Ligue 1 will shrink to eighteen clubs from the 2023/24 season, league organizer LFP reports in a statement. There are currently 20 clubs in the league. In the 2022/23 season, the lowest ranked four clubs will therefore be relegated to Ligue 2, while only two teams will be promoted.
At a meeting in July, only FC Metz opposed the plans to reduce the number of clubs. The LFP indicates that the new structure is related to the distribution of television rights as of 2024. More reforms are expected, although it is not yet clear in what ways the competition will continue to be overhauled.
The competition of France has in the past fluctuated between eighteen and twenty participants. In 1997, for example, a switch was made from twenty to eighteen clubs; even then, the bottom clubs relegated directly. In 2002, it was then scaled up to twenty clubs and that has not changed since then.
Due to the new format in France, LaLiga, the Premier League and Serie A will be the only top competitions with 20 clubs left from 2023. France is following the lead of competitions such as the Bundesliga and the Eredivisie, which also work with eighteen clubs.