[1] A similar deal was reached a week later with Hong Kong telecommunications company PCCW who will broadcast Ligue 1 matches in the country for the next two seasons.
The deal is worth €10 million a year and guarantees the channel broadcasting rights to the annual Monday night Ligue 2 match.
Also, in Lorient's case, a constant proliferation of earthworms onto their pitch over the past two seasons have led to a rapid deterioration of the ground, which has forced the club to spend as much as €2 million to replace it.
After resigning from his position, Blanc contacted the French Football Federation (FFF) to inquire about the France national team job, which will be vacated by Raymond Domenech following the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
[6][7] After earning promotion to Ligue 2 for the 2010–11 season, Evian were rumored to be pursuing a move to play their home matches at the Stade de la Praille in Geneva, Switzerland, after it was determined that their current facility, the Stade Joseph-Moynat, did not meet the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP)'s standards.
Thonon-les-Bains, the commune where the club situates itself, is a few kilometers from the Swiss border and is only 34.6 kilometres (21.5 mi), a 45-minute car drive, from the city of Geneva.
[8] His claims, however, were refuted by Benoît Genecand, who serves as president of Fondation du Stade de Genève (FSG), which owns and operates the facility.
The announcement makes the Coupe de la Ligue the first national cup competition in Europe to adopt the system and was approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on 21 July.
On 2 July, local media in Alsace reported that Strasbourg were on the verge of being relegated to the Championnat de France amateur by the DNCG due to financial issues.
[21] Strasbourg later transferred captain Guillaume Lacour and Algerian international Yacine Bezzaz to Evian and Troyes, respectively, for nominal fees.
[22] On 15 June 2010, following a study of each club's administrative and financial accounts in the Championnat de France amateur, the DNCG ruled that Besançon RC, Hyères FC, CS Louhans-Cuiseaux, FC Montceau Bourgogne, EDS Montluçon, Olympique Noisy-le-Sec, and RCF Paris would be relegated to the Championnat de France amateur 2.
[28] On 30 March 2011, the national under-17 team of France recorded a 9–0 win over Belarus in the Elite Round qualification for the 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship.
On 28 April 2011, French investigative website Mediapart released a story which claimed that the FFF had been attempting to secretly put in place a race-quota system in order to limit the number of black and Arab players in its national academies.
Quoting a senior figure in the FFF, the organisation was said to have wanted to set a cap of 30% on the number of players of non-white origin by limiting places in the academies in the 12–13 age bracket.
[31] The FFF responded by releasing a public statement on its website denying the report stating "none of its elected bodies has been validated, or even contemplated a policy of quotas for the recruitment of its training centers".
National Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno echoed the President's sentiments, while also demanding that the FFF "shed light" on a report.
[36] Blanc was defended by several former players, most notably his 1998 World Cup-winning teammates Christophe Dugarry, Bixente Lizarazu, Didier Deschamps, Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly and Emmanuel Petit, current players such as current national team captain Alou Diarra, and external sources, which included Pathé Diba, the president of L'Association Soutien aux Handicapés Africains (English: Association to Support the Disabled in Africa).