Ligue 1 Participants Reduced To 18 Teams From 2023-2024 Season

JAKARTA - French football's premier league, Ligue 1, will be reduced from 20 teams to 18 teams from the 2023-2024 season after the general assembly of the French professional league (LFP) backed the proposal, the newspaper L'Equipe said as quoted by Reuters on Thursday.

Ligue 1 had 18 teams previously but was later expanded to 20 teams in the 2002-2003 season.

The current format requires two relegated and 18th-placed clubs to undergo promotion playoffs.

Quoting Antara, Thursday, May 3, the general assembly reached a temporary agreement to reduce the number of participating teams with the provision that four teams were relegated from Ligue 1 from the 2022-2023 season and two teams were promoted from the second division.

The decision was taken when the new rules were introduced with a split vote of nine votes each in favor of the 2022-2023 season and the other for the 2023-2024 season.

However, LFP President Vincent Labrune chose not to propose the change until the 2023-2024 season.

Among Europe's top leagues, the German Bundesliga also features 18 teams with 34 rounds of matches, instead of the standard 38 rounds.