Ligue 1 relegation battle depends on African national teams

The championships in the Top 5 European leagues are almost over. France and Germany have finished their seasons last week, and others will do the same during the upcoming week. The Word Cup is starting in 21 days and many teams have already published their teams and will start preparations for the biggest even in the world of football. But for some teams, the World Cup is a problem, as they still need their players in the upcoming games. The biggest need is for league survival and it happened that African national teams are in the middle of it, not due to their own will.

Metz and Nantes will play in Ligue 2 next season, but Nice will have a chance to stay up, if they defeat the famous Saint-Etienne in two-legged playoff. The problem is, both teams have African players in their teams but FIFA is not allowing them to stay. FIFA regulations require clubs to release their international players for their national teams starting May 25th, which is four days. So, why are Nice and Saint-Etienne are playing their games so late and who are those players? Goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf and right-back Antoine Mendy (Senegal) play for Nice, as well as left-back Ali Abdi (Tunisia) and Elye Wahi (Ivory Coast), while Saint-Etienne need Augustine Boakye (Ghana) for these two games, and they are at mercy of the national team’s bosses Pape Thiaw, Sabri Lamouchi and Carlos Queiroz.

AFCON champions are ready: Mane leads Senegal's loaded World Cup charge

The international governing body rejected a request from the LFP (French Professional Football League) for an exemption allowing OGC Nice and Saint-Etienne to field their World Cup players for the playoff. The only other option left to the clubs is to negotiate directly with the national teams. According to RMC Sport, Nice has already contacted Senegal and they agreed to let the players stay for those two games, but so far, it is not knows if Ghana and Tunisia will do the same. This playoff games have being scheduled so late due to Nice’s involvement in the French Cup. They are due to play in the final against Lens on Friday 22nd of May, so the first leg had to be scheduled for Tuesday 26th of May. It is also interesting that Nice could, in theory, play in the Europa League (if they win the cup) and still play in League 2 next season.

COUPE DE FRANCE FINAL

Friday

22.00: (1.53) Lens (4.20) Nice (6.25)

***odds are subject to change***