At the end of October, a delegation of Ligue 1 club presidents arranged an appointment with the head of France’s government, Francois Hollande. Their mission? To lobby him for tax relief, arguing that new, 75 per cent levels of income tax imposed on France residents earning more than €1 million (Dh5m) per year would damage the economic equilibrium of their sport.
The club chiefs threatened a strike, a blank match day in the calendar. It is yet to happen.
Hollande would not yield, nor was there a gush of public support for the cause. Economic imbalance is a growing reality in French football, but there are more immediate factors behind it than the tax strain on employers trying to recruit and pay the salaries of talented players.
It is the surreal wealth of two clubs that has altered the landscape. Paris Saint-Germain, the champions, are newly rich because of a foreign takeover, as are Monaco, promoted last summer.
They occupy the top positions in the table, as predicted, and it is their big-money recruits whose names stand at the top of the scoring charts: PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 15th in the draw at home to Lille; Edinson Cavani, his €65m colleague, has 12; Monaco’s €60m striker, Radamel Falcao has nine goals from a season interrupted by injury and rumours of his unhappiness being at a club not involved in European competition.
The influx of stars has helped lift standards. Ligue 1 audiences have witnessed some excellent games, not least PSG-Lille, one of three 2-2 draws which ushered in the winter break. Lille, with their organised defence and agile goalkeeper, the Nigerian Vincent Enyeama, have made the title race more than just a chequebook joust between the Qatar-owned Parisians and the Russian-backed Monegasques.
The forces of financial gravity may pull Lille down in the new year, but they depart on vacation just a point shy of Monaco, four behind PSG, who they came close to beating, at the Parc des Princes, on Sunday.
The gap between third and fourth already yawns, though, at nine points. For clubs with big support bases, like Lyon and Marseille, a future of struggle against the moneyed class looks a long, arduous one.
Lyon were knocked out of the Champions League in August, Marseille, with no points from six matches, effectively fell out of it in November. PSG will be in it in February, optimistic that Europe will start to look up at them in the way Ligue 1 does.
Star of the season
Vincent Enyeama. The Lille goalkeeper commands the best defence in the league, has broken clean-sheet records and helped make the top of the table a tale not just of the big-spending PSG and Monaco.
Flop of the season
Javier Pastore. The Argentine cost close to €40 million (Dh201.4m), a marquee signing from Palermo to launch PSG’s moneyed era. More than two years on from his arrival, Pastore, now 24, gets picked in the starting XI for fewer than half their games.
Surprise of the season
Emmanuel Riviere. The 23-year-old striker, part of Monaco’s promotion side last season, might have expected a fringe role given the club’s star summer imports. With his eight goals so far, he has made his case for a place in the first XI.
Game of the season
France 3, Ukraine 0. Les Bleus made history by overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit in their World Cup play-off.
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