which was really unlucky.” Kiyo believes that apart from this, Paris Saint Germain’s willpower in the competition is not strong enough.
France A is rich in excellent young players. Mbampe, who has emerged since playing for Monaco, now firmly occupies the first place in the shooters list. Nicola Pepe’s outstanding performance this season also helps Lille to be the second place in the standings. Facing the “olive branch” thrown out by other European elite clubs, how to leave these young talents has become a major problem facing French leaders.
“There is no doubt that we are the top in the world in terms of producing new stars. We have the best youth training camp and are good at guiding and training excellent young players. Last year we won the Russian World Cup with a young lineup.” Kiyo said proudly.
He believes that the only way to keep outstanding young players in France is to improve the profitability of French football, which involves many links such as broadcasting rights, tickets, sales of surrounding commodities and sponsorship.